The Hiding Place
Reviewed by Jerry Flack, Ph.D.
Harding, Thomas. The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank. Illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Studio, 2025.
The central subjects of most mature picture books are famous people, animals, geography, sports, holidays, and alphabet tributes. Rarely is a house or a home the focal point of an illustrated book for young readers. However, the house at 263 Prinsengracht in the middle of Amsterdam is unique because for 25 months from 1942 until 1944 the structure was the hiding place of Anne Frank, one of the most famous adolescents ever known. The annex at the back of the nearly 400-year-old structure on the canal housed eight Jewish persons during one of the darkest and most frightening times in history.
Thomas Harding’s lyrical prose reveals the remarkable history of a tall, narrow house in the heart of present-day Amsterdam. The story of the house begins in 1580 when the place that would become the Anne Frank House was unclaimed marshland. It was the home of herons, seagulls, and a few grazing cows. In 1600, men and women with their building tools dug a long ditch with walls of wood, brick, and sand. The marshland became a canal. In 1635, a stonemason built a tall and narrow house notable for its bright green front door. Soon, other houses and a tall church (Westerkerk) filled in the empty spaces along the Prince’s Canal. The era was during the “Golden Age” of great prosperity of the Netherlands. In time, an annex or rear house was added to the main residence.
The house became the domicile of woman with 12 children in 1653. During their occupancy, a terrible plague made prisoners of the people who lived along the canal. Gradually, the house deteriorated to the point of being uninhabitable. Then, in 1742, a wealthy merchant and his wife moved into the house and lavishly renovated it. The house on the canal was the setting for elegant parties and dances. With the passing of the childless couple the house was reduced to becoming nothing more than a stable for four horses.
Next, in 1853, the house became a chemical factory and later a family-owned vegetable canning factory. In turn, the house on the canal once more served as a home. A fire in 1884 nearly destroyed the residence that remained empty until 1910 when an ironmonger claimed the house. His children played in the garden at the back (annex) of the house and planted a flowering chestnut tree there.
Any joy the house on the canal ever enjoyed tragically gave way to terror when German soldiers invaded the Netherlands in 1940. In 1941, a recent Jewish immigrant to Holland from Germany, Otto Frank, moved his business of herbs and spices into the main part of the Amsterdam house. His products were shipped all over the world. The businessman had a smiling and sweet young daughter named Anne plus a wife and an older daughter, Margot.
All too soon, the Nazi soldiers began the arrests and persecution of Jews throughout the Netherlands. Otto Frank rightfully feared the soldiers. Jews in Amsterdam were being arrested and shipped to concentration camps that ultimately became death camps. In secret, he converted the annex of the house on the canal into a hiding place for two families and a single man, a dentist. Otto Frank was not alone in his heroic efforts. At least five non-Jewish workers in his business helped create a secret shelter. The space was confining and food was scarce. The fear of capture and death was always present. In the main house, Frank’s business continued to be conducted by his brave and loyal workers who risked their own lives to bring food, books, newspaper and clothes to those in hiding.
The youngest resident of the hiding place was Anne Frank. She confided her secret thoughts and descriptions of life in the secret annex in her diary to her fictional friend, “Kitty.” Her initial diary had been a gift from her parents on her thirteenth birthday. As her time in hiding grew into months and years, Anne wrote about life in the secret annex. She wrote passionately about the human spirit as well as ongoing world events that were incredibly evil. Despite some of the darkest hours in recorded history, Anne wrote in her diary about her own hopes for a future as a writer in the time of a more peaceful and just world to come.
Tragedy, the worst the old house on the canal ever witnessed, came on August 4, 1944 when the sweet young girl and seven other Jews in the hiding place were discovered, arrested, and sent to concentration camps.
After the end of the Second World War in Europe, Otto Frank returned to the house at 263 Prinsengracht. He was the only one of the eight former residents of the secret annex to have survived the Gestapo horrors. One of his former loyal workers, Miep Gies, gave him the diaries and additional writings on plain sheets of paper that Anne had penned while in hiding. He first published Anne’s diary in 1947 that became known as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Many historians note that the diary is the most moving personal testimony of the Holocaust.
During the late 1940s and 1950s, the house and annex again fell into disrepair. A textile merchant purchased the property and planned to tear down the structure. Otto Frank and others convinced the businessman to donate the house so that it could be restored and serve as a museum to honor the life of Anne Frank. It became known as the Anne Frank House and was opened to the public. Today, more than a million people come to Amsterdam to visit the hiding place that has been left exactly as it was on that fateful day in August of 1944.
Thomas Harding’s rich narrative complemented by Britta Teckentrup’s magnificent illustrations reveal the history of the house on the canal in exquisite double-page spreads. The book reads like an extended collection of personal stories across nearly four centuries. The stories give life to the old house and provide context for the tragic unfolding of the residence’s brief but most frightening and heroic 25 months when Anne Frank hid in the secret annex. Following the beautiful historical tableaus, Harding adds expository end pages that add more factual details of eight chapters of the house’s history beginning with the construction of the canal in 1612. Each entry invites eager students to further explore the extraordinary timeline of the canal structure. Britta Teckentrup’s mixed media illustrations are exquisite and subtle by turns. They give the appearance of lovely yet haunting collages. Her portraits of Anne are handsomely rendered in sepia tones.
The House on the Canal is a splendid addition to the ever-growing body of Anne Frank literature, biography, history, memorabilia, and memorials.
Home and School Activities
Famous Houses. The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank documents the history of a house made world famous by Anne Frank, one of its last residents. Urge readers to create their own picture book about another famous residence. Talented researchers and author-illustrators can make good use of print and online resources to discover important historical source materials about the house they choose to profile. One example might be the White House. Which president never lived in the White House? Why are special rooms such as the Lincoln Bedroom significant? In its long history what and where have additions been made? What are some special events that are held in the White House? What tragedies have been associated with the presidential residence over time? One instance might be Jacqueline Kennedy’s final days and hours in the White House? Students may extend their research to other famous homes around the world. What is the history of France’s palace at Versailles? What stories can be written about Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s Cottages in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Following Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, left Vienna to move to a safe house in Hampstead, London, England. It is now a museum that can be researched. Popular culture can also be investigated. What is Graceland and why is it so famous?
Biographies of Anne Frank. Biographies of Anne Frank are available for gifted readers of all ages. Readers typically read her famed diary in the middle and secondary grades, but younger children should know about the heroic young girl during the Second World War. Classic picture books for younger readers include David A. Adler’s A Picture Book of Anne Frank (Holiday House, 1993), Anne Frank: The Young Writer Who Told the World Her Story (National Geographic, 2013) by Ann Kramer, and Josephine Poole’s stunningly beautiful Anne Frank (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005). Using print and online resources plus her diary, encourage readers to write and illustrate their own account of this remarkable young woman who is one of the most famous and well-recognized adolescents in history.
Review The House on the Canal. Anne wrote in her diary that history and writing were her favorite disciplines. Thomas Harding notes 400 years of history of the site of the house that hid Anne Frank and seven others from 1942 until 1944. Before Otto Frank moved his family into hiding, he stored the secret annex with many volumes of history and literature. How might Anne have viewed both the long history of the site and in particular the years she lived there out of reach of the cruel Gestapo? Urge readers to imagine and then write a literary critique that Anne might have penned of The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank.
