Review: The House on the Canal
The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank
by Thomas Harding, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup
Candlewick Press, 2025
Category: Picture Books
Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld
I write this review having visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam not even a month ago, for the first time since I was in my 20s. And also, as the author of a sometimes-loved, sometimes-criticized (not to worry, some of the criticizers are still good friends!) story of Anne Frank from the perspective of the horse chestnut tree in the courtyard behind the secret annex. In this beautiful volume, Thomas Harding and illustrator Britta Teckentrup show off a dazzling amount of research, deft and purposefully detached writing, and glorious artwork as they trace the course of 263 Prinsengracht (in whose Annex hid Anne Frank and others from Nazi persecutions, with a terrible outcome) from before it was built right through to today, where people "learn about the girl with the sweet smile and the diary that she wrote and the house where she lived and her golden dreams of tomorrow." As in my book from 2016, the girl is never named. She doesn't have to be. Harding can write, and did a prodigious amount of research for this book. We learn of the resident Christian family that fled persecution in the 17th century, an ironworker and his family, the effects of plague and the famed brutal winter of 1709, and of course some of the story of the Frank family, filled in by an Afterword. The art is Caldecott-contender, painterly, whether Teckentrup is depicting an 18th century ball, or the arrival of the Nazis in Amsterdam.
Jewish content and representation in this book is moderate and uncomplicated. There's a nifty unspoken parallel between the Bisschop family that found refuge there due to persecution in 1653, and the Frank family in 1942. With that said, the subjects of the art inside the Annex while Anne and her family are there are entirely secular. However, that the Franks are Jewish is clear, due to a two-page spread the Nazis hunting Jews in Amsterdam as the reason for the Franks seeking a hiding place. I'm not sure that this book increases a reader's understanding of the Jewish experience, but the context it adds to one of the most famed true stories of all time is unique and valuable.
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Reviewer Jeff Gottesfeld writes for page, stage, and screen. His most recent picture book is Food for Hope (Creston, 2023, illustrated by Michelle Agatha), winner of a Christophers medal. Upcoming are Fight for the Right to Read (Creston, September 2025, with Michelle Green and illustrated by Kim Holt), We All Serve (Candlewick 2026, illustrated by TeMika Grooms), and Honor Flight (Candlewick 2026, illustrated by Matt Tavares). Born in Manhattan and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, he currently lives in Los Angeles. Visit him at www.jeffgottesfeldwriter.com.
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