With this novel, Dogar has done a nice job of presenting the events of A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank from the perspective of one of the other residents in the annex in which she and nine Jews hid away in Amsterdam. Pater van Pels, a 15-year-old who shares the annex with the four Franks, his two parents, and doctor.

Many are familiar with Anne Frank and the events in the book because of reading her diary in school. Peter's voice not only allows the reader to experience what it might have been like for a teenage guy to be in this situation, but it provides further strength to Anne and the others when considering what they suffered through both while they were in hiding and, later, when they were captured and sent to various concentration camps.

Dogar's writing style really pulls the reader into Peter's mindset, sharing his dreams and fantasy along with self-doubt as he lives the drudgery of existence in the annex. In the process, Peter (and the readers along with him) explore what it might be in humans that would create the situation they are all confronted with as well as question why God would force anyone, nevermind his Chosen Ones, to be confronted with certain destruction.

Peter also shares what it was like to live with each of the other individuals in the annex with a particular focus on Anne. Peter and Anne have a particularly interesting relationship as he found her most annoying when they first met, but slowly the two grow into a closer friendship and feelings for each other.

The horrors confronted in hiding in the annex are surpassed when Peter ends up in the concentration camps. While little is really known about his experiences in the camps, Dogar drew upon first-hand experiences of other Jews who survived the camps as she created her presentation. It is eerie and horrifying to read.

The result of all of this is an amazing companion book for Anne Frank's original diary. Like the diary, the story is accompanied with updates about what happened to all of those who hid out in the annex, though the news is very sad since all but Mr. Frank died in the camps. This is another example of a work that could be used to present the Holocaust in a way that makes it more than facts and data ... it is human story of the fight for survival against all odds. Readers really do get a full sense of the horrors of the Holocaust.