Angela Barrett: Anne Frank

Sometimes posts have an eerie way of reflecting current events, and this one is no exception. Anne Frank is an illustrated biography for children by Josephine Poole, which tells the story of Anne’s short life with tenderness and clarity. “The story of Anne Frank begins with an ordinary little girl, someone you might sit next to in class. She had large, expressive eyes and dark, curly hair.”

It covers her birth in 1929, the family’s friendship with Miep Gies, their move to Amsterdam, the two-year concealment in the secret annex, her growing feelings for Peter van Pels, and – inevitably – the family’s discovery and Anne’s death of typus in 1945.

Details on the historical context are sparse, choosing instead to focus on Anne and her experiences, but there is mention of the reparations Germany had to pay after World War I, the rise of Hitler, the yellow stars, and the terrible rumours of the concentration camps. Poole writes with a light touch, knowing that her audience is comprised of children who may be learning about the Holocaust for the first time, but doesn’t stint on the tragedy of Anne’s life (I mean, how could she?)

Published back in 2005, it contains chilling prescient with lines such as: “Huge crowds gathered around [Hitler]. They had no jobs, no hope. No wonder they cheered when he promised to make Germany rich and strong again!”

Legend of the Seeker: Light

It’s been extremely quiet on this blog lately, so let’s get back to Legend of the Seeker.

This was very much a Sequel Episode to its immediate predecessor, picking up right where Resurrection left off, but it also tries to pack a lot into its runtime: splitting Richard up from the rest of the group, introducing a large number of new characters, allowing Kahlan and Cara to do some bonding, and giving one of the show’s most important guest stars a bittersweet send-off.

Links and Updates

IT’S TRAILER TIME (in rough order of how much I’m looking forward to each one).

Woman of the Month: Maggie Vera

Maggie Vera from Charmed (2018)

I always try to have a spooky-themed Woman of the Month for October, and since I went with Prue Halliwell from Charmed last year, it only seemed appropriate to finally catch up with the 2018 reboot and select someone from the new trio of sisters. And ironically, I’m going with the youngest instead of the eldest.

As the baby of the family, Maggie Vera obviously has a lot in common with her Halliwell counterpart Phoebe. She has a passive power, struggles with her education, and is possessed with an irresponsible streak. But in stark contrast to Phoebe, she’s the most hesitant of her sisters when it comes to embracing her identity as a witch, being more concerned with parties, socializing and boys. As a freshman at Hilltowne University, most of her storyline (at least in season one) is about how she prioritizes pledging to a sorority over her duties as a Charmed One.

Naturally, her arc is about becoming less vapid and more responsible – though honestly, she’s so open and warm that the writers clearly struggle to turn her enthusiasm for the more frivolous things in life into a flaw. As such, one of my favourite sisterly moments is when Mel apologizes for making fun of her desire to be initiated into Kappa, admitting that she didn’t realize how much it meant to her. Why shouldn’t Maggie want nice/fun/silly things?

Admittedly, her storyline (so far) isn’t that interesting – she basically just has a mutual crush on the boyfriend of her sorority sister, which leads to an inevitable love triangle. But as a character she inches out in front of the other sisters as my favourite for one reason: the difference between her power and Phoebe’s, which ends up being the key to her personality. Unlike her predecessor, she doesn’t have premonitions, but rather the ability to read people’s minds while touching them, essentially making her an empath.

And this ends up being her most important contribution to the trifecta of witches: not the analytical mind of Macy or the righteous sense of justice in Mel, but her emotional intelligence and generosity of spirit.

Plus she’s the epitome of a Cute Witch. Just look at how cute she is!