From the Diary of Anne Frank

Anne finds diary-writing strange because she has never written before and doubts anyone will care about a thirteen-year-old's thoughts. Yet she needs to get things off her chest. She remembers the saying 'Paper has more patience than people' and decides the diary will be private - a friend she names 'Kitty'.

Writing in a diary feels strange to Anne. She has never written anything before, and she feels that later neither she nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. Still, she wants to write and needs to unburden herself. On a bored, listless day she recalls: 'Paper has more patience than people.' Since she does not plan to let anyone read the stiff-backed notebook except perhaps a real friend someday, she treats it as a safe space. This leads her back to the reason she started: she has no one she can truly confide in.

Anne is not literally alone - she has parents, a sister Margot, and about thirty 'friends'. But with friends she only talks of ordinary things and never gets close. She cannot confide in them, so she begins the diary and names it Kitty, her imaginary friend.

Anne explains that no one will believe a thirteen-year-old girl is completely alone - and she is not. She has loving parents, a sixteen-year-old sister, loving aunts, a good home, and about thirty people she can call friends. On the surface she seems to have everything except one true friend. With friends she thinks only of having a good time and cannot talk about deeper matters. They never seem to get closer, and perhaps it is her fault that they do not confide in each other. Since this is unlikely to change, she has started her diary and decided to address it as 'Kitty', a long-awaited friend in her imagination.

Anne gives Kitty a short life-sketch: born 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt; father emigrated to Holland in 1933; she joined Margot in Holland in February as a 'birthday present'. She loved her grandmother, who died in January 1942. On 20 June 1942 she solemnly dedicates her diary.

Before plunging into her stories, Anne provides a brief sketch of her life. Her father, whom she adores, married her mother when he was thirty-six. Margot was born in Frankfurt in 1926; Anne was born on 12 June 1929. The family moved to Holland after her father emigrated in 1933. Anne followed Margot in February, joking that she was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for her sister. She recalls school, especially a tearful farewell with Mrs Kuperus, the headmistress. Grandma fell ill in 1941 and died in January 1942; Anne still loves and remembers her. Her 1942 birthday was meant to make up for the sad one, and Grandma's candle was lit. The entry ends on 20 June 1942 with the solemn dedication of her diary.

On Saturday, 20 June 1942, Anne writes that the whole class is 'quaking in its boots' because teachers will soon decide who moves up and who is kept back. Boys bet their holiday savings. Anne is only unsure about maths but tells herself and her friends not to lose heart.

In her letter to Kitty dated Saturday, 20 June 1942, Anne describes exam-result tension. The entire class shakes with fear over the meeting in which teachers decide promotions. Half the class makes bets; two boys behind her stake all their holiday savings on whether they will pass. From morning to night they argue - 'You're going to pass' / 'No, I'm not.' Anne thinks many classmates are 'dummies' and a quarter should be kept back, but teachers are unpredictable. She is fairly confident about herself and her girlfriends, though maths worries her a little. Until results come, they keep telling each other not to lose heart.

Mr Keesing, the maths teacher, punishes Anne for talking too much by making her write an essay on 'A Chatterbox'. She argues that talking is a student's trait and that she inherited the habit from her mother. He assigns more essays - 'An Incorrigible Chatterbox' and then 'Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox'.

Anne gets along with most of her nine teachers, but Mr Keesing, the maths 'old fogey', has long been annoyed by her talkativeness. After warnings he gives her extra homework: an essay on 'A Chatterbox'. That evening she thinks seriously and writes three pages with convincing arguments - talking is natural for students, she will try to control it, but inherited traits (like her mother's talkativeness) cannot be fully cured. Mr Keesing laughs but, when she talks again, assigns 'An Incorrigible Chatterbox'. After two quiet lessons he loses patience in the third and orders an essay titled 'Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox'. The class roars with laughter.

Anne's friend Sanne helps her write the third essay in verse. The poem is about a father swan who bites his three ducklings to death because they quack too much. Mr Keesing takes the joke well, reads the poem to other classes, and stops punishing Anne.

Anne has nearly exhausted her ingenuity on chatterbox topics and needs something original. Her friend Sanne, who is good at poetry, offers to help write the essay in verse; Anne jumps for joy. Mr Keesing meant to play a joke on her, but she decides the joke will be on him. Her finished poem is about a mother duck and father swan whose three ducklings are bitten to death by the father because they quack too much. Luckily Mr Keesing takes it the right way, reads it to the class with comments, and even to several other classes. Since then Anne has been allowed to talk and has received no extra homework; Mr Keesing himself often makes jokes now.