This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
At age twelve, in the mid-fifties, I heard the remarkable story of Anne Frank, and its message of love really resonated with me and made a lasting impression. That's when I auditioned for the movie, The Diary of Anne Frank, for the part of Anne and consequently began a nearly twenty year profound friendship and correspondence with Otto Frank. Otto validated my desire to be heard and respected at a time in my life when I needed it the most, becoming my beloved mentor, as he was for an entire global family of youth. HIs fervent belief in never giving up hope was symbolized in his gift of two trees planted in my name in Israel. He believed in the power of love over hate and my promise is to continue his and Anne's legacies of love. He was my Tree of Hope as he is to this day.
Reviewed by Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite
Tree of Hope: Anne Frank’s Father Shares His Wisdom with an American Teen and the World by Cara Wilson-Granat is a story that will lighten your life and which you will never forget. Ms. Wilson-Granat had a nearly lifelong granddaughter-grandfather, mostly epistolary relationship with Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank. The author first presents a summation of Anne Frank’s story and that of Mr. Frank’s liberation from Auschwitz, his re-marriage, publishing the diary, and later starting a foundation in Anne’s name. Then she presents their communications word-for-word. As a child, young Cara, as many young people did, wrote to Mr. Frank in Switzerland. In her case, he went against his policy of writing back only once (possibly due to her persistence), and thus a lifelong correspondence ensued. Now Ms. Wilson-Granat blesses us with the inspiring transcripts of those wonderful exchanges.
It was difficult for me to read these letters and notes through unclouded eyes. What could be sadder than what happened to the Frank family during the Nazi reign? But Otto Frank emerges from this letter exchange, in my mind, as almost a saint. Ms. Wilson-Granat, now a writer and lecturer, is dedicated to bringing Mr. Frank’s message of hope and forgiveness to the world. Tree of Hope is based upon a line Otto Frank brought to Cara’s awareness, paraphrased: 'even if the death of the world were imminent, I would plant a tree.' And through all young Cara’s teenage angst, and later her despair at America’s ills through the sixties and seventies (musing on her favorite popular songs, films, and fashions), he guided her, planting two trees of hope in Israel in her and her husband’s honor. She now inspires us all to plant trees, symbols of hope for a better future. I believe that Tree of Hope by Cara Wilson-Granat should find its place in bookstores and libraries right next to The Diary of Anne Frank, not only for the perpetuation of Otto Frank’s philosophies but also for Ms. Wilson-Granat’s having preserved and presented them for the transcendent beauty and truth they embody.
