The globally recognizable diary of Anne Frank holds countless avenues of discussable information. However, what I have found to be particularly shocking, and in some ways unfortunate, is the controversy surrounding the diary itself. Many different cases have risen that are attempting to ban the diary from being taught to children of an elementary age as it is being accused of containing pornographic content.  One mother was claiming to be protecting her child from the content within the diary by attempting to get it banned. The unfortunate piece of this is the content itself that is being accused of being pornographic. A diary — not meant to be seen by anyone other than the author herself — elaborates on a young girl’s new experience with her own body. A Michigan mother says that her daughter, of 13, is too young to be reading something of that nature (International Business Times). A girl of that age is usually just beginning to discover the very scary new world of puppetry. Anne was only a year older than the mother’s child when she wrote in her diary. This only reinforces how that age group is curious about such things as they start to become more aware of them. The reassuring take away from this controversy is the reaction from scholars. Results of my research show that the predominant rebuttal to these claims are similar to my initial reaction — the mother’s perspective is skewed. Anne Frank lacked the ability to discuss the personal matters she wrote about in her diary with friends. This is a resource that most kids have. These discussions with friends could leave such conversations outside of the house and result in the mother being unaware of what is actually going on in the child mind. For this reason the mother could be given the benefit of the doubt when she was thinking of her daughter as being too young for these things. Unfortunately these accusations were made and now the controversy over the content within the diary travels with it.

O’Toole, Emer. “Anne Frank’s Diary.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 02 May 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
Brown, Eric. “Michigan Mom Calls For Bans On The Diary Of Anne Frank Due To Sexually Explicit Material.” International Business Times. Media Inc, 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.