Long before it became a hiding place for Anne Frank, the “tall, narrow house” on an Amsterdam canal served many different roles. Constructed in 1635, the brick house with a green front door housed a succession of families: the stonemason who built it; a young woman and her twelve children, who weathered a plague there; a wealthy merchant and his wife, who renovated it. It became a horse stable, and then a chemist’s workplace. It survived a fire. It was home to many more families over the years, families with children who played on the roof between the front house and annex, and who spent time under the chestnut tree in the garden. When World War II began, the house was empty. Otto Frank purchased it for his business in 1941. His diarist daughter, “a young girl with a sweet smile,” is the house’s most famous occupant. After the war, Anne’s father returned to the house alone. He shared his daughter’s diary with the world, and later he helped to turn the house into a museum visited by all kinds of people. Beautifully detailed, earth-toned illustrations perfectly complement this illuminating narrative about a house with a rich and tragic history.

"Deeply moving, powerful, and breathtaking." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A house reveals the story of its inhabitants, including Anne Frank—and honors four centuries of history—in a moving and exquisitely illustrated picture book from the creators of The House by the Lake.

In the middle of Amsterdam is a house on a canal with a green door. Over four hundred years, it has quietly witnessed love, desperation, and historic change. Sometimes the narrow house was splendidly decorated, humming with life and love; other times, it stood empty, in near ruins. Sometimes the green door was open and inviting; other times, it was closed against cold and plague or to conceal the victims of wartime persecution. The house’s last occupant, a young girl with a sweet smile, would famously document her time there. In her diary, Anne Frank wrote of “the old house on the canal,” and today people come from far and wide to visit what stands as a universal symbol of hope and resilience. Thomas Harding’s lyrical text and concise back matter reveal history through the changing face and fortunes of a remarkable structure. Impeccably researched, Britta Teckentrup’s dreamy mixed-media collages, including a map and archival imagery, perfectly echo the layered narrative and capture the ethereal nature of time and circumstance.