Back to: CBSE 10th English Chapters Summary
For Anne, writing a diary is a strange experience because she thinks that no one will be interested in a thirteen-year-old girl’s writings, but she decides to write anyway.
While getting bored inside her house, she decides that no one else would be allowed to read her diary except her good friend (apparently if she makes one). This reminds her of the fact that she had to have a diary as she has no friends.
She starts to write about herself. She believes that no one would believe that Anne is alone. However, according to her, she is not alone. She has parents, a loving sister, and around thirty people she can call friends, but she lacks a best-friend. She decides to make the diary her best-friend and names her “Kitty.” She writes about her life.
Her father, whom she calls “adorable,” married her mother when he was thirty-six, and she was twenty-five. Her sister’s name is Margot. Anne lived in Frankfurt till she was four. Her parents migrated to Holland while Anne and Margot were sent to Aachen to live with their grandmother. Margot went to Aachen first, followed by Anne, as Anne was presented to Margot as a birthday gift.
Anne was admitted to a Montessori nursery school, where she studied until six. Anne and the school headmistress developed a good bond, and both were in tears when Anne left that school. Anne’s twelfth birthday went with a little celebration as her grandmother fell ill and had to undergo an operation. Her Grandma died in 1942, Anne was heart-broken.
Anne writes in her diary, “Dearest Kitty.”
On that particular day, the entire class was anxious. The reason was a meeting that was about to be held shortly. In such a meeting, teachers decide to promote and demote all the students based on their academic records. Everyone was nervous and fearful. Anne and her friend laughed at two boys who had bets regarding their promotion or demotion. Anne thinks that the class is full of dumb students who should be demoted. However, teachers, according to her, are very unpredictable.
Anne and her friends are confident about their promotion, but the only subject that bothers Anne is mathematics. Till the results are out, they cannot do anything but wait.
Anne is very friendly with her teachers. She has a total of nine teachers. The only teacher that is annoyed by Anne is Mr. Keesing, who teaches mathematics. According to Mr. Keesing, Anne talked too much. That is why he gave Anne extra homework. The title of the homework was “A Chatterbox.”
At home, after completing her homework. Anne started to think about the extra homework, “A Chatterbox.” Anne knew that she could write anything to fill up the pages. However, she wanted to write something convincing and satisfactory. After much thinking, Anne wrote the three pages that Mr. Keesing assigned her.
She wrote that talking was a characteristic of a student, and she would try her best to keep it under control. She also wrote that she would not give up talking as her mother also talked that much, and it is challenging to give up inherited traits.
Mr. Keesing laughed at her arguments and decided to give her a new assignment. This time it was “An Incorrigible Chatterbox.” Anne wrote an essay on this title too. However, to her utter surprise, Mr. Keesing gave her another essay titled “Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox.”
Anne had a friend named Sanne, who was very good at poetry and helped her write the essay in poetic verses. The poem was about a mother duck and a father swan with three ducklings. The father killed the three ducklings because they quacked too much. Mr. Keesing was trying to teach Anne a lesson, but Anne left no stone unturned to return his kind favor.
He read the whole poem to the class, positively took the joke, and allowed Anne to talk in the class freely.
