Hitler’s Daughter by Jackie French, is a thought-provoking book about a story that may

or may not be true. One of the characters, Anna introduces a story about Hitler’s
Daughter. A story that catches Mark’s attention, Mark begins to wonder if it’s true.
Curiosity is explored in Hitler’s Daughter through Anna’s story. The points I will cover in
this essay are; Mark’s dialogues are mostly questions, Mark embodies the IB learner
profile Inquirer and Thinker perfectly and how the story is the cause to Mark’s curiosity.

Mark’s dialogues are mostly questions. It is evident that Mark is a curious person
because of the amount of questions he asks. If not all then most of his questions are
because of Anna’s story. “Did… did Heidi ever tell anyone? About who her father
was?”(pg.134). “How would it finish?”(pg.103). “Would it go on till Heidi was grown up?
Or did she die in the war?(pg.103). The author might have made Mark ask a lot of
questions because it’s mostly his point of view and he might ask some questions we
think about. Mark sometimes takes his questions to his parents or teachers rather than
asking them all to Anna. Since his questions are spread out throughout each chapter,
there is not a chapter where we are bombarded with Mark’s questions.

Mark embodies the IB learner profile inquirer and thinker perfectly. It is evident that he
has these qualities because he is always thinking about the story, different themes that
relate to the story and wondering if the story is true. The more he thinks about the story,
the more we might be able to find out. Mark even asks his Dad on page 46 about what
Mark’s Dad would do if Mark was a mass murderer. “Hey, what would you do is I was a
mass murderer?”(pg.46). Mark is clearly a person who wants to know the answers to
everything. Since he is always thinking about the story, he embodies the qualities really
well.

The story is the cause of Mark’s curiosity. It was shown ever since the first page that he
is a curious person. ‘... do cows ever get colds?’(pg.1). He became even more curious
after Anna introduced the story. Anna’s story triggered his curiosity even more by
quizzing him “All the things that your Mum and Dad believe in - have you wondered if
they are right or wrong?...”(pg.35). That opened up Mark’s curiosity even more. Mark
even told himself at night that it was nothing more than a story. ‘It was only a story…
Just a story, nothing more. It wasn’t true…’(pg.43). Anna confirmed at the end of the
story that it’s “... only a story. Just pretend, that’s all.”(pg.136). Mark repeats part of what
Anna said “Just pretend”(pg.136). I think maybe Mark has calmed down now that Anna
has finished her story.

Curiosity is definatly explored through Anna’s story. Most of Mark’s dialogues are mostly
questions, Mark expresses the IB learner profile inquirer and thinker perfectly and the
story is what made Mark so curious. Would you take Anna’s story seriously.