8/9/2014
Out of all the books within the Printz Award winners and honor books, I chose this book because it looked interesting, and also when I went to the store to look for a book from the list, the only books I could find were, this book, and 2 other books, which were both romance books that, and I have never read a romance book, i'm not a very romantic person (ask anyone) therefore I don't find any interest in reading romance books. Also I chose this book because I have a German friend who is very sensitive when it comes to the holocaust and I thought reading a book about it and how it was back then might help me understand why and how they feel.
I would recommend this book to anybody out there who would like to see, or imagine, how life was during the holocaust, because this book has a good depiction of how life was back then, I don't know if it was true or not, but it sure is interesting and detailed. I would also recommend it to anyone who collects books and loves to read (you know who you are), because well, its a book, and on top of that, it's a GOOD book! Also to someone who wants to feel like they're reading a diary, because this is sort of like the grim reapers diary on accounts of events that have happened to a little girl named Liesel.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Summer reading project post 3- The Book Thief
8/9/2014
"Everyone in his family was crowded together in their family room when he slipped our and made his way to the kitchen. He pulled some charcoal from the stove and gripped it in the smallness of his hands. 'Now.' There was a smile. He was ready. He smeared the charcoal on, nice and thick, till he was covered in black. Even his hair received a once-over.
"Everyone in his family was crowded together in their family room when he slipped our and made his way to the kitchen. He pulled some charcoal from the stove and gripped it in the smallness of his hands. 'Now.' There was a smile. He was ready. He smeared the charcoal on, nice and thick, till he was covered in black. Even his hair received a once-over.
In the window, the boy grinned almost maniacally at his reflection, and in his shorts and tank top, he quietly abducted his older brother's bike and pedaled it up the street, heading for Hubert Oval. In one of his pockets, he'd hidden a few pieces of extra charcoal, in case some of it wore off later."
I chose this small little selection from The Book Thief to try and convince some of you out there reading this blog post, to read the book. The reason I chose this little section of the book is because it seems to be a little interesting. I mean there's a boy who sneaks away from his family while they are in the family room and covers himself in charcoal, steals his brothers bike, and heads off to some place called Hubert Oval (read the book and you'll know what it is). I hope this gets some of you out there to at least consider this book.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Summer reading project post 2- The Book Thief
8/8/2014
In this post i'll be talking about complex characters in this book, themes the book implies, and how the book is structured. Some complex characters in this book are, Liesel whos backstory is explained in the beginning with her brothers death, and her being dropped off at a foster home to live there, her mother being gone and leaving Liesel with no idea of where she might be or what could have happened to her. All she wants now is to live her life and learn to read and maybe find out where her mother is. Another complex character is Hans Hubermann, we dont know much about Hans Hubermann yet, and I dont know if I can consider him a complex character, he has a background, not that we know much about it except that he learned from some man to play the accordion and that later this man, or what he learned from this man would later save his life, but to me, the idea of not knowing much about him but knowing that all this will happen and we will find out later what it is that will save his life, is what makes him complex. Now onto the theme, I think the theme of this story would be, Always try your hardest no matter what obstacle lay ahead of you.
I think this because Liesel has to overcome so many obstacles in her life but she never gives up, she had to overcome the inability to read, and being put into the lower grade kids where she stood out like a big giant, and overcoming the move, and maybe later in the story there will be more things that more characters have to overcome, like for instance right now we know that Hans Hubermann will have to avoid death some way. Lastly we'll talk about the structure of the book. It's written sort of like a diary, the grim reapers diary, recording every single important event that has happened in Liesels life, theres even little entries, and summaries of those entries throughout the entire book.
In this post i'll be talking about complex characters in this book, themes the book implies, and how the book is structured. Some complex characters in this book are, Liesel whos backstory is explained in the beginning with her brothers death, and her being dropped off at a foster home to live there, her mother being gone and leaving Liesel with no idea of where she might be or what could have happened to her. All she wants now is to live her life and learn to read and maybe find out where her mother is. Another complex character is Hans Hubermann, we dont know much about Hans Hubermann yet, and I dont know if I can consider him a complex character, he has a background, not that we know much about it except that he learned from some man to play the accordion and that later this man, or what he learned from this man would later save his life, but to me, the idea of not knowing much about him but knowing that all this will happen and we will find out later what it is that will save his life, is what makes him complex. Now onto the theme, I think the theme of this story would be, Always try your hardest no matter what obstacle lay ahead of you.
I think this because Liesel has to overcome so many obstacles in her life but she never gives up, she had to overcome the inability to read, and being put into the lower grade kids where she stood out like a big giant, and overcoming the move, and maybe later in the story there will be more things that more characters have to overcome, like for instance right now we know that Hans Hubermann will have to avoid death some way. Lastly we'll talk about the structure of the book. It's written sort of like a diary, the grim reapers diary, recording every single important event that has happened in Liesels life, theres even little entries, and summaries of those entries throughout the entire book.
Summer reading project post 1-The Book Thief
8/8/2014
For my 10th grade summer reading project, I chose to read The Book Thief by: Markus Zusak. This book takes place during the holocaust in Germany where a little girl named Liesel Meminger, and her brother are being given up to a foster family in Munich, on a street called Himmel Street, which is odd because Himmel means heaven in English, but the neighborhood (and Germany at the time) was anything but heaven! However, on the train ride to Munich, Liesels brother becomes very ill, and dies in front of her eyes, which would lead to a haunting memory that would reoccur every night for years in her nightmares. After her brothers death she and her mother make a small funeral for him but have to quickly move on after Liesels mother drags her away from his grave, after Liesel secretly picks up a book on the ground near them as a small memory of her brother, ironically the book is titled "The Grave Diggers Handbook". Finally Liesel arrives at the foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, home, where she will be spending the next few years until she is off on her own.
Hans is a very kind man who loves to play the accordion and helps Liesel a lot in adjusting to the new home, he loves to roll and smoke cigarettes and is a very caring person. Rosa is umm... well basically the exact opposite of Hans, she isnt very welcoming at all and has a very short temper, she yells at Liesel and Hans a lot and curses a lot. So far the only conflict I've managed to find in the book as far as I've read, is Liesel losing her brother and having to deal with those nightmares of his death every night, and her adjusting to a new home (mainly because of Rosa I would call this a conflict, read the book and you'll understand). Now after reading just this much of the book I have to ask a few questions, 1. Why is Rosa so mean? 2. Who is narrating the book? I'm sure the first question isn't that important but still, i'm curious about how someone can be like that. As for my second question i have a prediction on who it might be, i'm just assuming its the grim reaper because it says he has seen millions of people die, and more eclipses than he cares to remember.
This book is pretty easy to connect to in the real world too, because of course the obvious one, the holocaust, and all the movies about the holocaust, and the families that have been affected by it.
For my 10th grade summer reading project, I chose to read The Book Thief by: Markus Zusak. This book takes place during the holocaust in Germany where a little girl named Liesel Meminger, and her brother are being given up to a foster family in Munich, on a street called Himmel Street, which is odd because Himmel means heaven in English, but the neighborhood (and Germany at the time) was anything but heaven! However, on the train ride to Munich, Liesels brother becomes very ill, and dies in front of her eyes, which would lead to a haunting memory that would reoccur every night for years in her nightmares. After her brothers death she and her mother make a small funeral for him but have to quickly move on after Liesels mother drags her away from his grave, after Liesel secretly picks up a book on the ground near them as a small memory of her brother, ironically the book is titled "The Grave Diggers Handbook". Finally Liesel arrives at the foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, home, where she will be spending the next few years until she is off on her own.
Hans is a very kind man who loves to play the accordion and helps Liesel a lot in adjusting to the new home, he loves to roll and smoke cigarettes and is a very caring person. Rosa is umm... well basically the exact opposite of Hans, she isnt very welcoming at all and has a very short temper, she yells at Liesel and Hans a lot and curses a lot. So far the only conflict I've managed to find in the book as far as I've read, is Liesel losing her brother and having to deal with those nightmares of his death every night, and her adjusting to a new home (mainly because of Rosa I would call this a conflict, read the book and you'll understand). Now after reading just this much of the book I have to ask a few questions, 1. Why is Rosa so mean? 2. Who is narrating the book? I'm sure the first question isn't that important but still, i'm curious about how someone can be like that. As for my second question i have a prediction on who it might be, i'm just assuming its the grim reaper because it says he has seen millions of people die, and more eclipses than he cares to remember.
This book is pretty easy to connect to in the real world too, because of course the obvious one, the holocaust, and all the movies about the holocaust, and the families that have been affected by it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)