The Book Thief

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2005

ISBN: 978-0375842207 

Summary: Liesel Meminger, age 9, has already stolen her first book by the time she arrives at her foster home outside Munich in 1939 Nazi Germany. She took it from the cemetery where they buried her younger brother on the way to what was supposed to be their new home. Liesel can’t read yet, but when her nightmares about her brother’s death cause her to cry out, her accordion-playing foster father sits with her throughout the night, reading her stolen book aloud to calm her. She slowly learns to read, but books are rare in poverty-stricken Germany, leading her to steal again, this time from a bonfire in honor of the Fuher’s birthday. As Liesel grows she steals more books, helps hide a Jew in the basement, falls in love, and comes full circle by reading aloud in the neighborhood bomb shelter during air raids, calming the living nightmares of those around her.

Critical Analysis: The Book Thief seems like it should be a historic fiction novel, but there’s a twist, Death is the omniscient narrator and his presence as a character places this novel in the low fantasy genre. He is the best character of the novel—witty, descriptive to the point of poetic, and complex. He is fond of putting bold snippets of facts, descriptions, and spoilers centered on the page, just to make sure you see them. Somehow little Liesel captures his attention and he keeps an eye on her whenever he has the opportunity. However, he’s particularly busy collecting souls from the mass carnage that is World War II, so we witness only episodes of her life as she grows to be a teenager. As a narrator Death attempts to be dispassionate, but he never quite manages to be so. 

Liesel is likeable enough, but because of Death’s studied detachment, you never get to really know her. We do know how Death feels about her, his admiration primarily, but also his empathy toward her trials and his sadness about what she still must face. In fact, that is how Death looks at almost all the characters in the novel—whether it’s the incorrigible boy next door, Rudy, Liesel’s foster mother and father, the Hubermann’s, the Jew they hide in the basement, Max, and even the neighbor who regularly spits on the Hubermann’s door. Oddly enough, Death’s vivid descriptions are what makes the characters live. 

Although the subject matter of life touched by war is complex, the plot is not. The conclusion is satisfying and realistic. 

What I found to be most refreshing is Zusak’s treatment of the German people and his clear separation between Germans and the Nazi’s. He allows us to feel sympathy for the German people after decades of studying WWII and falsely classifying Germans and Nazis as one and the same. 

Awards:

 

ALA Notable Book

National Jewish Book Award

Michael L. Printz Honor Book

New York Times #1 Best Seller

Quill Award Nominee

Reviews: 

School Library Journal: “Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax…An extraordinary narrative.” 

USA Today: “The Book Thief is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic.” 

New York Times: “Brilliant and hugely ambitious…The hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence.”

 

More Great Books About World War II:

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Baroletti

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Book Thief has been made into a major motion picture. Here are some other movies you may enjoy.

Life is Beautiful. Lionsgate, 1998. PG-13. Directed by and Starring Roberto Benigni. Italian with English Subtitles.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Miramax Lionsgate, 2008. PG-13 Directed by Mark Herman. Starring Asa Butterfield and David Thewlis

Empire of the Sun. Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros. 1987. PG. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Christian Bale

Questions to Ponder:

What was the first book you remember reading?

Liesel regularly breaks into the mayor’s house in order to steal books. What lengths would you go to in order to read?

Created for Texas Woman’s University course LS 5603.21

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Title: Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Illustrator: K. G. Campbell

Publisher: Sommersville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6040-6 

Summary: 10-year-old cynic Flora Belle Buckman lived a boring life—her only excitement came in the form of her comic books starring The Amazing Incandesto—until the day the next-door neighbor’s vacuum cleaner sucked up a common squirrel and he emerged as Ulysses, the super-strong, flying, poetry-writing superhero rodent! As she serves as Ulysses’ mentor and guardian, Flora’s life becomes more interesting. Aside from teaching Ulysses how to use his power for good, Flora has to determine Ulysses’ arch-nemesis. Is his mortal enemy the new boy next door, the cat at her father’s apartment building, Mary Ann, or (gasp) her own mother? Only a series of misadventures will tell!

 

Critical Analysis: DiCamillo’s Newbery-winning Flora & Ulysses transitional novel is a fun jaunt into low fantasy. Short chapters written from two viewpoints and sprinkled with full page illustrations liven the reading.   Flora & Ulysses is told in two different styles—DiCamillo’s text gives way at certain points and is replaced by Campbell’s humorous comic strip-style illustrations to move the comical story along. The combination should appeal to transitional and experienced readers alike. Full of fun-to-say words like “Holy Bagumba,” “quark,” “seal blubber,” and “malfeasance” make this a cheery read-aloud for middle elementary and up. 

The real beauty of the novel is the characters—they are wacky and loveable. The new boy, William Spiver, has a vocabulary beyond his years (as does Flora) and a psychosomatic vision disorder. Flora’s mom is amusingly annoyed and angry; her father is absent-minded; her neighbor Mrs.Tootie Tickham is relatively normal; and Dr. Meescham is upbeat and full of faith. Mary Ann is just smug, a pretty impressive feat for a lamp. They are all great fun, but Flora and Ulysses are the strongest.  

Flora’s cynical mantra is “Do not hope; instead, observe.” At the beginning of the novel she has wrapped herself into a cynical cocoon, escaping into comic books and avoiding her mother. However, her efforts to squash hope prove futile because one can’t help but feel that things will get better with a superhero around. Her confidence in comic books as reference material in coping with everything from training superheroes to CPR is amusing. DiCamillo manages to make her protagonist prickly, tender, and relatable all at once. Ulysses, being a squirrel, is more limited in his depth, yet it makes perfect sense that his thoughts tend to be centered around food and Flora’s lovely round head. 

It all boils down to a laugh-out-loud tale of discovering hope. And a superhero squirrel.

 

Awards:

2014 Newbery Medal

2014 Texas Bluebonnet Award

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Reviews:

 School Library Journal: “Rife with marvelously rich vocabulary reminiscent of the early superhero era…and amusing glimpses at the world from the point of view of Ulysses the supersquirrel, this book will appeal to a broad audience of sophisticated readers. There are plenty of action sequences, but the novel primarily swells in the realm of sensitive, hopeful, and quietly philosophical literature.”

Publishers Weekly: “Despite supremely quirky characters and dialogue worthy of an SAT prep class, there’s real emotion at the heart of this story involving two kids who have been failed by the most important people in their lives: their parents.”

Huffington Post: “laugh-out-loud funny, tender, difficult and hopeful all at once…Cynics beware, this book is meant for those open to joy, wonder, loyalty and friendship of all stripes.”

.Activity and Website:

Create your own superhero. Would you use an animal? If so, what animal would you choose? What awesome name would you give your superhero? No hero would be complete without an arch-enemy. Who would be your hero’s nemesis?

Will the Heimlich Maneuver work on a squirrel? Find out how to do the Heimlich Maneuver

 

Created for Texas Woman’s University course LS 5603.21