The extraordinary #1 New
York Times bestseller that will be in movie theaters on November 15,
2013, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed
the soul. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The
country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become
busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who
scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters
something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster
father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors
during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. In
superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus
Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most
enduring stories of our time.
I really liked this book, and I think it does offer great discussion.Students are generally interested in WWII and the Holocaust, and there is an ongoing "discussion" of sorts on the power of words--Hitler's greatest weapon was his words, just as the little girl's power for good is in her words. Moreover, she is determined to learn to read and must put a lot of effort into it, which might be interesting for some of our struggling readers to connect with. It's a very emotional book--there were parts were I could not stop crying--which may be a bit of a downer for a summer read, but also makes you really love the book and its characters. Ultimately though, the book is VERY LONG (576 pages according to Amazon), and thus would be rather daunting to many of our students.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely separate note, this book was stolen from my class library a couple years ago, and thus provided a good teaching example of irony: The Book Thief had been stolen! :)
The book is told from the perspective of Death, which creates an interesting narrative structure in that the narrator can skip from one death or near-death where he was "present" to another. I agree that students would be interested in the subject matter--survival during WWII--and I think they'd like the main character. I love a book that makes me cry, and this definitely did that. (Even though Death had warned us many times how things were going to turn out, the ending is still very sad).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm concerned that many (or most) wouldn't read the whole thing.
Very good book, with an interesting perspective as it is told by Death. It is a topic (WWII) that many students are interested in, but is very long, and can be overwhelming and daunting for people, including constant readers like myself. Based on those currently being considered which I have read, I would say Berlin Boxing Club would be a better option if wanting to do a WWII History fiction book.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be the voice of dissent on this one. I found the fragmented installments by Death to be exhaustingly clever and tiresome. I was eventually able to finish this heartbreaking story when the narrative was sort of given over to the flesh and blood characters but I agree that there are other WWII history books that might appeal more. ms
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