Theme

         Imagine your mother is hauled away by the Nazis because she is a Communist, and you are sent to live with foster parents. Liesel Meminger, in The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusac, has lived this exact story.

         This book is about coping with extreme tragic events. Liesel, a girl orphaned by her mother, overcomes tragic events by exhibiting strength and courageousness throughout the book. Her story is one in which many terrible things happen. One way she copes with tragedy is by reading books. When she reads a book, she becomes a part of the book’s world, and reality of her own world is lost. In the beginning of the book her brother dies right next to her. Liesel deals with her brother’s death by stealing her first book. This book, The Gravediggers Handbook, is something she cannot read, but eventually her foster father, Hans Hubermann, teaches her to read. As she reads this book, she finds that the book is a great way to escape from reality. Second, when Liesel finds out that her original mother is dead, she reads the book that she stole from one of the bonfires that celebrated Hitler’s birthday. This shows her bravery because she doesn’t believe in what Hitler is doing in Germany. In The Book Thief, she says, “I hate the Fuher.” Then, her foster father tells her that she can’t say that in public, but it’s fine in private. She is rebelling against Hitler by stealing a book at his celebration. Lastly, she shows courage because at the end of the story when everyone on her block dies, including her foster parents and her best friend, in a bombing, she walks proudly out of the mayor’s office and down into the street, so that people would see she is a survivor. She also leaves a letter of apology to the librarian for stealing books. One way that Liesel continues on with her life is she starts writing a diary. To conclude, Liesel has had a hard life. Her original mother was a communist and was taken away by the Nazis when she was only 9 years old. She falls in love with reading when her foster father teaches her how to read.
        She uses reading to cope with tragedy. She develops a great friend, Rudy, and has many adventures with him. She loses her parents, her brother and her best friend. Liesel shows strength by defying Hitler’s government and tries to start her life over by writing down her anecdotes.

The Book Thief By Marcus Zusac

I just started reading the book " The Book Thief , " by Markus Zusac. this book is a little confusing so far, but i think that's because the narrator was unclear to me in the beginning. They start off the book saying " First the colors, then the humans ". Then Death, the narrator, goes on about how everybody will eventually die. Making it unclear to me about what he or she is. But then it gets a little more clear when he starts to follow the girl on the train when her brother dies unexpectedly on the train to go meet her new foster parents. One thing, this is not in present day, this book takes place in Nazi Germany in WWII. The main charter so far is the girl that death follows around is named Liesel. In this book death is like a person, he goes around places and looks at people and takes the souls out of dead people. But he follows liesel around her entire life. And now that she is dead he is telling the story of her, The Book Thief. That's what he always calls her. When her brother died and he was berried a book fell out of the grave digger's pocket. Liesel, who is illiterate finds this book. Death says that she starts to steal books from the Nazis' so i can infer that she must eventually learn to read and write.
When Liesel gets to her foster parents she refuses to get out of the car. When they finally get her out of the car, she grabs on to the fence creating more of a problem for her new parents. But the soon straiten her out and she accepts her new family, and eventually likes it. They are poor, but not as poor as her old family. Her old family had their house blew up and was dirt poor before that so they needed to get rid of their kids. I think that Liesel will start stealing her books from the Hitler Youth place that she goes to now that she is 10 years old. I also know that they start to hide Jews in their basement because death says that she gets a book from one of them. I still have yet to find what the conflict will be but i know that it will have something to do with Lesiel stealing books

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

         Hi I am reading a book named "The Absolutely true diary of a Part Time Indian," this book is about a Native American boy named Junior, well Junior isn't his real name, it's Arnold. The book is a autobiography. When Junior was a kid, like about 4 years old, he had too much spinal fluid in his head and he had to have a surgery. he wasn't supposed to live after the surgery but he made it through. He looks kind of weird and dorky (as he describes it). He loves to draw cartoons. People always pick on him too for having an abnormally large head. Kids spin him around and say " I want to go hear!" and point to a spot on his head, then they just laugh and leave. He lives on a reservation, or what he calls 'the rez'. His only friend is a kid named Rowdy and he is a big kid with a large temper that sets off quickly. Rowdy tries his best to protect Junior as well as he can. Kids always pick fights and beat up Junior. So Rowdy beats the other kids who pick on Junior. 
          So one day in class Junior's teacher is passing out the math textbooks. Junior is one of the only kids on the entire rez that really is exited for school. He really likes going and he is exited for his first year of high school. But when he opens his textbook he sees that his mother's name is in the textbook. When he sees that the school hasen't bought new textbooks in almost 30 years he gets super mad. So mad that he throws his textbook across the room and it hits his teacher right in the nose. The book actually breaks his nose. Junior gets suspended from his school on the reservation. Then his teacher comes to talk to him. I didn't make it past there. 
          I think Junior would be a little better off in life, and might not get teased so much if he just could defend himself. In his Native American reservation fighting happens a lot. So maybe that would help him more. I think soon he will end up standing up for himself, he will have to eventually. But thats all for now, see you next time-- Sam