Summer Assignment Entry #1 (6/29)

     For my summer reading assignment, I chose to read the book The Book Thief. There is a good variety of different level/importance characters. There's the main character, Liesel Meminger, who has just moved in with foster parents (in NAZI Germany) after her brother dies and her mom can't take care of her. She has integrated pretty well into her new life, and has made friends and helps out around the house. Her main problem right now in the story is that she wants to write to her mom but Hitler took her mom away (why she can't take care of Liesel). So that's Liesel so far in the book, next is the narrator.

     The narrator is Death, but not foreboding depressing death like you might find in some stories, but a sarcastic and humorous death with multiple side comments put in along the story to show you his perspective. An example is his description of Liesel's foster-mother:

   SOME FACTS ABOUT

ROSA HUBERMANN

She was five feet, one inch tall and wore her

browny gray strands of elastic hair in a bun.

To supplement the Hubermann income, she did

the washing and ironing for five of the wealthier

households in Molching.

Her cooking was atrocious.

She possessed the unique ability to aggravate

 almost anyone she ever met.

But she did love Liesel Meminger.

(35)

 

     Liesel's foster mother is described above, but her foster dad is about the opposite. He plays the accordion and annoys Rosa, and overall gets Liesel's adoration. Their family is very poor, because he's a painter and hardly gets work and Rosa has a little money from the laundry of the rich.

 

     I had already seen the movie before I decided to read the book, and to this point in the book I think that the movie portrays the story pretty well. The only noticeable difference is in the movie it portrays her forster parents as older than in the book and doesn't have Death's commentary on the story and characters.

 

     Right now in the story Liesel is at a NAZI book burning and I predict she will take a book from the things being burned because the title of the book is The Book Thief and Death referenced that she would "strike again" (taking a book) in this chapter so I'm guessing that'll happen here.

 

     I haven't gotten into the thick of the plot yet so everything up to this point is explained so I don't have any questions yet I'll be sure to include those when I get some.

 

Below is the most popular cover of the book.