THE BOOK THIEF
Part 6
WHAT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE
FRONT COVERS OF THE BOOK?
HOW DO THE TEXT FEATURES HELP ME
IDENTIFY WHY ZUSAK WROTE THE NOVEL?

Text Features: (see handout)
Photos
 Drawings
 Magnification
 Bold print
 Colored prints
 Italics
 Bullets
 Titles/headings

**Basically, looking at each cover, what text features of
each cover offer some sort of hint as to why Zusak wrote
the novel, or what the novel is about?**
DEATH’S DIARY: 1942

How does death feel about war? Is he in charge?
If not, who is?
“they often came after me as I wander through the
streets of molested cities They beg me to take them
with me, not realizing I’m too busy as it is……I
complain internally as I go about my work, and some
years, the souls and bodies don’t add up; they
multiply” (308)
 The “cost” of war

3 HISTORICAL EVENTS
REFERENCEDPAGE 308
“The desperate Jews”= concentration
camps/holocaust/extermination camps
 “The Russian soldiers”= Battle of Stalingrad
 “The soaked bodies of a French coast”=
D-Day on the beaches of Normandy

Zusak uses this
to frame the
history of 1942,
piling the deaths
up in a way to
express how
exponentially
deadly that
period in human
history was.
PAGE 309 “SO MANY HUMANS, SO MANY
COLORS”

“They keep triggering inside me. They harass my
memory. I see them tall in their heap, all
mounted on top of each other. There is air like
plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are
skies manufactured by people, punctured and
leaking, and there are soft, coal-colored clouds,
beating like black hearts.”
*How does this
Statement characterize
the narrator’s feeling
toward war?
“skies manufactured by people” is referencing
the bombing, the smoke from bombs, etc…
2ND REVOLUTION AND STALIN “THE
MURDER OF HIS OWN PEOPLE” (309)

Battle of Stalingrad
http://www.history.com/topics/josephstalin/videos#world-war-ii-battle-of-stalingrad
WAR IS LIKE A BOSS…OVER DEATH

“To me, war is like the new boss who expects the
impossible. He stands over your shoulder
repeating one thing incessantly: “Get it done, get
it done.” So you work harder. You get the job
done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He
asks for more.”
What is the author’s
purpose in having the
narrator describe war
as a boss?
THE SNOWBALL SCENE
Do you see the mix
of lightness and
darkness in this
scene? Where?
The scene from page 311 to 313 is light hearted
and innocent.
 Reading these pages again, what about this
passage helps readers to better “get to know” and
understand the Hubermann’s as a family? How
has your view of the family changed from the
beginning?

PAGE 313 MAX FALLS ILL
“there was an accordion in their ears, a snowman
in their eyes, and for Liesel, there was the
thought of Max’s last words before she left him by
the fire” (313)
 “This was no virus….it started with Adolf…”
(315)


Why is Max “ill?”
Analyze how Max’s illness changes
the complex character of Rosa; how has
she developed since Max first arrived?

PAGE 316
“IT WAS A PARADOX...”

“He was the second snowman to be melting away before
her eyes, only this one was different. It was a
paradox….The colder he became, the more he melted.”
What was the “first” snowman?
 How is this a paradox? Explain…
 Remember the definition of paradox:


a statement or group of statements that leads to a
contradiction or a situation which (if true) defies logic or
reason, similar to circular reasoning
13 PRESENTS

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What is significant about the number 13? Do you
think the author did this on purpose?
#1- a deflated kick ball
#2- one ribbon
How is “gift searching”
#3- one pinecone
a distraction and way to
cope for Liesel?
#4- one button
#5- one stone
#6- one feather
#7- two newspapers
#8- a candy wrapper
#9- a cloud
Why do you think some of
#10- one toy solider
the gifts are literal while
others are figurative?
#11- one miraculous leaf
#12- a finished whistler
#13- a slab of grief
A QUEST!


Liesel puts herself on a mission, maybe to
distract herself from the reality of Max’s
condition, maybe for a sense of personal
challenge, and maybe just a combination of any
number of things. But she becomes determined
to finish off The Whistler in a final journey.
Did you know? The Whistler was an American
radio mystery drama which ran from May 16,
1942 until September 22, 1955. It was sponsored
by the Signal Oil Company
DEATH VS MAX

“it was nice to be fought off in that dark little
room….” (318)

From the narrator’s description of Max’s fighting,
how can we (the reader) draw inferences that help to
understand Death’s perspective of Max?
Stylistically, the author is showing versus telling in
this description of Liesel. Analyze in what ways the
author has achieved this….In particular, determine
the words within the phrase
“It didn’t stop her from pulling a lump of salt water from
her eye and feeding it into Max Vandenburg’s face.”
(324)
CLOUDS….

“…It was like a great white beast,” she said at
her next bedside vigil, “and it came from over the
mountains” (319)
When the sentence is complete, with several different
adjustments and additions, Liesel feels as if she’s
done it. She imagines the vision of it passing from
her hand to his (Hans), through the blankets, and she
writes it down on a scrap of paper, placing the stone
on top of it.
 Here, we have those clouds again. Do you remember
the significance of the clouds in part 1? How is that
same connection/significance illustrated in the above
passage?

CAN WORDS CURE MAX?

Liesel uses The Dream Catcher to continue to
hope that Max will be inspired by her words and
wake up, that they’ll be able to laugh about their
ridiculous journey and that something in her life
will be ok. Two chapters a day. That’s what she
reads to Max, one of them before she goes to
school in the morning, the other the second she
returns home.

“She gave The Dream Carrier to max as if the words
alone could nourish him. On a Tuesday, she thought
there was movement. She could have sworn his eyes What
“cracks?”
had opened. If they had, it was only momentarily,
and it was more likely just her imagination and
wishful thinking…..By mid-March, the cracks began
to appear” (328)
PAGE 330 “HE’S NOT DEAD YET”

“…a sentence dropped from her mouth. “He’s not dead yet.”
The words landed on the table and positioned themselves
in the middle. All three people looked at them. Half hopes
didn’t dare raise any higher. He isn’t dead yet. He isn’t
dead yet….”
 Reading this passage above, what is the tone of this
scene? (see your tone hand out and next slide)
 What theme is suggested by the words in red?
 Predict: what would happen to the family if Max dies
now?
**Often a change or shift in tone will be
signaled by the following:
-Key words such as but, yet, nevertheless,
however, although
-Punctuation such as dashes, periods, colons,
semicolons
TONE WORDS! (SEE HAND OUT AS WELL- THESE
ARE JUST A FEW)
1. accusatory-charging of wrong doing
2. apathetic-indifferent due to lack of energy or concern
3. awe-solemn wonder
4. bitter-exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or
grief
5. cynical-questions the basic sincerity and goodness of people
6. condescension; condescending-a feeling of superiority
7. callous-unfeeling, insensitive to feelings of others
8. contemplative-studying, thinking, reflecting on an issue
9. critical-finding fault
10. choleric-hot-tempered, easily angered
11. contemptuous-showing or feeling that something is
worthless or lacks respect
12. caustic-intense use of sarcasm; stinging, biting
13.conventional-lacking spontaneity, originality, and
individuality
14. disdainful-scornful
15. didactic-author attempts to educate or instruct the reader
MAX AWAKENS BUT SO DOES WAR….

War as a boss metaphor seen again: “yes, the
boss was at my shoulder. Get it done, get it
done…..The bombs were coming- and so was I”
(335).

We see this metaphor continued but what other
metaphors, or comparisons, is the author making
here when he aligns the awakening of Max to the
awakening of war in Europe?
“LUBECK WAS HAILED WITH BOMBS…NEXT IN
LINE WOULD BE COLOGNE…” (PAGE 335)
DEATH’S DIARY: COLOGNE

From pages 336 to 338, the author presents
strong images of death. We learn more and more
about the war and Death’s thoughts on the war.

“Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers,
like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder. It
was only the children I carried in my arms” (226)image of death
PAGE 336

“…the sky was yellow, like burning newspaper. If
I looked closely, I could see the words, reporting
headlines, commentating on the progress of war
and so forth. How I’d have loved to pull it all
down, to screw up the newspaper sky and toss it
away. My arms ached and I couldn’t afford to
burn my fingers. There was still so much work to
be done…” (336)

Death focuses on individual souls this time….how is
the reader’s perspective of Death changing here?
PAGE 337- EMPTY FUEL TANKS
“The fuel,” “The tank.” “They used up the empty
container. Look, there’s another one over there.”
“And there!” “Kids being kids, they all searched
frantically at that point, trying to find an empty
fuel container floating to the ground.”
 “Just past the rubble of Cologne, a group of kids
collected empty fuel containers, dropped by their
enemies. As usual, I collected humans. I was tire.
And the year wasn’t even halfway over yet.”

The author is creating a metaphor here….to what is he comparing
the empty fuel tanks?
PAGE 340, “LSR”

“Luft Schutz Raum: Air Raid Shelter”
PAGE 341- CONTRAST

“My papa,” she said. ‘They sky, she noticed, was
utterly blue. Not even the suggestion of a cloud.’
“Could you get him, Rudy?”
How could such terrible things happen on such
beautiful days?
 The author creates a juxtaposition of scenes
here….what effect does this contrast have on the
reader?

“YOU’RE ALIVE…WE ALL ARE” PAGE 346

“Max Vandenburg sat beneath the steps, holding
his rusty scissors like a knife. His armpits were
soggy and the words fell like injuries from his
mouth” (345)
IS THE WORLD A GOOD OR A BAD PLACE?

“It was June. It was Germany. Things were on
the verge of decay. Liesel was unaware of this.
For her, the Jew in her basement had not been
revealed. Her foster parents were not taken
away, and she herself had contributed greatly to
both of these accomplishments….” “Everything’s
good,” she said, and she was not talking about a
soccer injury of any description. She was fine.”
(348)
-What are some differences
between the “physical” soccer
injury and the “emotional”
injury caused by almost losing
Max?
-We see contrast again in this
passage. Explain…
THIRD ENTRY OF
“DEATH’S DIARY”- THE PARISIANS

What does the author mean when he tells reader,
“the sky was the color of Jews?” (349)
“they just kept feeding me. Minute after minute.
Shower after shower.”
 “the smell like a stove, but still so cold”

**How does the author’s use of color symbolism create
the feeling of tension or suspense?
DEATH TALKS TO GOD…PAGE 350
“I shiver when I remember- as I try to de-realize
it. I blow warm air into my hands, to heat them
up. But it’s hard to keep them warm when the
souls still shiver. God. I always say that name
when I think of it. God. Twice, I speak it. I say
His name in futile attempt to understand.”
 “But it’s not your job to understand.” That’s me
who answers. God never says anything.”

JUNE 23, 1942: GROUP OF FRENCH JEWS
IN A GERMAN PRISON ON POLISH SOIL

Actual historical event:

Thousands of Lvov Jews are killed at Janówska,
Ukraine, and Piaski, Poland.
“EVEN THE CLOUDS WERE TRYING TO GET
AWAY…” PAGE 350

“Please believe me when I tell you that I picked
up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I
even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listed
to their last, gasping cries. Their vanished words,
I watched their lore visions and freed them from
their fears.”
Why Death so concerned with what we think of
him? Analyze this particular view point and
draw an inference.
PAGE 350, “THEY WERE FRENCH, THEY
WERE JEWS, AND THEY WERE YOU.”


“…sun was blonde, and the endless atmosphere
was a giant blue eye…” (350)
Here, analyze how the author’s choices
concerning word choice and imagery create
contrast in the end of part 6.