The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
R&E By: Molly K.
Summary
The Book Thief is about a young girl named Liesel Memminger, who got
separated from her mother and her brother. Her brother, only six, dies on
the train ride to the foster home. Liesel’s not really sure why she has to
leave her mother, she just knows that she doesn’t want to live with Rosa
Hubberman, and she especially doesn’t want to call her Mama. But soon
she comes to love her foster father (Papa), Hans Hubberman. After one of
her nightly bad dreams, Hans discovers The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a
book that Liesel found on the ground at her brother’s burial. Her first act
of thievery. This starts the Midnight Reading Class. After every nightmare
Liesel has, Papa starts another reading session, which is how Liesel
actually learned to read. This increased Liesel’s love for books. Soon
Liesel finds herself caught up in school, street soccer, the Jew in the
basement, and above all, thievery.
R - Liesel’s Memory Box
Box Contents
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
One mini The Shoulder Shrug
One mini The Grave Digger’s Handbook
One mini The Word Shaker + The Standover Man
One bouncy ball
One paper accordion
Three mini apples (fake)
One mini bookcase
One pipe cleaner hanger
Two letter cards
Books
R - Liesel’s Memory Box
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Shoulder Shrug represents the book that Liesel stole from the book burning.
The Grave Digger’s Handbook represents the book that Liesel stole from her
brother’s burial at the beginning of the book.
The Word Shaker + The Standover Man represent the stories that Max gave Liesel.
The bouncy ball represents Himmel St. soccer with Rudy, Tommy, and the other
Himmel St. kids.
The paper accordion represents when Hans would play his accordion for Liesel.
The three mini apples represent stealing food with Rudy and a bunch of older kids
from the Himmel St. area.
The book case represents the mayor’s library, where Liesel was allowed to borrow
books. This also represents Ilsa Herrmann. She was the mayor’s wife. She let
Liesel borrow the books and read in the library when she brought over the
laundry.
The pipe cleaner hanger represents Rosa Hubberman. She was very strict, but
Liesel learned to love her anyway. She also made Liesel deliver the laundry.
The two letter cards represent how Hans helped her learn the alphabet.
E - Trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center
This year, one of my Hebrew School teachers did a Holocaust unit with my
class. To end this unit, my class went to the Holocaust Memorial Center.
We saw some things that were amazing, some things that were scary, and
some that were just plain mean. One of the things that I thought was
scary was a huge picture of Hitler at the end of a hall way. It is really scary
when you stand really close to it. An amazing thing was a marble wall that
had the names of countries and the number of Jews that died in that
country. Hardly any Jews died in Denmark, but millions of Jews died in
Poland! Another thing that I thought was amazing is Anne Frank’s tree. A
few years ago, the tree that Anne Frank could see out the window, was
chopped down. There were pieces that people could enter essays to try to
win. The Holocaust Memorial Center won! There were also some things I
recognized from the book thief, like a diorama of a book burning. At the
end to finish everything off, a Holocaust survivor came in to tell us about
there time in the Holocaust. His name was Henry Friedman. He actually
survived a labor camp! I thought that was really cool! Overall, I liked my
trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center
The End!