Summer Assignment Part 2

Liesel: A young German girl, who has been given to the Hubermann household as a foster child. She becomes fascinated with books and other literature. She is very close to her foster father and has a rough but loving relationship with her foster mother. She befriends Max, a Jew who shares the same love for reading and books that she does. She also befriends the mayor's wife who allows Liesel to read her collection of books.

Hans and Rosa Hubermann: They are the foster parents of Liesel and care for her very much, though each have a different way of showing it. Rosa is a bit rough around the edges, swearing frequently and being a bit over protective. Hans is more loving towards their new daughter. Teaching her how to read and write.

Rudy: He is Liesel's best friend and has a small crush on her. He works very hard to be an athlete and eventually achieves his goal. At a Hitler Youth competition, he wins three gold medals. He is rebellious by nature and his mouth tends to get him in trouble. He acts on impulse alone sometimes and wanted to be Jesse Owens to an extent where he colored himself black and ran around the track. He is the only boy in his large family besides his father, who is taken by the Nazi Party after Rudy declines the offer to join himself.

Max: The Hubermanns hide Max in their basement due to a favor Hans owes to Max's father for saving his life in WWI. He grew up as a fist fighter on the streets and made an unforgiving voyage to the Hubermann's home.

Summer Assignment Part 1

For my summer reading assignment, I chose the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's centered around a nine year-old girl named Liesel Meminger. The book is set in Nazi Germany. During this time period, any books that, in any way, promoted going against rule and social acceptance were banned. Liesel is a curious young girl who was fascinated by a book she found during her younger brother's funeral. Said brother died during the train ride to Liesel's new home, where she is going to be given new parents. She learns to read and write from her new parents and met another kid name Rudy, who has a crush on her.

I can predict that her fascination with books will eventually get her into trouble. Both within her town and her government. There was a movie about this book that came out last year. I haven't seen it, but have heard that it did a good job of keeping the original plot and story. One peculiar thing about this book, is that it's narrated by Death himself. That could be a foreshadowing of the characters perishing or just something to keep in the back of your head as a reader. Either way it is very strange.

I hadn't heard of this book until looking on the list, but it seemed somewhat interesting. At first I got it confused with the book Thief Lord. After reading the summaries and reviews for the book, I realized my, mistake. The book is very interesting, due to who is narrating, the circumstances of history, and how it all plays into what Liesel is trying to do. And that is simply read a few books.