January 2007 - Posts
Few books give me chills anymore. Fewer still can make me cry. The Book Thief accomplished both of these goals. You may not consider chills & crying over a book a goal, but sometimes it's just such an unexpected release... I finished this book over two weeks ago and I still get chills when I think about it...
Death is the narrator. He is the one to tell us the Book Thief's story. Surprised? I'll admit I was! I was floored that Death was the narrator. I thought, "How morbid is that?" but when the setting is WWII Germany, Death becomes the most appropriate person (floating figure?) for the job. Death sees life in colors. He describes the colors he sees while he works, and we even get his favorite:
Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see--the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.
Who can blame him for a small pleasure with such a grisly job? At least he can try and enjoy the colors, but be warned - he can't always enjoy the colors because of the terribly heavy load he has to carry throughout the war.
When we meet Leisel she is on a train with her mother and little brother, on her way to a "safer" life. (Her father was associated with communism & if I remember correctly seems to have disappeared. Her mother is sickly.) Her brother dies on the train and that is how Death meets the Book Thief. It is only Leisel who goes on to stay with Hans & Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a gentle soul who plays the accordian and helps to ease Leisel's nightmares by helping her learn to read. His wife Rosa is a force to be reckoned with. She tolerates no foolishness and swears in just about every sentence she mutters, whether she's in a good mood or bad. ***There is quite a bit of swearing in German going on. You are given the English definitions once, then they are in German for the rest of the book.***
Life is dificult. There's not enough food or work to go around. Himmel Street where the Hubermann's live is pretty much the last area of Munich you would want to be living. The irony here? Himmel street translates to Heaven, and it's a far cry from that.
Leisel makes a great friend in Rudy, the next door neighbor boy. Rudy is a head-strong young man who doesn't take a lot of flack from others. His involvement with the Hitler Youth gives a little known view into what it involved and what the boys' purpose was. This can lead him into sticky situations (that he does create for himself, but when you rebel because you believe in something, is it wrong? I'll leave you to decide for yourselves.)
Things become more complicated when a stranger associated to the Hubermann's through Hans' history shows up. His story could actually be considered worse than Leisel's, but when you're talking about a country torn up by war, how could things not be difficult? When he has to leave, he leaves Leisel a gift that he worked on painstakingly. His story within Leisel's story is moving and powerful, especially with our current knowledge of things that happened during WWII. That definitely doesn't mean you can't learn something from this book.
I'm thinking I'm going to have to end this review, because if I let myself continue on I'll give away the ending. I couldn't in good conscience deny you your right to cry over the end. I will say that the ending did surprise me.
All in all, this is a powerful, gritty story that deserves the Michael L. Printz Honor Award (besides other acclaims like the Kathleen Mitchell Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries inaugural Teen Book Award, and the Jewish National Book Award (in the Young Adult \ Childrens’ division). Markus was also chosen as one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Young Writers of the year.
I'd recommend this title to:
- anyone fascinated by WWII
- historical fiction readers
- those who like an excellently told story-great plot, dialogue, even the way the book is divided/formatted
- EVERYONE! (you might see that from me A LOT!)
FYI - if you liked this title you may want to check out his other book, I Am the Messenger. I can't really tell you much about this one other than it's in my pile of 'To Read' books which never seems to get any smaller....
I have had a question about comments on the blog. To the sender of said comment, yes, for right now that's how you post them to this blog. I can't personally respond to your comment unless you enter your e-mail address in the required field.
(To send a comment, select the e-mail tab in the top left side of the blog and enter your information and your comment and send away! If you enter my information it tells me that I commented to myself and that just confused me since I had no recollection of commenting to myself!)
I have thought about enabling the comments on this blog, but I don't want the content to get out of control.
So, to my commentor, I thank you. To all others who read this, who want to weigh in on maybe having a little library discussion going on, let me know!
Is classical music your thing? If so, you're going to love this site!
This week's site is for the music lover in you. You can browse by performer, composer, instrument, form and period.
Musopen
http://www.musopen.com/
You can find some information on the composers (some even have images), rank the pieces, plus you will see the title, form, instrument, composer, period and performer once you've arrived at what you seek!
The best part - FREE DOWNLOADS!
You can also find information on how to add to their collection, what the requirements are (such as materials being copyright free plus good sound quality). You can find the goals of the site, FAQ's and even a user forum where you can find helpful information on using the site.
Do you check your e-mail obsessively? Do you like to read and haven't figured out how to squeeze it in with your busy schedule?
If your answer was "YES!" then have I got the site for you! I was completely ecstatic when I came across this site:
DailyLit
http://www.dailylit.com/
The site is simple: search for a title or author, enter your e-mail and how often you want the story delivered to you.
You will receive an e-mail to confirm that you want to sign up, then you can click on a link to have the first installment sent to you!
Each book/play/short story has a number in brackets next to it so you can see how many parts are in the book, and that's how many e-mails you will receive in total! You will receive one section per day, unless you click on the link in your e-mail to have the next part sent to you!
A word of warning: You will NOT find the newest John Grisham or Danielle Steel novel here. This site is dedicated to materials that are no longer copyrighted. There is still a lot to choose from! Austen, Dickens, Aristotle, the Bronte sisters (yes all 3!), Daniel Defoe, T.S. Eliot, Dickenson, Shakespeare, Machiavelli and that's just the tip of the iceberg! (Is my geekiness shining through here? If not, I'll just let it out: YAAAAAYYYYYYY!! CLASSICS!!!!)
SO if you want to catch up on some of the classics, or you just love to read and explore new ideas this is the place to go!
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
The lyrical language of Dr. King resonates just as much today as it did in 1967. Read this lesser-known speech and see what you think about it.
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/staffdir/staff2/Griensewic_Virjean.html
This is a site put together by Virjean Griensewic, a Dakota Meadows Middle School Media Specialist here in Mankato. She has links to many sites with information on the Holocaust.
Under the "Rescuers from the Holocaust" link, if you click on the Table of Contents you can read the contents of the book on-line.
There are also links to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the United States Holocaust Museum.