What is the time period in which the book happens and how did this impact the story?
The time period of the story is in the year 1939 during World War II. The impact was people were losing their lives because of their beliefs. Liesel’s love for reading makes her start stealing books from book burnings. She also helps by hiding a Jewish man from nearly being executed. The man’s name was Max Vandenburg, and he was an old friend of Hans during World War I. Liesel’s family helps him by hiding the man down in their basement until this war was completely over. /5
List three cause/effect relationships found in the book.
One example of a cause and effect relationship is Liesel likes to read books so she steals them from book burnings, and if she gets caught she’ll be punished or even worse, executed. Another example would be Han’s old friend from World War I, Max Vandenburg. Max has to hide in the family’s basement, but if the Nazis find out, everyone, including Max would be killed. One more example would be when German soldiers were marching with some Jews; Hans acted generously and gave one of the Jews a piece of bread, because of the Germans’ reaction Hans got drafted into the military. /10
What did the title have to do with the book?
The reason the book is called, “The Book Thief,” is it named after Liesel’s actions. Liesel loves books and reading so much that she steals the books to keep them safe from being burned by the
The setting of the book is in World War II where many people were forced to abandoned their homes because of the holocaust. Like Max, many Jews had to hide or be forced to concentration camps and leave their families. Liesel has to grow up in period of fear, hate, and guilt. An example of this is when Hans gives bread to a dying Jewish man and is beaten and called a Jew lover. This example illustrates why Jewish people had so much to fear.
The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.
11 million people died during the Holocaust. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger loses many of her loved ones. At the beginning of the book, Liesel’s brother dies of illness on a train, and her mother is taken away by the Nazis for being a communist. After losing everyone she ever cared about, the story drags Liesel into a humble household where she discovers her passion for books, and her love for her family and friends. However, her loved ones are once again torn away from her as Himmel Street, the street she lives on, gets bombed. She loses her foster parents, her best friend, and everyone else she came to know. As a result of these adverse events, Liesel’s innocence was stolen from her. In The Book Thief, loss plays an essential role in developing characters, especially Liesel. After losing Werner, her brother, Liesel is plagued by
In The Book Thief, a work of historical fiction, written by Markus Zusak introduces the main character Liesel Meminger, the reader starts to see how she keeps having many conflicts but always stays positive. Liesel has many conflicts, for example her brother dies early in the book and that shapes the way she is. Later on Liesel steals books and that makes her happy because the first book she stole was the grave digger's handbook and that is how she remembers her brother. Liesel steals and reads books this is how she finds happiness with all the bad things going on around her. In the end of the book most of the people she loves die and it is hard for her to find happiness again. The author uses the setting and point of view to express theme and to make the reader feel sympathy; He uses this because with the theme of finding light in the darkness, deaths perception, and the setting of Germany makes the theme clearer.
Liesel Meminger is the daughter of Paula Meminger. She is also the sister of late Warren Meminger. Consequently, she steals the first book in the novel, called The Gravedigger's Handbook. Therefore, Death gave her the nickname of “ the book thief” before us knowing that she would become “the book thief”. Liesel Meminger is the hardworking, book-thieving, kind-hearted protagonist of The Book Thief. She loves books so much that she steals them, even before knowing how to read. All of this started because stealing books reminds her of Warren Meminger. This is even she bonds more with Hans Hubermann, her foster father, dedicates his time to teach her how to read. We might be asking, why hasn’t she gotten an education at the age of 10. The answer is not as clear as others, but it definitely has to do with Liesel father’s communist affiliations. He was part of the German Communist Party, that was popular when Hitler took over. This is also the reason why she had to be fostered.
Liesel’s intense love for books engulfs her and yet she lived in a nation where the revulsion words and books has reached its peak. The fact about her is that “she was a girl. In Nazi Germany. How fitting that she was discovering the power of words”(Zusak 147). This passage really captures the true meaning of The Book Thief. The author’s way of incorporating such gorgeous language is incredible and very attractive to the eyes. Zusak’s use of sentence fragments increases the reader’s need to continue reading and understanding the novel. The qoute shows how Liesel was determined to keep what was most beloved to her closest, her books. Liesel enjoyed All around her were book burnings where beautiful literature was destroyed and it broke her heart
explores her love of books and her thrive to steal she is acquainted with a Jew, who comes to
In The Book Thief, the author, Markus Zusak writes a beautiful story following a young German girl named Liesel who experiences the atrocities that occur during World War II. Early in the book, she is given by her mother to foster parents who raise her as their own. During her childhood, she begins stealing books and learns about the power of words. Throughout the story, she bonds with many people including her neighbors, her foster parents and a Jew hidden in their basement. Most of the characters end up dying due to the horrible living conditions and time period the book takes place in.
As Liesel grows up, she steals books more often and it begins to become a habit of hers. Each book impacted Liesel in a specific way and she begins to use the words that she has learned from her books to help her grow and prosper, as well as to help her with her journey and experiences. Liesel begins to have an obsession with stealing these books and her obsession is ironic in many ways.
When we had to choose book for our literature circle discussion, we had an option to pick one book out of six. I picked The book thief, because it looked very interesting and I never read it before. Basically, Liesel was taken in foster family to start the new way of life. She moved from her town to Molching, Germany, close to Munich. The book thief talks about struggles of German girl and her foster family during the World War II.
The book is about a young girl named Liesel Meminger living with adoptive parents in World War II Germany. The book thief, Liesel, shows resistance to the cruel Nazis in many ways, one of which is stealing books from the Nazi book burnings. In a description of such an act, “Smoke lifted from the cover as she juggled it and hurried away (Zusak 121).” Another way that Liesel defies Hitler’s cruelty is by quietly voicing her beliefs against him when she says, “I hate Hitler (Zusak 115).” Liesel and her adoptive parents, for much of the book, also take in and care for a jewish man, Max, when he is on the run from Nazi soldiers. Liesel Meminger and the various characters of the book thief show a quiet but vibrant resistance to the hate and intolerance of the Nazi
The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger, whose brother, mother, and father died, and had to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann right before World War II. When they were burying her brother, she steals a book from a grave-digger. Later, when the book burning started, Liesel realizes how her mother and father died, and steals a book from the burning books. She is seen by the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann, who invited Liesel to read in her room. Later, a man named Max, a Jew, saves Hans's life, so he tries to hide him in his basement. When the Germans saw Hans giving food to the other Jews, Max is sent away and Hans is sent to a military service. Liesel loses hope, and she starts writing a book in the Hubermanns' basement because she wanted to blame
Although she is found out by the Hermanns, no charges are pressed, most likely due to the Hermann’s being able to see that books are symbolic in helping Liesel escape from the wrold she is in. But reading the books isn’t all of what gives her means to cope, the act of stealing them does as well. Thievary is realtively common in the novel as not only books are stolen but also things such as food, but after liesel stole the grave diggers handbook it gave her a sense of power and control of her own little world which she continued to use as means to make her life seem better. Her constant reading is waht eventualy inspires her to write her own story which she titles The Book Thief. Not until after an allied bombing on her town at which point she leaves,the narrator, death snatches the book she has written, The Book Thief. The story of Liesel wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for stealing the grave robbers
The main character of the book is a curious young girl by the name of Liesel Meminger. Often referred to throughout the novel as ‘the book thief’ (hence the title), Liesel is a strong-willed character with her own moral compass that just so happens to clash with the one being forced upon other children her age by the Nazi regime. As she enters
Liesel loves to read and it doesn't take her long to withhold her title as Book Thief. She starts with The Grave Digger’s Handbook which is the book she picks up after her brother’s death. Hans teachers her to read and painted her a “chalkboard” in the basement so that she can write down the new words she has learned. There ends up being a town “parade” which is really a book burning event where Hitler and the Nazis are commemorated, during this time Germany was looking towards invading new countries. Liesel is handed a book and pressured to throw it into the fire, to which she eventually does so. However, once the fire has been put out and everyone has gone home, she notices a book that is only slightly charred, not destroyed by the fire and picks it up. A car drives by and a woman, who is Ilsa Herman, the mayor’s wife, sees her take the book, but Liesel hides it under her coat and runs away quickly back home.