The Book Thief #3

Compare a situation in the book to something in real life.

In “The Book Thief” Liesel is a young child who was adopted, she now lives with her adopted parents in Germany. Liesel begins to improve her writing at school, specifically writing letters. She decides when she gets home that night from school, to write a letter to her mother. Her adoptive parents were hesitant at first, but ultimately let her send a letter. Like Liesel, my mother was also adopted. She never knew her birth family, until she was in her 30’s and decided to search for them. She made a great effort in finding her family, and eventually found her mother, father, and many sisters and brothers. Their reaction was quite surprised when they all found out who my mother was and who I and my sister are.

Symbols

I feel if Liesel had to be a symbol she would be a book. One of the only thing that comforts Liesel is her books, they are the only two things she receives for Christmas, and she has reread each book over 8 times. She has also gotten into the habit of stealing books.

If “Papa” was a symbol I feel he would a paint brush and paint. To help Liesel better her reading and writing skills, papa lets her write on the basement walls over and over again. Once the wall is all filled up of the words she has written, he paints over them so she has a brand new canvas to continue learning.

If Rudy was a symbol I feel he would be a soccer ball. Playing soccer is how he and Liesel meet and become friends and I think in her life, he represents a true friend, and the act of playing. Now that Liesel is new to this town, school and neighborhood, Rudy represents someone who is always there, not because he has to be, but because he wants to.

If “Mama” was a symbol she would be a sack of laundry. To make some extra money, Mama and Liesel travel around the town and collect peoples’ laundry to wash and dry. Once the recession hits in Germany during Hitler’s rein, many people cannot continue to pay for Mama and Liesel to do their laundry. Because of this, Mama sends out Liesel to do all of the work because she feels most people cannot say no to a child, especially since mama told her to say her mother was sick and they need extra money.

What would you say to convince the librarian to put this book in the library?

I would tell the librarian that this book can be beneficial to students because of the historical aspect of it. The story takes place during Hitler’s ruling in world war two and I think if students were learning about this time period they can read about it from the perspective of someone actually living at the time, instead of just history books. This can provide the reader with the emotions of those living at this time period and a different view point and how the actions taken by those in power trickle down to the citizens living there.