Activity Número Three — a playlist for the book

Here are the songs that I think will match key points in the book! They are all decent-ish songs, some better than others but I think they all suit the book well.

Fix You by Coldplay. This song is sad and depressing but also uplifting in a twisted sort of way. I think this song would be great in a musical montage when Liesel and Max are trading dream stories and are in the process of becoming friends. In a way, they need to fix each other, so this song is really great.

http://www.coldplay.com

Acoustic version of Destination by Imagine Dragons in the ITunes special edition album. This song is happy and upbeat and suits the moment when Liesel and Rudy are running away from almost getting caught in the process of stealing apples. It is a great and uplifting moment in the book and the song really symbolises that.

www.imaginedragonsmusic.com 

Nothing Left To Say by Imagine Dragons (again!) when Liesel comes out of the basement when Himmel Street is bombed. The song has an awesome instrumental solo in the middle that goes for a few minutes so I think that would be really great, as you could still hear Liesel's anguished cries over the top. 

www.imaginedragonsmusic.com 

And I can't real think of anymore, but I think these are the real turning points in the novel and I think these songs cover them nicely.

Activity Número Two — a book list for people who like The Book Thief

I have read a lot of books. I have also read a lot of books like The Book Thief, all of them decent and different in their own way. Here are my favourites:

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Great book, honestly. So Anne is this young Jewish girl, about our age, living during World War 2. Her suburb gets invaded by Nazi soldiers, so she and another family hide out in what they call the Annex, which is three small rooms hidden inside a building. Anne's diary is all about her life in the Annex, her crush on the only boy her age in the Annex, Peter, and how life would be without the Nazis. The book is quite sad, but ends quite abruptly. I won't spoil the ending but as the book isn't fictional it hits you quite hard.

Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman is quite different to Anne's Diary, and written for a younger reader, but I think if you enjoy The Book Thief then Boy Overboard will be a satisfying, quick easy read. It's about a brother and sister called Jamal and Bibi. They live in war-torn Afghanistan, and both of them dream of leading Australia to victory in the soccer World Cup. The book is about their journey and their adjusting to Australia once they arrive. It's quite simple but still good.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is by John Boyne and is also set in World War Two. It's about a boy, Bruno, who forms a forbidden friendship with 'the boy in the striped pyjamas' through a barbed wire fence. Turns out, the boy is a Jew, Bruno was raised by Nazi Germans, and the boy is stuck inside a concentration camp. Not the best recipe for a blooming friendship, right? Right. Good book though.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is a very confronting book. It is, again, set in World War Two, but this time it's set in France. A ten year old girl is roused from her sleep during the night. The police are arresting all the Jews in the city and stuffing them all away into the velodrome. Sarah, however, doesn't know this. All she can think about is keeping her younger brother safe. She doesn't want him to be arrested, and, thinking they'll be back in a few hours, she locks him in a cupboard in the family apartment. Ironic that Sarah, so intent on saving her brothers life, is the only one of her family to survive. All of this information is unearthed by a journalist, who is the main character of the book, although Sarah's is definitely the main story. A hard hitting, confronting book.

And that is my list, all the books are definitely worth reading!!

Activity Número Two — who I would cast in the film and why

Now, I know that The Book Thief is actually being made into a movie and I tried to avoid as many crossovers as I could BUT in some cases the person who was cast really really was the best for the role so that was unavoidable. So here goes: these are who I would cast as the 6 main-est characters in The Book Thief....

Willow Shields as Liesel Meminger because she did an amazing job portraying the weak and innocent in The Hunger Games as Prim, so I think she'd be a great Liesel. Liesel is scared and alone, and Willow Shields acts forlornly so well! I think she'd pull it off, and pull it off brilliantly.

Kevin Clarke as Rudy Steiner, because he looks a lot like I imagined Rudy in the book. He has lemon coloured hair and that mischievous glint in his eye that seems to automatically trigger the teacher 'trouble' radar. 

Geoffery Rush as Papa. I originally thought Richard Gere would be good, but after I saw stills for the actual movie I decided that Geoffery Rush will be perfecto as Hans Hubermann. He appears nice, caring and companionate, everything Markus Zusak intended Papa to be. I think he will be amazing, and I'm glad he has really been cast!

Ansel Elgort as Max because Ansel Elgort is fab and also because Max is fab. And also because Ansel looks like how I imagined Max. And also because they're both fab. Did I mention that already? No.

Julie Walters as Rosa, because SHE IS EXACTLY HOW I IMAGINED HER WHILE READING IT! You may know Julie Walters from her supportive role in Mamma Mia! or her brilliant performance as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. I think she would be amazing as Mama, as she has proved to us that she can be both stern and fun loving in turn, when needed.

Meryl Streep as Isla Herman, because Meryl Streep can be anyone and is always the bomb. I also think she would look great in a bathrobe, which is the Mayors wife's outfit of choice most times Liesel visits her. And also because Meryl Streep is just one of the most amazing actresses of all time and she is in all the good movies. No movie is complete without Meryl Streep. Wehey, that almost rhymed.

AND MORGAN FREEMAN AS DEATH BECAUSE IF THE GUY CAN PLAY GOD HE CAN SPEAK FOR DEATH!

Okay, I'm done. If I could act I'd want to be Liesel, but I can't act so there goes that idea!

Activity Número One — a diary entry from the character I most relate to.

Played soccer today. We smashed Liesel's teem to pulp. She had Tommy Müller on her team, which was a definite sign she was going to loose. That kid couldn't kick a ball if it was sitting on a podium in front of him, wearing a dress and distracted. Never actually seen a ball in a dress. Should get onto that. I had soup for dinner, yuck. I'm so sick of not eating, I'm hungry all the time and I've actually noticed my stomach getting smaller. Maybe Liesel will kiss me if I'm skinny.... Aha, there's the silver lining! That's what Papa always says, that when life gives you a storm cloud you should look for the silver lining around the outside and that counts as the small bit of good in the big bit of bad. Sort of like this war, I guess. Except that Himmel Street is the small good bit and Germany is the gargantuan bad bit. Good word that, gargantuan, means enormous, Liesel's Papa told me so. I hate Hitler. I should have written that. But I did, so there. I'll write it again. I hate Hitler. I. Hate. Hitler. I. HATE. HITLER. There, I said it, and it's true. I'm going to have to say a thousand Heil Hitlers before I'll be a good boy again, dammit. I hate this war. I hate this country. Oh well. I don't want to be like Liesel and get a train somewhere and lose someone on the way. Wouldn't want to risk it. Speaking of Liesel, need to think of new plans vis à vis the kissing scenario. Hmm. Must get on to that. Jesse Owens, over and out.

Activity Numéro Three — my initial response to the novel

I think that the book will end as the war does. A lot of well written books based around the timelines of real events follow the same structure: the books begin when the event begins, and ends when it ends. I think the main resolution of the book is that war will end on the Jews and Rudy and Liesel end up together (cross your fingers!!). I know it's wishful thinking, but I just want a book that has an excessively happy ending!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?! But I digress: this book is actually nicely painful, it makes you feel just sad enough to enjoy it but not sad enough to stop reading. Although it hurts me to voice it, I think Rudy will go to war and die. Sob. I also think Papa will get called in but he will return sans a limb or two. I think Isla Herman and Rosa Hubermann will become good friends, and I think Death will come for them all when they hit a ripe old age and can tell their great grandchildren about their Jewish buddy Max, who incidentally WILL NOT DIE, and shall also live to a ripe old age. I am actually not expecting any of that to happen, except maybe the Liesel/Rudy pairing. I'm hoping for it all though! 

Activity Número One — characters likely to experience the most changes

I think the characters most likely to experience monumental changes throughout the book are Liesel Meminger, Rosa Hubermann and Death himself. Liesel is the central character in the novel, so she was always destined to have the most brutal hardships thrown her way. Even in the first few pages she experiences changes: her brother dies, her mother (essentially) abandons her, she finds a book, she comes to live in Himmel Street with a friendly man and foul-mouthed women, and she makes some new friends. Liesel grows up, she begins to steal, she stops having her nightmares, she does the ironing. The further you get into the book, the more Liesle changes.

Death experiences changes of a completely different kind. At the beginning of the book, we get the impression that Death finds his job dull, a repetition of the same chore every day for eternity. But then he notices Liesel. Death sees her three times before she dies, and each time he takes a special interest in her stories, remembering them, guarding them for her. We see Death become more and more apologetic towards Liesel, although he knows he has no control over the task he has to carry out. 

Rosa Hubermann herself doesn't change, but Death and Liesel's perception of her changes, and that is sort of the same thing. We see her become friendlier and more accommodating to Liesel, dropping the 'saumensch' and the 'arschloch' and began to actually acknowledge Liesel as a real human being.

Activity Número Three — My initial reactions to the novel

(For the sake of this post, I'll just pretend I haven't read the full book and am only familiar with the parts of the book the questions refer to! May make it easier to answer the questions as the book is so long!) 

I am enjoying the book so far, although the start was a bit slow. It didn't really take me too long to figure out that the narrator himself was actually Death, the cloaked figure that haunts many dreams. Something that surprised me, and instilled in me even more awe for Markus Zusak as an author: in the first chapter, the narrator is downright likeable! Is it possible for Death to be friendly and have a sense of humour, whilst still having to carry out the somber task of collecting human souls? We see how this unusual interpretation of Death notices small Liesel Meminger when he comes to collect the soul of her dead younger brother. He watches her, in her immense grief, collect a book: The Grave Diggers Handbook. It is, as Death phrases it, "Her first act of book thievery." 

The writing style is very poetic, with small subheadings followed by realisations sprinkled throughout. Markus Zusak's vocabulary is immense, his phrasing unusual and his characters detailed, as though they are people he is really familiar with outside of his books. The opening chapter is enthralling, drawing you in, and before you know it you've finished Part 1 and Liesel's living with the Hubermann's and learning to write.