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!!