The Book Thief By Markus Zusak R&E By: Molly K.

Summary The Book Thief is about a young girl named Liesel Memminger, who got separated from her mother and her brother. Her brother, only six, dies on the train ride to the foster home. Liesel’s not really sure why she has to leave her mother, she just knows that she doesn’t want to live with Rosa Hubberman, and she especially doesn’t want to call her Mama. But soon she comes to love her foster father (Papa), Hans Hubberman. After one of her nightly bad dreams, Hans discovers The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book that Liesel found on the ground at her brother’s burial. Her first act of thievery. This starts the Midnight Reading Class. After every nightmare Liesel has, Papa starts another reading session, which is how Liesel actually learned to read. This increased Liesel’s love for books. Soon Liesel finds herself caught up in school, street soccer, the Jew in the basement, and above all, thievery.

R - Liesel’s Memory Box Box Contents One mini The Shoulder Shrug One mini The Grave Digger’s Handbook One mini The Word Shaker + The Standover Man One bouncy ball One paper accordion Three mini apples (fake) One mini bookcase One pipe cleaner hanger Two letter cards Books

R - Liesel’s Memory Box The Shoulder Shrug represents the book that Liesel stole from the book burning. The Grave Digger’s Handbook represents the book that Liesel stole from her brother’s burial at the beginning of the book. The Word Shaker + The Standover Man represent the stories that Max gave Liesel. The bouncy ball represents Himmel St. soccer with Rudy, Tommy, and the other Himmel St. kids. The paper accordion represents when Hans would play his accordion for Liesel. The three mini apples represent stealing food with Rudy and a bunch of older kids from the Himmel St. area. The book case represents the mayor’s library, where Liesel was allowed to borrow books. This also represents Ilsa Herrmann. She was the mayor’s wife. She let Liesel borrow the books and read in the library when she brought over the laundry. The pipe cleaner hanger represents Rosa Hubberman. She was very strict, but Liesel learned to love her anyway. She also made Liesel deliver the laundry. The two letter cards represent how Hans helped her learn the alphabet.

E - Trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center This year, one of my Hebrew School teachers did a Holocaust unit with my class. To end this unit, my class went to the Holocaust Memorial Center. We saw some things that were amazing, some things that were scary, and some that were just plain mean. One of the things that I thought was scary was a huge picture of Hitler at the end of a hall way. It is really scary when you stand really close to it. An amazing thing was a marble wall that had the names of countries and the number of Jews that died in that country. Hardly any Jews died in Denmark, but millions of Jews died in Poland! Another thing that I thought was amazing is Anne Frank’s tree. A few years ago, the tree that Anne Frank could see out the window, was chopped down. There were pieces that people could enter essays to try to win. The Holocaust Memorial Center won! There were also some things I recognized from the book thief, like a diorama of a book burning. At the end to finish everything off, a Holocaust survivor came in to tell us about there time in the Holocaust. His name was Henry Friedman. He actually survived a labor camp! I thought that was really cool! Overall, I liked my trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center

The End!