The Book Thief (thank you Polly for this idea)

So Polly asked me why is this book called The Book Thief which isn't a bad question. This book is so complex and about so many different things and yet it focuses it's title on a seemingly small and rather removable part of the story. But for Liesel it isn't something small, it's not something she can take out of her life. For her stealing books, at least in the beginning was a show of defiance. She was trying to prove something to everyone, she could read, and not only that she could steal books away from Hitler in order to do it. Even though it's something small in her eyes it was the only thing she could do to try to fight off Hitler. Hitler who took away her mother, in a sense killed her brother, made Max run away and forced him to go to a concentration camp, had her papa beaten in the street, then had him sent to war, Hitler who hated words and had them burned. Liesel hated Hitler for so many reasons, so for her anything she could do to fight him was worth it. So that's why I think it's called The Book Thief because the book is about her journey, from the tiny quiet girl on the train, to the strong girl fighting off Hitler with words. And it all started with a book she found buried in the snow.

The Book Thief Note that there are spoilers... I guess there are in all of them...

A long times ago I read Of Mice and Men, and I didn't really like it because not too much happened during the whole book, and then at the very end all of the sudden there was a flash of action. This book almost felt like that, but it was better. Not too much happens throughout this book, it's kind of just showing you the day to day life of this girl, and her life just happens to be taking place on a backdrop of major world events. But things do happen, and it also creates a sort of emotional connection between the reader and the characters, and then of course at the end a bomb falls on the city and everyone is killed. You do get a warning in the middle of the book that Rudy dies, but it still leaves you heartbroken at the end, with the all of the intense detail about the complete and utter destruction. It leaves you feeling so terrible for Liesel, she's lost everyone important to her in her life. It's like once she's finally able to build up her life make friends, become a family with her foster parents, all of that is gone in one second, and it leaves her with one one left to turn to. 

The Book Thief- Question Prompt 1

This was an overall enjoyable book, there was only one part that was really weird. There's this boy named Rudy and he and Liesel are best friends and all he wants from her is a kiss, he's always doing things for her in hopes she'll kiss him. But she never does. Then at the very end of the book her town gets bombed and everyone dies but her (because she was sitting in the basement). So she's running around looking for her dead friends and family and she finds Rudy and she kisses him for a really long time, and then weirdest of all she goes and tells his father (who survived because he was away at war). But other then that weird little bit it was really good, it's written with tons and tons of description. Death sees moments in colors, "The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness." Overall I definitely recommend it, it's very interesting (and slightly confusing) and it's written in a beautiful and very interesting style. 

The Book Thief- Question Prompt 3

In the beginning and throughout most of the book it seems that the antagonist is Hitler. For Liesel, Hitler represents everything bad in her life, he's the reason her mother abandoned her, the reason Max had to hide, the reason her papa had to go to war. In the end of the book though you could say death was the antagonist because though Hitler tried to take away everyone from her life, he wasn't fully able to do so. However death takes away her parents, her brother, Rudy, and everyone else she knows and loves.
The protagonist is Liesel, at the very beginning of the book she is completely innocent, all she knows is her brother is dead and her mama doesn't want her anymore. And suddenly she is in the care of complete strangers. Without the help of her papa she never would have been able to fully grow and become the book thief. He's there for her every night when she is most vulnerable.
Liesel represents innocents and good in the world. Hitler represents all the bad, because by the end of the book he's managed to take away everything from her.