|
Characters
|
|
|
Narrator
|
Death
|
|
Meminger
|
Liesel – the book thief
Werner – younger brother, deceased
Mother
|
|
Hubermann
|
Hans and Rosa
Hans Jr. – Nazi, fighting in army
Trudy – live-in housemaid
|
|
Steiner
|
Rudy – Liesel’s friend
Alex and Barbara – parents
5 other children – Kurt – oldest boy
|
|
Holtzapfel
|
Frau Holtzapel – spit on Hubermann’s door
Richard – son – killed in war
Michael – wounded – committed suicide as result of guilt of living
|
|
Vandenburg
|
Max –Jew hidden by Hubermanns
Erik – father – taught Hans to play accordion, saved Hans’ live in
WWI
|
|
Hermann
|
Ilsa – wife
Heinz – husband, mayor
Johann –deceased son
|
|
Others
|
Tommy Muller – classmate of Liesel and Rudy, ear infections, hearing
loss
Arthur Berg – leader of gang who stole food
Viktor Chemmel – gang leader after Arthur
Franz Deutscher – Hitler Youth, Rudy’s tormentor
|
|
Books
|
The Grave Digger’s Handbook
- stolen #1 from snow at Werner’s burial
The Shoulder Shrug - stolen
from fire #2
Faust the Dog – gift
The Lighthouse – gift
Mein Kampf – brought by
Hans from the Nazi Party office – used to make other books
The Whistler -
gift/returned/stolen from Ilsa #3 – read in bomb shelter and to Frau
Holtzapfel
The Standover Man – written
by Max
The Mud Men - gift
The Dream Carrier - stolen
from Ilsa #4
A Song in the Dark - stolen
from Ilsa #5
The Complete Duder Dictionary and
Thesaurus – gift from Ilsa
The Word Shaker – written
by Max
The Last Human Stranger –
gift from Ilsa
The Book Thief – written by
Liesel
|
For discussion:
NOTE: Page numbers refer to the hardback edition of
the book.
- Did you like the layout of the book; for example, the typeset of page numbers, text interspersed with bolded and numbered inserts, pictures?
- Did you like the way the author wrote; Death as the narrator (page 138), heavy foreshadowing (pages 147, 164, 243)?
- How would you describe Death’s personality? Did you like how Death was portrayed? Did this book make you view death with a different perspective?
- Discuss Michael Holtzapfel’s suicide and his feeling of guilt over wanting to live (page 503).
- Discuss Liesel’s desire to read and the descriptions by the author. Did you relate to this desire?
- her “hunger” to read (page 66)
- ”hold [the words] in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain” (page 80)
- “a mountain to climb” (page 86)
- the “power” of reading (page 147)
- When Max was ill, Liesel brought him presents that she found. How were these presents important to Liesel? To Max?
- Discuss Frau Holtzapfel: spitting on Hubermann’s door, asking Liesel to read to her.
- In the Hitler Youth carnival, why do you think Rudy disqualified himself on purpose in the last race?
- Many people made difficult decisions in this novel. What did you think of the following?
- Was Hans right to help the one Jew during the first forced march through town only to put Max and his own family in danger?
- Discuss the Steiner’s refusal to let the Nazi Party take Rudy away to school. Was this the best decision?
- Could you understand Alex Steiner’s “contradictory politics” (pages 59 &60)? Do you think this was typical of many German citizens? In point 5, what were the feelings he was afraid of?
- What did you think about the imaginary boxing match between Max and Hitler on pages 250-255? (Die #4 in the chapter “The Gamblers"). Did this help you better understand the situation in Germany from both the German and Jewish points of view?
- Discuss the power of words and symbols described in The Word Shaker. What similar powerful words and symbols do we have today
- Discuss the ending. Was it satisfying for you?
- This book presented the Holocaust and Hitler’s Germany from the perspective of the ordinary citizens and a small girl. Do you think it was effective? Why or why not?
- What is the appropriate age group for reading this book? Do you think different ages will have different understandings? Why?
- Do you think this book would help a young adult reader understand the persecution of the Jews?
- Why do you think this book was rated #14 in the PBS series, "The Great American Read” in summer 2019? Would you have ranked this high, higher or lower?
*****
First Semester Success, 2nd Edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from amazon.com and as a hard copy from wordassociation.com. Click on the upper right link.
