The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

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.

1. Did you like the layout of the book; for example, the typeset of page numbers, text interspersed with bolded and numbered inserts, pictures?
2. Did you like the way the author wrote; Death as the narrator (page 138), heavy foreshadowing (pages 147, 164, 243)?
3. 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?
4. Discuss Michael Holtzapfel’s suicide and his feeling of guilt over wanting to live (page 503).
5. Discuss Liesel’s desire to read and the descriptions by the author.  Did you relate to this desire?
1. her “hunger” to read (page 66)
2. ”hold [the words] in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain” (page 80)
3. “a mountain to climb” (page 86)
4. the “power” of reading (page 147)
6. When Max was ill, Liesel brought him presents that she found.  How were these presents important to Liesel?  To Max?
7. Discuss Frau Holtzapfel: spitting on Hubermann’s door, asking Liesel to read to her.
8. In the Hitler Youth carnival, why do you think Rudy disqualified himself on purpose in the last race?
9. Many people made difficult decisions in this novel.  What did you think of the following?
1. 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?
2. Discuss the Steiner’s refusal to let the Nazi Party take Rudy away to school.   Was this the best decision?
10. 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?
11. 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?
12. Discuss the power of words and symbols described in The Word Shaker.  What similar powerful words and symbols do we have today
13. Discuss the ending.  Was it satisfying for you?
14. 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?

15. What is the appropriate age group for reading this book?  Do you think different ages will have different understandings?  Why?
1. Do you think this book would help a young adult reader understand the persecution of the Jews?
16. 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.