There are multiple reasons for teaching this text. For one it gives us a different point of view. Not many novels that deal with WWII, especially in Germany, tell the story of the other side. This story is from a German perspective that is also different from what one would expect from a novel set in Nazi Germany; The Book Thief is the story of the German people who were opposed to the war and opposed to Hitler’s philosophies. It lets readers get into the mindset of people who were unable to voice their opinions, who were unable to fight tyranny and racial discrimination. And it also tells us that there were German people who did do something to counter the Nazi regime in a way that they could still survive. This story is so important because it narrates the German perspective that was against Hitler.
While suitable for both middle school and high school
classrooms, care should be taken when teaching to the younger students due to
the content referring to the Holocaust.There are some tough topics in this novel that your administrators and
parents might find unsuitable for teen readers, such as death, racism, language, and violence. But as we think about what The Book Thief shows us and tells us about this new perspective it becomes clear that this book is more eye opening than harmful to students.Should this be
introduced to younger audiences, it would be recommended to be assigned on an
outside reading list, where students have the choice to read it, but are not
required. This is a great novel for high school students, however, and can
easily be paired with research and other reading relating to the Holocaust. It
is important to inform students of these events in world history so they can
have a greater knowledge of the world and our relation to other people in it. We would be doing teenagers a disservice to hide them and “protect” them from texts such as The Book Thief. This novel portrays a true and brutal side of humanity but also one that is kind, empathetic and giving. It shows us what human beings are capable of, in all their glory, the worst and best moments.
We should teach this text to present a new point of view of WWII to students, one that is not only about Jewish struggles or Nazi hate but about people who were stuck in a dictatorship, trying to survive while helping the truly broken and subjugated people of the Jewish culture.
Lesson and Project Ideas
Death
With death as the narrator we are given a whole new picture of what death is. Most of us would not personify death with such sympathy and impartiality, but would villianize him and blame him. Lets talk about how Zusak’s Death is different, how he is the same, and the reasons why Death makes such a compelling narrator.
- Have students get into small groups to talk about how death is dealt with in American society. Is it a closed off subject or one that we can talk about freely? How is death represented, how do we deal with death, in media, pop-culture, literature, and poetry or in works that students have encountered?
- Then have students make a list about Death’s characteristics in the novel and how it differs from what we normally attribute to death. Also, have them compile a list of how they would characterize death and why?
- After students have completed this list, have a discussion about how and why this unique narration is effective or ineffective in telling the story of Liesel, and the possible reasons behind having Death narrate this story.
- Upon completing the novel ask students to come back to their lists, would they change their opinions about the effectiveness of Deaths narration or their characterizations of Death, why or why not?
Words
In this novel the word is a theme. The word is shown in its most positive light, through learning to read Liesel is given agency and knowledge, but it is also shown in its most negative light, the way in which Adolf Hitler was able use words to fill a nation with hate. Let’s talk about how the word functions in the novel.
Ask students to discuss these points in small groups
- Talk about words in regard to empowerment, when words save, and times when words are destructive.
- In what ways are the characters able to come to terms what words have accomplished?
- How do the characters reclaim words?
Story Telling
- How is story telling, used in this novel?
- What does it accomplish?
- And, how does it help characters cope with the torments of war, oppression, tyranny, and loss?
In relation to the ways words empower us and disempower us, have students write their own stories. Ask them to write a short one to two page story about a time in which words and were hurtful and destructive, but have them then reclaim those instances, change the ending to one in which the words empowered them, like the way Max writes The Word Shaker on the pages Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Ask them Illustrate that story and have them present it to the class. Upon completion of the story and illustration, ask them to reflect.
- Did the retelling of words help them to reclaim those words and that moment?
- How did story telling help them deal with a troublesome memory or encounter in their lives?
OR…
Ask students to find ads in magazines that are suggestive or imposing on them in relation to cultural norms and expectations such as gender, femininity/masculinity, familial structures, religion or lack of religion, dress/appearance, wants/desires/needs, etc. Then have them cut it up, paint over it, draw on it, anything they want to do to the physical page to reassign the prescriptions that the ad imposes or suggests according to their own personal attitudes toward the subject matter. Examples and alternate ideas!
Style
This novel is certainly different than the ones we have encountered in the past. This book does not follow the generally accepted model of a novel. Ask students to discuss this topic.
- What is different about this style
- Why might an author employ this type of stylistic strategies?
- How does it affect your reading of this text? Does it change the way you read, compared to the typical form of a novel?
An idea for younger students:
Visual Representation
When you read, whether it is a novel, short story or poem, you have your own
internal movie reel or video that turns the words on the page into images in your
mind.
Authors use a variety of different written techniques to bring their written words
alive for the reader. Some of the literary techniques that Markus Zusak employs
in The Book Thief are simile, metaphor and personification.
Definitions:
Simile: when the subject is compared to another subject, using the words like,
as or such.
Metaphor: describes a direct comparison between two or more seemingly
unrelated objects.
Personification: Gives animals and objects human traits and qualities.
These may include sensations, emotions, desires, gestures, expressions and
powers of speech.
Task Description:
Use a quote from the novel (examples provided) and interpret it creatively from
the image in your mind’s eye onto paper.
Then, write a description (half a page in length) of your picture and use this to
present your ideas to other students in a small group situation.
Process:
1. Read the quotes and choose one that you like.
2. Draw your visual representation/picture
3. Write a half page description
4. Move into groups of 3 or 4. Present and share your thoughts and ideas by
talking your group through your picture.
Quotes from The Book Thief:
“I travelled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyer belt of eternity.”
(Death, p23)
“I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold.
And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me
from a distance.”
(Death, p329)
“Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers like suitcases. Or I’d throw them
over my shoulder.” (Death, p359)
“This time, his voice like a fist, freshly banged on the table. (p136)
“The soft spoken words fell off the side of the bed, emptying onto the floor like
powder. (p67)
“Everything was so desperately noisy in the dark when he was alone. Each time
he moved, there was the sound of a crease. He felt like a man in a paper suit.”
(p152)
“When the train pulled into the Bahnhof in Munich, the passengers slid out as if
from a torn package. (p25)
An idea for older students:
Debate or Essay
“Some crunched numbers.
Since 1933, ninety percent of Germans showed unflinching support for Adolf
Hitler. That leaves ten percent who didn’t. Hans Hubermann belonged to the ten
percent.” (p65)
Consider this quote from The Book Thief in relation to the one below from
a novel called The Magus by John Fowles.
“The human race is unimportant. It is the self that must not be betrayed.
I suppose one could say that Hitler didn’t betray his self.
He turned. You are right. He did not. But millions of Germans did betray their
selves. That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But
that millions had not the courage to be good.” (The Magus, p132)
What is your opinion? Are people naturally and inherently good…or bad?
Task:
Discuss your opinion of the topic ‘People are inherently good / bad’ as a class
debate or as an essay.
Process:
1. Read the quotes carefully and spend some time thinking and forming your
opinions and ideas.
2. Complete a Venn diagram to record your information.
3. Using your notes, discuss the topic ‘people are inherently good/bad’ as a
class debate or an essay.
THE UWA PERTH INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL One Book Teachers’ Notes 2007
Find these and many other activities for The Book Thief click here
Potential Other Materials to pair with this novel:
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Wave by Todd Strasser
Hitler’s Daughter by Jackie French
“Death be not Proud” by John Donne
Scenes from: The Great Escape, Swing Kids, Schindler’s List
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