Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011 - (Page 38)

off the shelf The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Review by Catherine Babikian In World War II Germany, nineyear-old Liesel Meminger learns to read, with her foster father, Hans Hubermann, as teacher. Her real father, a Communist, is presumably dead, and her mother can no longer take care of Liesel and her brother, Werner. On the way to Munich, where Liesel and Werner’s soon-to-be foster parents live, Werner dies. And when Liesel steals The Grave Digger’s Handbook off the snow-covered ground, the book, though she cannot read it, symbolizes the last time she saw any of her family. She and Hans read all 12 chapters of The Grave Digger’s Handbook, and from there, Liesel becomes a reader—and the book thief of the book’s title. Throughout the course of the novel, Liesel acquires a collection of books in all shapes and sizes, from The Grave Digger’s Handbook to a handmade book made by the Jewish man living in the Hubermanns’ basement. The story’s memorable cast of characters includes Liesel’s foster mother, who frequently calls her a Saumensch; her neighbor, who has lost two sons to the battle of Stalingrad; and her new best friend, Rudy Steiner, who once painted himself charcoal black and pretended to be Jesse Owens. But perhaps most significant is the book’s narrator: Death. Death tells Liesel’s story in an effort to understand human destruction, from the first time he sees her, en route to Munich and her foster family, to the third time he sees her, when Munich is bombed in World War II. On the way, Liesel befriends Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man whom her foster parents hide in their basement, and begins to write her own life story. As narrator, Death frequently tells the reader of the upcoming deaths of various characters—and even you, he says, will die—but also notes that because everyone dies, the question is why. And that question is the one that nearly all the characters in the text struggle with, especially Death, who is consistently bewildered by the human capacity for both good and evil. The combination of Death as narrator, Liesel’s progressing literacy, and her friendship with Max highlight a connection that the reader makes as well as Liesel: that language is powerful, that language can both create stories and sentences and be manipulated and twisted for another purpose entirely. But what makes this book truly remarkable is the imagery woven throughout. The first time Death sees Liesel, the sky is a blinding, thick white, like “the way you pull on a sweater.” The second time, the sky charcoals into a scribbled, signature black, and the third time, the sky is a burnt red soup. In other places, the streets are like “ruptured veins,” or the sun is “blond,” and “the endless atmosphere…a giant blue eye.” Zusak stands normal descriptions on their heads, but the effect is startling and gorgeous. And the entire book is like that—haunting and beautiful at the same time. Filled with breathtaking imagery and intriguing characters, The Book Thief is hard to put down and harder to forget. It is, at its core, a beautiful story about words. Catherine Babikian, 16, is a practicing bookworm and a junior at Valley High School in West Des Moines, IA. Next year, she plans to attend the University of Iowa and study history in the hopes of becoming a museum curator—but if that doesn’t work, she’ll spend her life reading and writing. Also recommended: Trash by Andy Mulligan Rafael, Gardo, and Rat live not just in a poor country but at a dumpsite in a poor country, where lots of kids sift through trash in hopes of finding something valuable. When Rafael and Gardo find a black bag that the police need for a murder investigation, the story takes off and the adventure begins. The narrator changes throughout the story, but once I got used to it, I couldn’t put the book down. —Patrick Sears, 13, CA The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga This book is an insightful and mindopening tale that puts you in the shoes of a servant in India. The novel is in the form of a letter that explains how the protagonist rose from poverty to become a successful businessman and why this successful businessman murdered his master. I had to put this book down every other paragraph so I could just process the feeling I had from the words flowing from the pages. I wanted to visit India as soon as I read the first page. —Katherine Coates, 15, VA 38 imagine Mar/Apr 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Problem Solving
Orange County Math Circle
Number Theory
Count Me In
National Mathematics Competitions
Math at the Science Fair
Just My Speed
MathPath
When Origami Meets Rocket Science
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Making a Difference
High School Options for Gifted Students
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011