Peeps, it has been a tiresome few weeks of SRP and yet I still have a
few more weeks to go. It is even hard now to concentrate on what exactly I have
accomplished in terms of reading and listening. In the midst of all these
programs, I traveled for a short weekend trip to the tiny colonial town of New
Bern, NC. During this trip, I listened to two audiobooks to help the pass the
time.
Theoretically, I “read” The Book
Thief in graduate school for my Young Adult Literature class, but I use the
term READ very loosely. That’s what I
get for waiting to the end of the semester to start my reading! I heard so many
great things about this novel and all of my classmates seemed to like it, but
with it being my last semester I just could not find time to finish it. Now with the awesome technology of CDs I listened to it three years later and I have to agree with my colleagues
that this is a great novel.
First, The Book Thief is told
through Death’s perspective, who is an interesting narrator. Death's voice is pretty powerful given the fact that the story takes place during
the bloodiest years of World War II. I enjoyed that Death characterized battles
and souls based on colors that he saw at the time. While out and about being
Death in Nazi Germany, he/she/it? remembers meeting a young undereducated girl,
Liesel Meminger. Liesel is at the
funeral of her little brother, who died on their way to Molching, Germany to
live with foster parents. Death notices
that Liesel steals a book from the grave diggers and throughout the rest of her
time in Germany he runs into her. During one of these encounters, he takes a
book that she wrote for herself and shares it with us, the audience. Death gives us a girl’s perspective of
growing in Nazi Germany and her dealing with bombings, Hitler Youth, book
burnings, and the Jews.
Markus Zusak, gives us a wonderful tangled tale of characters and an
amazing story. From the protagonists to supporting characters, I felt a
connection with each one as Zusak spent time developing each character’s own
story. The ending is enough to make you cry. I see this book being a great
companion for high schoolers studying WWII. I think English teachers would be
missing out on a great teaching opportunity by not using this book congruently
with History. As an audiobook, this was fantastic as the narrator was amazing.
He did great voices and kept me engaged the entire drive. I highly recommend
this story for historical fiction fans.
Number the Stars by Lois
Lowry is a shorter story about the occupation of Denmark during WWII and is a
Newberry Medal winner. I have known about Lois Lowry (my best friend is in love
with The Giver), but I have not had
an opportunity to read any of her works. Closing in on finishing The Book Thief, I decided before my
little vacay to grab Number the Stars
as a backup.
The story is about Annemarie Johansen who is living in Copenhagen with
her family during Nazi Occupation. The Nazis are starting to round up those of
Jewish faith, which includes Annemarie’s neighbor and best friend Ellen Rosen.
During a part of the story, the Johansens pretend that Ellen is their eldest
daughter, Lise, who had died earlier during the war as part of the Danish
Resistance. With the help of the Danes, the Rosens and many other Jewish
families are smuggled out of Denmark to Sweden before they can be rounded up by
the Nazis. There are of course many close encounters with the Nazis, but the
Johansens are able to help the Rosens sneak away.
What is impressive about this book is the amount of research Lowry put
into the story. She travelled to Copenhagen to look at archives and perform
interviews in order to be as true as possible. Apparently, the napkin Annemarie
slips to her Uncle Henrik was legitimately used during WWII as a way to thwart
human-sniffing dogs. This book is definitely more elementary school friendly
than The Book Thief and is a great
companion to a section about Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel. The audiobook was done
nicely and I enjoyed the narrator doing the range of voices.
Again, audiobooks are coming through for me. I have been able to listen
and learn more classics than I would by reading. Many children suffer as
reluctant readers and adults for that matter.
Alternative mediums such as audiobooks or graphic novels are perfect
ways to get kids interested in a variety of subjects. Also, if you have a
family vacation coming up, audiobooks can keep your children occupied on the
long drive. Heck, they keep me engaged in the car to and from work.
Other recommended titles for fans of this genre via Novelist:
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Night by Elie Weisel
Run, boy, run by Uri Orlev
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Ashes by Kathryn Lasky
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