The creative genius of Markus Zusak has again received acclaim for ‘the Book Thief’ - this time in his mother’s homeland, Germany. Alongside another Aussie, Shaun Tan, Markus was awarded a prize by winning in a major category at the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis, Germany’s most prestigious awards for children’s and YA books.
That he should receive such acclaim for a book written about the (fictional) experience of Liesel Meminger, a child in Nazi Germany, is quite a triumph. But not one we are surprised by however, given the extraordinary tale Markus has woven; one recognised by many awards since its publication in 2005.
According to Markus, The Book Thief is a small story. (With 584 pages, I wonder how he might tell a large story?) Though it covers many pages, it is masterful and intriguing to read – so you regret when it finishes. It is an emotional ride, as Liesel navigates childhood years amid the experience of WWII, which makes the adult world even more mystifying than usual.
What she has to do to find enough to eat, to make sense of the treatment of Jews and to remain human in the frenetic world of bombing raids and persecution describe the tale. Unique friendships and creative ways to survive, bring connections through the book, as Liesel brings people together using books; stolen and shared as they huddle from the outside world in the safety of a basement.
While often referred to as Zusak’s first adult book, ‘the Book Thief’ also has great appeal for the mature young adult reader – especially those with an interest in WWII perspectives from a child’s point of view. That the tale is narrated by Death may be offputting to some, but it enables an interesting and unique way of judging mankind.
In the opinion of German judges in the abovementioned awards:
‘many individual stories of the experience of youth in the Second World War have been written, but none match up to the narrative of this book.’
Many older reviews are available online, which recommend that both adults and young adults read ‘the Book Thief’, so can you argue with that? Have you read ‘the Book Thief’? What did think of it?
Reviews:
Ardagh, Philip. January 6, 2007. It’s a Steal, the Guardian. ‘Unsettling, thought-provoking, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner. I cannot recommend it highly enough.’
Green, John. May 14, 2005. Fighting for their Lives. New York Times. ‘Many teenagers will find the story too slow to get going… But it’s the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, “The Book Thief” offers us a believable, hard-won hope.’
Pierce, Peter. September 10, 2005. The Book Thief. The Age. ‘A prize-winning children’s author, Zusak has made a daring debut as an author of adult fiction.’
N.B. We are eagerly await Markus’ next book, ‘Bridge of Clay’ (due for release in November 2009)… We’ll keep you posted.
Sudanese. Poor. Dinka girl in a hostile homeland. Awkward and suffering. This was Alek.
Her tale is written here in ‘Alek, the Extraordinary Life of a Sudanese Refugee’, and reveals what a journey she has had to her current world, now as a supermodel. She was not discovered in the bushlands of Sudan, as is often suggested in the media, but struggled to adapt to a new world in London as a refugee.
There is much to be learnt from Alek’s story. It is a powerful insight to the strife and troubles faced in Sudan, due to civil war which killed nearly 2 million people, and unrest and power plays which continue today. Her family were poor survivors, headed by parents who were accustomed to life on the run.
At the age of six, Alek and her family fled their home village, Wau, in fear of the rising incidents of fighting and the accusations that the Dinka people were to blame for the conflict. With their sparse possessions, they left on foot to traverse the countryside to the shabby home village of relatives, who were even worse off than the Wek family. Interesting aspects of kinship and support are woven through the story, and the fragile status of refugees is also clearly reflected.
Another element which pervades Alek’s tale is the strength of her parents as they try to to their best for nine children, in a war torn country empty of hope. Escape becomes essential for survival, and it is only through familial links in Khartoum and finally London, that Alek gets her chance. For her father, suffering bad healing of a broken hip and consequent infection, escape to Khartoum, though achieved, came too late.
Life in London is by no means ideal for Alek, but with the absence of civil war, she works hard to support herself at her sister’s home, and to bring the rest of her family there. Conditions are far better for her health here, and her strong will and work ethic steel her against the racism she experiences, and her ‘exotic’ beauty is uncovered.
Alek’s tale is not an easy one. It reflects many cultural issues; the need for family, the strength of family values, the ties to a homeland, the struggle to survive, and the blind acceptance of stereotypes. It also brings hope – for those who remain behind, as Alek has been able to bring attention to the plight of those left behind in her homeland, Sudan.
There are many thought provoking ideas in this book, and many challenges to the affluent westerner. Read it, and see what you think.
‘Hating Alison Ashley’ is a novel written by Robin Klein. Robin Klein was born in Kempsey, NSW and is now a full-time writer. Many of her books have been short listed for the Australian Children’s Book of the Year award, one being ‘Hating Alison Ashley’ which has also been turned into a movie.
‘Hating Alison Ashley’ is set at Barringa East Primary School. Erica Yurken is the main character and always thought that she belonged as an actress, but when Alison Ashley unexpectedly turned up and her class went on their annual camp everything changes for Ericia Yurken. She becomes nervous and dreads the night of presentation, where the class shows off what they did whilst at camp.
I would recommend this book for children from the age eleven to sixteen.
It’s Christmas time and Tully has just finished school. As an average teenager, you would think things should be good for her. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, she gets caught up in a hostage situation at her local chemist, and we learn a lot more about her as a result:
“I remember something cold on my neck, which could have been a knife, or it could have just been his cold long fingers pressing in to me…”
And so the tale begins, as Karen Tayleur crafts a story which gives us glimpses of Tully’s childhood past, and then intertwines this with clues of how Tully came to be in the hostage situation that Christmas Eve. Tully revisits the relationships she has had with various friends and family members, as the police ‘interview’ her back at the police station, though it more her telling her own life story as the book unfolds.
In an interesting technique, the story moves through phases of Tully telling her version of the events to the police, glimpses of her treasure box, and narrated versions of what really happened. It works well, as it has the reader pondering what really happened, and which version of the events the police will ultimately believe.
‘Hostage’ was launched at the ASLA Biennial Conference on September 30, and it was great to meet with the author, Karen Tayleur. She has created real characters, in everyday situations, some living a not-so-perfect life, well-woven together in a book of puzzles for the reader to jigsaw together.
Another interesting point is the mention of characters from her previous book, ‘Chasing Boys’. Was is just that she liked their names and characters, or do authors become attached to them, like real people? Perhaps if you read both books you could comment on this crossover, and suggest whether Karen has another book in mind? Perhaps you have suggestions for her?
Vist her website for details about her other books and an insight into the author herself. You can also read an interview with Karen at:
http://heyteenager.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-with-karen-tayleur.html
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book in the series of seven. It is about the wizard, Harry Potter, and his sixth year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In this book, Harry plays Quidditch and solves mysteries with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. He also accompanies Professor Dumbledore while he explores the past and present, so that they can impact the future. There is also a new character – a potions teacher, who plays a significant part in the story.
J .K Rowling has written seven books in the Harry Potter series, and another book named the Tales of Beedle the Bard. This one is a very long book, but it moves at a good pace.
I really enjoyed this book, as I have read it many times, and still, I am picking up on things I have not before. If you have seen the movie, I strongly suggest reading the book, as it shows a fuller picture and is far more descriptive; it also gives a better background to the story.
I have recently just finished reading the ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’ series, over the holidays. It was about eight teenagers who took a trip to a bushland area, up in the mountains, above their town called Wirrawee.
While they were on their trip, the annual show, at the Wirrawee Showground, took place. When the eight teenagers – whose names were Fi, Homer, Lee, Kevin, Corrie, Robyn, Chris and Ellie – came home they found that the town had been deserted, with all the animals left to die. They searched the house trying to find some kind of note or something else from one of their parents that told them where they were, but they couldn’t find them. So they thought back to a previous discussion that they had when they were on their trip and thought that maybe it was the start of World War III.
So they evacuated to the place that they had camped at before, and taking with them more supplies – just in case they had to stay for longer than they had been hoping.
I found that the start of the nook was mysterious, as it didn’t really introduce the characters to a full extent which would give us – the readers – a better understanding of the personalities and relationships of the group of teenagers. But when I got into the book more, I could understand more of what and why the people said the things that had been written down in the book.
Reading on, it introduced the fact that the main character, Ellie, was appointed to write a kind of diary about what happened to these teenagers in the war, and that became what the books were based upon – the thoughts, feelings and all of the groups actions. And I thought that by finding this out it helped me to get know Ellie and her relationships with her friends that were stranded in a place that they called Hell.
Reading these books, as a teenager myself, I could relate to most of the problems and feelings that Ellie and her friends faced, such as the feelings of insecurity – because you missed someone or something that in a way kept you afloat and secure; anger – because someone or something did something to you that you couldn’t forgive; and most of all the feeling of being scared, which I can relate to well.
I thought that in these books, author John Marsden, depicted the thoughts and actions that would occur in a situation like they experienced in the books, very well. It was as if John Marsden himself, was a teenager and was actually in the war.
The series, had a very intense amount of violence. However, I liked it in a way that over all that was happening, Ellie could write exactly what happened and what she felt when they began to fight back to the enemy soldiers for their country. For one, if I did at least one of the things they did in the book, even thinking about it would make me hysterical and I couldn’t live with myself for killing somebody and also, for a second, I found it weird that in between the action that Ellie could have enough time to write anything.
I was also surprised that in their state of mind, they could put together and nearly always pull off the things that they did, such as, blowing up mowers to kill the soldiers that were chasing them and firing shots at them, rescuing a member of their group from a very inhabited place for the enemy, who was shot in a bulldozer, by placing him in the shovel and then driving like mad to get away.
The list continued with major targets like blowing up large numbers of enemy patrols, the destruction of the main source of enemy activity and the strongest place in all of Wirrawee, that carried nearly all of the enemy’s ammunition – which was Cobblers Bay, a very powerful harbour, they also blew up the senior officer’s headquarters and also the fact that they dealt with the deaths of people from the group, parents, siblings, other friends and animals, and still being able to live through to the end of the war.
In the books, it highlighted the fact that when a country is in need of help, surrounding countries will sometimes come to the aid of the country. In these books, New Zealand’s soldiers accommodated the teenagers, when they contacted New Zealand with the information of the blowing of Cobblers Bay. And I think that because of that, it kind of brings the book to life and makes it feel real, because if something bad happened to a country in reality, the other countries will come to their aid.
Another thing that was very obvious in all of the books was the friendship of the group. It was as if the bond between them was stronger than a sibling, and close to the bond of a parent and a child.
The love between them was a love that was set in concrete ,and it showed in the friendship that even went through their minds and hearts when someone or some people killed several people. (Which was nearly all the time to protect one another but other times to keep the secret of where, who and what these people were).
Overall, I loved the whole series, and every night, I couldn’t wait to read the books. This series is perfect for teenagers in particular and most adults, because I think there is something in there for everyone.
Note: ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’ is being made into a movie, due for releas in 2010. The screenplay is being written by Stuart Beattie who was involved in the ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ trilogy.
See the movie trailer below, one of many from YouTube:
Over the holidays, I read ‘Twilight’ for the second time; the last time I read ‘Twilight’ was last year. Now that I have read it for the second time, I see a completely different side of it.
When I read it this time, I noticed a lot of things that I missed the first time. I personally think that ‘Twilight’ is a really interesting, but yet cheesy book. I don’t think that it is meant to be funny, but I found it completely hilarious.
The story is based around two teenagers who fall in love. The only catch is that one of them is not exactly what you would call normal; well certainly not normal in my world. Edward is his name and he is what you might call a vampire, he comes from a family of them - scary I know!! Edward doesn’t suck human’s blood though; he calls himself a vegetarian because he only sucks the blood of an animal. The other main character is Bella, a seventeen year old who comes to live with her dad while her mother is on holiday. She starts at her new school and somehow already has a friend who she doesn’t even know. In her science class, she is partnered up with Edward who is immediately attracted to her blood and can’t help but try to stay away from her at all times. Bella is quite curious in what might be wrong with him, and a sudden thought comes to mind that it could possibly be her. So she sniffs her t-shirt thinking that she smells bad, and I thought that was hilarious, but of course she has absolutely no idea that he is a vampire.
Over the next few days she finds more and more about Edward and does some research about what she has discovers and it all adds up to her that he is a vampire. The next day at the end of school she meets up with Edward in the forest and explains to him that she knows what he is and tells him she is not afraid. He tells her how frustrating it is for him and also how hard it is.
Bella and Edward become a couple, but Edward’s brothers and sisters are not happy with Edward’s decision – but his parents are happy to go with the flow. Later on in the story Edward’s family take Bella out to play a game of baseball. They have to go when there is thunder and lightning because when they hit the ball, because of the power and strength they have, it makes an incredibly loud noise. Half way through game, some other vampires that live off human blood come and interrupt the game, and ask if they can join in. They say yes and tell them that two people are just leaving and that is of course Bella and Edward because they need to get Bella and out of there before something happens. Unfortunately, they didn’t get a chance before one of the human blood vampires smelt Bella’s blood so a baseball game simply turned into a chase. Bella is taken by James, the bad vampire and tortured and hurt. Luckily, Edward and his family come to the rescue.
‘Twilight’ didn’t finish as well as I thought it would, but I definitely thought the book was really funny and enjoyable.
‘The City of Ember’ is a book where an epic adventure takes place inside an underground city. Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow live in their slowly dying city that is also being stolen from by the mayor and let down by the generator. Lina (a direct descendent of the seventh mayor) has been appointed as a messenger has her job in the city of ember. This job takes her whizzing around the streets of Ember and also leads her to some clues on what’s going on in the city.
Lina finds a beautiful box in her house and discovers a message from the builders. She talks to her friend Doon about it, to see if he knows anything on what it means. In times of trouble the city is going in to hibernation with people running round stealing food and doing all kinds of crazy things. Will this get in the way of lina and Doon finding the way out of ember?
Jeanne Duprau has written a truly wonderful book on a tale of hope, desperation and friendship. The book will leave you wanting to read the next book of the series, ‘People of Sparks’.
I give the book 4 stars
Anyone from the age of 8- 70 will love this book and never want to put it down.
Image is a movie poster from: http://tokai21.blogspot.com
CBCA Awards for 2009 have just been announced and the winner in the Older Readers category is Shaun Tan, Tales From Outer Suburbia. Jackie French and Anthony Eaton were awarded the Honour Book award for A Rose for the Anzac Boys, and Into White Silence, respectively.
Now might be the time to reread our reviews and each of the Shortlisted books once more.
Do you agree with the judges choices? How do you think they made their choices between the nominated books this year?
See: http://cbca.org.au/winners2009.htm for details of all categories in this year’s awards.
‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’ is an extraordinarily well researched book by Jackie French about the experience of World War I from the viewpoint of three young teenage girls. Midge Macpherson is a 16 year old New Zealander studying at an exclusive private school in England, when she becomes friends with two English girls, Ethel and Anne. They are mildly engaged in the war effort at the school, rolling bandages, but things become more urgent when Midge’s twin, Tim, is listed as “missing” from the Gallipoli campaign.
The three girls are desperate to give more practical help to the men fighting on the Western Front. They decide they can organise a canteen providing tea, soup and sandwiches for the soldiers returning from the front. This catapults the girls into the shocking experience of seeing the horrific war wounds, and even more difficult to deal with, the mental effects of war trauma, on the young soldiers. The girls often work almost 24 hour shifts, catching a few hours sleep here and there, as they try to bring a little warmth and humanity into the traumatised men’s lives.
Things become even more perilous for Midge, as she is co-opted into the ambulance service, transporting men directly from the front to the make-shift medical tents. She dodges shells as she struggles to manipulate the heavy gears of the ambulance truck. She is also called on to prep the men for surgery, and has to deal with sights, sounds and smells she finds it hard to comprehend. Here again, Midge and the other assistants and nurses bring hope and light into a very dark world.
Jackie French tells this story compellingly. The book never drags, and the characters are well realised. ‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’ is bookended by more modern sections, which fill in the story of the generations to follow some of the protagonists. The final section, set in 2007 is a poignant reminder that the women who helped in World War I, the “roses”, will never be forgotten.
Jackie French’s thorough research is seen not only in the story telling of this book, but in all the historical notes at the end of ‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’. It also would not be a genuine ‘Jackie French’ without the obligatory recipe, which in this case is one for “Soldier’s biscuits”.
This book has been written with passion, and it is clear it is a topic dear to the author’s heart. It is a helpful balance to all the books written from the perspective of the men involved in “the war to end all wars”. Highly recommended.
Jane Crew
