~The Heavyweight Champion of the School-Yard~

When Sister Maria asks the children to read in The Book Thief on page.75 it says,`` Liesel sat with a mixture of hot anticipation and excruciating fear.” Also I fell that Liesel was nervous because, the only time she has read was with her papa, not in front of kids in her class. After Liesel insisted of her being able to read, once she was in front of the class The Book Thief also says on page.77,`` The white page was suddenly written in another tongue and it didn’t help that tears were now forming in her eyes.’’ Since Liesel could not read from the book that sister Maria asked, she began reading from The Grave Diggers Handbook that she had memorized. Then the book was snatched by Sister Maria and sent to the corridor, and Liesel could hear all the kids in her classroom laughing except Rudy. When it was break time a boy named Ludwig Schmeikl asked Liesel to help him read but, this boy was only making fun of Liesel. When Ludwig started laughing at her for the fact that he knew that she could not read Leslie called him an idiot and The Book Thief explains on page.78 that Liesel stood up and took the book from him, and as he smiled over his shoulder at some other kids, she threw it away and kicked him as hard as she could in the vicinity of the groin. Ludwig was also punched in the ear, slapped and clawed and was utterly consumed by a girl with rage. This is how Liesel expressed her anger and frustration that she felt after she had made a fool of herself for reading.

Just like Liesel I had an experience like this, but it wasn’t with reading, it was math. Once my fifth grade teacher was naming one by one to go to the chalk board and solve a math problem but, I was really nervous because I didn’t know how to solve the problems. When it was my turn I tried my hardest to solve the math problem, but I couldn’t and some of the kids were also laughing at me for that; but instead of getting in trouble the teacher helped me solve that problem and the other kids got in trouble for making fun of me.

We can learn many things from the challenges we have in a classroom like not giving up in a subject that you don’t understand. Also instead of getting angry or frustrated when we get a bad grade in an assignment, we should be positive and try to redo the assignment to earn a better grade. There are many ways to solve your challenges but the worst way to solve them is by getting angry and frustrated because,in the end you don’t get anything out of it.

Zusak,Marcus.The Book Thief.New York,NY:Alfred A. Knopf,2005.Print.

"FriendShips"

In the beginning of the story, when Liesel and Rudy first met, they really didn’t get along at first. " I mean who would want to start a friendship with someone who threw a snow ball in your face just because you stopped a penalty while playing". Well after Rudy threw a snow ball at Liesel, his mother made him walk her to school because it was her first time attending. Since then, they started a very good friendship.

When I read this part of the story in The Book Thief, it reminded me of my childhood friend named Wilmer. I met him when I arrived at a new school in second grade. He reminded me of Rudy because at first he would act a bit mean with me. When we got to know each other well we started to sit together in the bus, eat lunch, and play together during recess. We even helped each other when we needed it. Even until this day I don’t regret having him as my best friend although we have our ups and downs. For me, having a best friend is someone really valuable because you need someone to give you advice when you need them or even to express your inner emotions about your life.

As we get older I think we appreciate our friendships even more and especially if we have had them since our childhood. In a way, as we get older some of our friends might change. Some of us might mature faster than others in our thoughts, or in how we see life know then how we did when we were kids. Some of our friends might also have different dreams then you do, but I think that no matter what differences we might have as we’re getting older, we should always be there for them. No matter what the circumstances are because for me, that’s what real friendship is.

Zusak, Markus.The book thief.New York city, NY:Alferd A. Knopf,2005.print.

The Ghettos

In 1933-1945 many Jews as well as other people were taken forcefully out of their homes because they were discriminated by their religion and ethnicity. I think that most people that were taken from their homes to live in ghettos was really hard because it was a really big change in their lives, especially if they were used to do forced labor. Also, the ghettos were like prisons for the Jews because they were surrounded by big walls and barbed wire, so they would not escape. The people that lived in ghettos also had little to eat, and most of them suffered hunger including children. I think that all the people that were forced to live in the ghettos must have suffered a lot since they had to share their room with strangers. They had to be in their room at a certain time and to get up when the Nazi officers asked them to. When people tried to escape from the ghettos they were killed. Personally, I think this was really cruel because they had families. The commanders in charge, and soldiers did not care if the people were children or elderly, they would get sent to concentration camps or death camps if they were useless in any way for them.



The way this changes my understanding of what was happening in Europe during World War II is that people and children were getting discriminated just for their race and religious beliefs. When I first learned about the things that were happening during WWII I was shocked and could not understand how Hitler had the knowledge to make people believe that the ghettos and concentration camps were not what they seemed, that these camps were in better condition and that the people taken to these places were not killed.