Study Guide: The Book Thief

Prologue, A Mountain Range of Rubble (p. 3-15):1. What are your thoughts on the identity of the narrator? What details

from the text give hints about the narrator’s identity? How will this particular narrator affect the telling of the story?

2. What is the relationship of each color to the memory described?

3. Describe the significance/effect of the quote on page 14: “They fall on top of each other. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red.”

Part One, The Gravedigger’s Handbook (p. 19-80):1. What is the effect of the sensory depiction of souls on page 21?

2. How does Zusak characterize Hans and Rosa Hubermann? What is the effect?

Vocabulary

Affable:

Echelon:

Illustrious:

Trepidation:

Vehement:

Auspicious:

Raucous:

Catalyst:

Berate:

Nefarious:

Name:

Period:

3. Explain Mr. Steiner’s reaction to Rudy’s Jesse Owens reenactment.

4. What is the setting and how does it impact the story?

5. Identify two instances of figurative language in this section. What is the effect of using this language?

6. Discuss the significance of Liesel’s experience reading in front of the class.

7. Compare the description of Rudy’s eyes with the previous description of Liesel’s. What is the significance of these details?

Part Two, The Shoulder Shrug (p. 83-122):1. Based on the context given in this novel, what happened to Liesel’s

parents? What details provide that information?

2. Why is it so important for Liesel to finish reading her first book?

3. Give one example of the narrator’s foreshadowing in the novel. What is the effect ?

4. Why might Liesel attend the book burning? What is the significance of this event?

5. Identify two instances of figurative language in this section. What is the effect of using this language?

Vocabulary

Flippant:

Kinetic:

Crux:

Prolific:

Animosity:

Transgressor:

Benign:

Pensive:

Jocular:

Precarious:

Part Three, Mein Kampf (p. 125-170):1. Describe the relationship between Liesel and Hans Hubermann. How does it differ from the

relationship between Liesel and Rosa or Liesel and her birth mother?

2. What is the significance of the interaction between Liesel and the mayor’s wife? What predictions can you make about this new development?

3. On page 140, Zusak provides vivid descriptions of Max’s eating. What is the effect of these details?

4. Discuss the following quote: “She was a girl. In Nazi Germany. How fitting that she was discovering the power of words” (147).

5. Identify two instances of figurative language in this section. What is the effect of using this language?

6. What theme(s) do you see emerging so far in this novel?

Part Four, The Standover Man (p. 173-238):1. Discuss the significance of the following quote: “I’ve seen so many

young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They’re running at me.” What might the narrator be saying about violence and conflict? What other insights do you have?

2. What are some of the historical references in this section? Why mention them?

3. What is the significance of Max’s arrival to the Hubermann house? Why does Hans lecture Liesel on pages 202-203?

4. What themes and symbols can you identify in The Standover Man?

5. Identify two instances of figurative language in this section. What is the effect of using this language?

Vocabulary

Affront:

Dubiously:

Ostracism:

Capitulate:

Gallantry:

Immutable:

Gratuitous:

Vociferous:

Dissipated:

Pallid:

Ire:

Part Five, The Whistler (p. 241-303):1. What does foreshadowing reveal about Rudy’s fate? How does the narrator’s point of view impact

the story? What is his reason for revealing important information before it happens?

2. On page 249, Liesel describes the weather for Max. Describe something ordinary using figurative language and vivid imagery.

3. What is the significance of Max’s extended daydream about his fight with Hitler?

4. What is the significance of Liesel’s harsh words towards the mayor’s wife on page 262? What is the significance/effect of her brother’s appearance directly afterwards?

5. Interpret Max’s sketches on page 279-280. What is the significance and impact of these images?

6. What is going on with Rudy and the Hitler Youth in part five? What might these details reveal?

Part Six, The Dream Carrier (p. 307-350):1. How does Death offer a different take on the events of WWII and the

Holocaust with which we are already familiar?

2. What gifts, tangible and intangible, does Liesel give Max while he is sick?

3. What is the significance of Liesel’s book, The Whistler? Why does Zusak provide excerpts?

4. Analyze Rosa’s interaction with Liesel at school. What theme might emerge from this moment?

5. Explain the scene with the girls in Cologne on pages 336-338. Why is this significant?

6. Discuss the significance of the following quote on page 350: “They were French, they were Jews, and they were you.”

Vocabulary

Now it is your turn: find ten vocabulary words and their definitions in parts six and seven.

Part Seven, The Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus (353-403):1. What details give clues that the war is taking more of a toll on the residents of Molching?

2. Discuss Rudy’s preparations for and performance in the Hitler Youth carnival. What is the significance?

3. Why does the narrator include definitions from the Duden Dictionary? Give an example and explain its significance in that part of the story.

4. Compare Liesel reading in the bomb shelter with her reading at school in part one. How does the contrast characterize Liesel and what might it say about her?

5. What is Dachau? What is the effect of the description of the Jews?

6. Why might Hans be concerned about his act of kindness towards the Jewish prisoner?

Part Eight, The Word Shaker (p. 407-455):1. What might the dominoes symbolize in the scene where the two

Nazis come for Rudy?

2. Why are the draft letters to Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner important? What do they say about the cost of altruism in wartime?

3. What does Max’s book reveal about the power of words? How might words represent both beauty and evil? Identify symbols and meanings.

4. What is the significance of the scene in the tailor shop on 454-455?

5. Identify two instances of figurative language in this section. What is the effect of using this language?

Vocabulary

Altruism:

Abject:

Dais:

Miscreant:

Perilous:

Semblance:

Ludicrous:

Extra Credit: Write and illustrate an allegorical story, like The Word Shaker. It must have a message or theme and illustrations—color or pen-and-ink are both fine.

Part Nine, The Last Human Stranger (p. 459-493):1. On page 464, Death says, “It kills me sometimes, how people die.” What literary device is used here

and what is the effect?

2. What is the effect of Death’s description of Robert Holtzapfel’s death? What might it say about the horrors of war?

3. What is the significance of the moment when Rudy and Liesel inspect the downed plane?

4. On page 491, what is the significance of Death’s monologue? Do you agree with his claims about humans? Why/why not?

Part Ten, The Book Thief (p. 497-539):1. What is ironic about the old woman’s condemnation of the Jews on page 501? What is ironic about

Michael Holtzapfel’s death on page 502? What effect does this irony produce?

2. Toward the end of the book, how has Liesel developed a love-hate relationship with words?

3. Why does Zusak include excerpts from Liesel’s version of The Book Thief? What is the effect of Liesel as first-person narrator versus Death as first-person narrator?

4. What happens to Himmel Street? Whose death affected you the most and why?

Epilogue, The Last Color (p. 543-550):1. Discuss the irony and effect of the following quote on page 547: “You save someone. You kill them.

How was he supposed to know?”

2. What is the effect of Death’s thoughts on the final page? Do you agree that humans are “ugly and glorious . . . damning and brilliant” (550)? What is the impact of the final line?

Final Questions

1. What is the significance of the sections’ titles in this book? Why are so many sections named after the books that Liesel reads and how do they apply to that part? Choose one to analyze.

2. What archetypes match the characters in this novel?

3. What was the effect of Death as the narrator? How does it break previous stereotypes of death personified?

4. Which character showed the most courage in the novel? Why?

5. How does Zusak’s poetic style convey the beauty of Liesel’s story amid the brutality of her situation?

6. What themes developed throughout the novel?