Liesl on Himmel Street (Hon English 1A)

Liesel just moved in with new foster parents that live on Himmel (Heaven) Street. As Death explains, this is much of a joke to anyone who lives on Himmel because it is far from any kind of Heaven. Quite often, the Nazi troops march through the street, as a type of parade, being cheered and adored by the Nazi supporters, and clapped to slowly by the Jewish side of the street. Death often pulls the reader out of the story to give his own opinion or to describe something that relates to the story.

" **A PHOTO OF HIMMEL STREET**

The buildings appear to be glued together, mostly small houses

 and apartment blocks that look nervous.

 There is murky snow spread out like carpet.

There is concrete, empty hat-stand trees, and gray air. "

 

This excerpt from Death tells me that it is a very compact street, and too small for the number of people that live there. When Death says that the apartment blocks looked nervous, that implies that everything is falling apart and it almost is trying to hide itself from something bigger. Himmel Street sounds like a dark, gloomy, and an unhappy place to live. The kids that live there don't really seem to notice, except for Liesl. She knows that there is something going on, due to her foster Papa leaving everynight with just his accordian case, and then coming back late every night.

 

 

My questions:

 

Where does Papa go every night?

 

When are Liesl's opinions on the Nazis?

 

What will the relationship between Liesl & Rudy turn out to be?



Book 1 Project (Best Sellers)

Have you read Paper Towns? Have you ever wanted to get your hands on a notebook like Margo's? Well now you can! If you have information or secrets that you need somewhere to put, get this notebook! You could even try to write cross-hatch, like Margo. Don't know how? A guide of how to write in crosshatch will be included. John Green has allowed us to include Margo's story in the first few pages! So now you can get an exclusive look into the 10 year old mind of Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Margo has been writing a story about finding Robert Joyner with Quentin since she was 10. Robert Joyner committed suicide in the park, and was found by Margo and Quentin. She wrote Quentin in as the heroic and fearless boy whom Margo has a major crush on. Margo has been rewriting and revising the story since.  "She pulls open the book and shows me a page. The writing is indecipherable, not because Margo's handwriting is bad, but because on top of the horizontal lines of text, writing also goes vertically down the page. "I write crosshatch," Margo says." (290)  Margo has her plans for leaving and plans for revenge in the notebook. She needed to keep her ideas safe, if anyone ever got their hands on her notebook.


“You know your problem, Quentin? You keep expecting people not to be themselves."  This was said by Radar, Quentins bestfriend. Throughout his childhood, Quentin idolized Margo, and thought she was perfection. Then, the night when Margo left, Quentin was confused and angry. He thought that Margo and him were close, but for Margo to leave, not telling him, it made him angry. Whenever Margo was found, Quentin realized she would always be the same Margo and she could never be any more or any less than she was. Margo had finally gotten an ending to her story, and now you can too! Finish out your Paper Towns experience with this fan-exclusive content by Margo herself!

Who is the book thief? (Hon English 1A)

I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far, I have found out that the book is narrated by Death. He begins to tell the story of the times he has seen the book thief. The first is when the thiefs brother dies. Death comes to pick his soul up from a train, but does something he usually doesnt do, he stays with her and her mother. The second time is when her mother and her bury the boy. This is where the girl steals her first book. Then, Death tells how the mother takes the daughter to a foster home on Himmel Street. The mother has some kind of condition that she has to keep paying to get better, and she can no longer support her children. This book is interesting to me and I am excited to continue reading. I want to learn what happens to the book thief at the foster home. Will she ever see her mother again? When will Death next see her? I also want to see the movie, but only after I finish the book.

Book 1- Paper Towns (Best Sellers)

I just finished Paper Towns. I was so dissapointed with the ending. There was a lot of build up in the last 50 or so pages and then it didn't really lead to anything. I was not expecting the ending to be like that, and I think that is part of why I was so dissapointed. I wanted a romantic, lovey happy ending or a tragic, heartbroken conclusion, but it wasn't really either. I think part of why I was so dissapointed is because while reading, I made up what I wanted to happen before I finished the book. So when nothing at all happened like I thought it should, I was dissapointed. That doesn't make it a bad book, it just doesn't have an ending good enough to satisfy me.

What is a book? (Best Sellers)

A book is an empty sketchpad. When you get a blank piece of paper, you doodle, you draw, you write, and by the end, it is not a blank paper anymore. When you read a book, you think and it can change your opinion and you can learn, and you aren’t the exact same person you were before you read the book. To me, the format of the book doesn’t matter. I have a Kindle that I like to use but I also like a paperback too. A book shouldn’t be defined by what is holding all the words together, but rather, the actual words. One thing I like about an e-reader is that it is most of the time lighter and more mobile than a book. Something I like about a paperback is seeing your progress by the pages on the left side, not by a percentage. A good time to have an actual book (by actual book, I mean paper book, not an e-reader) is if you are reading to a group of kids from a picture book. It can be hard for them to see the pictures if they are further away. Some of my favorite times were spent with my cousin reading with her from my Kindle. With one or two people, the Kindle is easy to see and use. Another thing good about a Kindle is that if you have vision problems, you can change the font, color of the page, and font size to make it easier on your eyes. I like the sound a book makes when you flip the pages, and the spine cracks a little when you close it. That is something you just can't get with an e-reader. So what is a book? Words put together to tell a story. It doesn’t matter where the words are.