How an Accordion Can Change Someone's Life

Here we go with another part of The Book Thief!


This week is part four, basically where Max meets the Hubermanns.




So basically, Max Vandenberg is a Jew.  Back during this time period, Jews weren't particularly treated the same as other people in Germany.

Woah. Hold up.  How does Hans know Max you might ask.

Well, during the Great War that Hans fought in, Erik Vandenburg taught him how to play the accordion. 

Click here to read more about The Great War.

Basically, without Erik, Hans wouldn't be alive and he wouldn't be a huge part in this book.

Sergeant Schneider asked the soldiers who has neat handwriting.

Erik replied with:

"It said, 'Hubermann, sir.'  The voice belonged to Erik Vandenburg.  He obviously thought that today wasn't the appropriate time for his friend to die"(177).

Because Erik said this, Hans wrote letters for the captain instead of dying that day in war.

Because of this, after war, Hans found the Vandenburg family and says that he will paint their walls to return the favor.



Now... Twenty years or so later...

Instead of getting their walls painted, Max Vandenburg, Erik's son, is sent to Hans' house to hide because he is a Jew.

Let's talk a little more about Hans..

Hans requests to be a part of the NSDAP, an acronym for National Socialist German Workers' Party. (NSDAP is actually an acronym for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the German translation,)

The NSDAP was a political party as we know as the Nazi Party.

To learn a little more about the Nazi Party, click here!

The book says:

"When Hitler rose to power in 1933, though, the painting business fell slightly awry.  Hans didn't join the NSDAP like the majority of people did.  He put a lot of thought into his decision"(180)

He is never accepted because he helps Joel Kleinmann by painting the door of his clothing store.

That is just the beginning of the book, so here is a summary of the whole part!

That's all for this week.. See you sooon! (:

Fire & The Shoulder Shrug

You might be thinking, "Oh. Here we go with The Book Thief again..."

Well, actually this book is very, very interesting so far!

Before I go into details about the book, meet Liesel Meminger.

Click here to read a little more about Liesel!

Liesel is indeed the book thief.  Liesel befriends Rudy Steiner, her neighbor at her foster house.  She can barely read or write, but her foster father, Hans Hubermann, teachers her how to.  

Now, let's talk more about Liesel's book thievery.

In Part 2 of The Book Thief, there is a huge book burning in celebration of Hitler's birthday.

Here's an actual photograph of German book burnings.

To read more on the German book burnings, click here!

Liesel Meminger stole The Shoulder Shrug from the book burning that day.

Just as she realized, the mayor's wife, Frau Hermann, saw Liesel steal the blue book from the fire.

Liesel hides the book under her shirt just to be safe.

When Papa and Liesel leave the book burning site, Papa asks Liesel what is wrong.  Liesel said nothing was wrong, when really:

"Quite a few things, however, were most definitely wrong:
Smoke was rising out of Liesel's collar.
A necklace of sweat had formed around her throat.
Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up"(122).

In Part 3, when Liesel goes to the mayor's house to collect their washings, she meets Ilsa, the one that saw her steal the book.

Liesel thought:

"She's going to take me inside, light the fireplace, and throw me in, books and all. Or she'll lock me in the basement without any food"(133).

But Ilsa actually let Liesel into her library and explore the books before she left with the washings.


And lastly, here is a short video on Part 2 of The Book Thief...

That's about it for this week! Byeee! (:

Fantastic Figurative Language Frenzy :D

To continue with The Book Thief, there is lots and lots of figurative language.

The different types of figurative language in The Book Thief makes reading the book much more interesting.  Markus Zusak adds a lot of color to the book because it is rich with figurative language.  You can understand the text because of all the figurative language!

First off, what is figurative language?
Click "figurative language" above for the definition!



Here's a little song about figurative language!

More figurative language includes-

Apostrophe ツ

No, not the punctuation used for essays or any writing in general.  An apostrophe is speaking to an inanimate object and NOT expecting a response.

For example, in The Book Thief, it says: 

"Hello, stars"(45).

Liesel, otherwise known as the book thief, would watch the sky every night and she talks to the stars. 

Metonymy ツ

Metonymy is when you replace a word with one of it's attributes or characteristics.

That's like saying "Can you lend me a hand?"

Oh no, no no. They don't mean this.

They actually mean they are asking for your help!

An example of metonymy in the book is:

"...the book thief was dreaming about the Führer, Adolf Hitler"(20).

The author replaced Hitler for Führer, meaning like a leader.

Hyperbole ツ

Hyperbole is basically exaggeration.  I could type millions of examples of hyperboles, but I would rather explain it.  See... THAT was a hyperbole itself!  Why? Because I don't literally mean millions, more like 10 or 20.

Another example of a hyperbole from the book:

"She'd be eating her nails, waiting for the train"(26).

She, as in Liesel, wouldn't be actually eating her nails.  The author really means that she is nervous!

Click here to listen to the song!

Simileツ

Ever heard of the song Skyscraper by Demi Lovato? 

One of the lines in the song is "I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper."

That's a simile!  A simile is an explicit comparison using like or as.

A simile example from The Book Thief is:

"Blood streamed till it was dried on the road, and the bodies were stuck there, like driftwood after the flood"(12).

The author is basically saying that the bodies weren't going anywhere, just like how driftwood doesn't move after a flood.


To learn more about different types of figurative language, click here! (:


Well, that's about it for now! See ya soon! :D

"You Are Going To Die ..."

In Language Arts class, we are reading The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak.

Click here to read some of The Book Thief!

This book is very, very unique because Markus makes Death the narrator of the story! 

While reading, I feel as if Death actually has his or her's own feelings.  Also, he or she actually has arms and legs according to the book. Here is some text from the book:

"Please again, I ask you to believe me.
I wanted to stop. To crouch down.
I wanted to say:
'I'm sorry, child.'
But that is not allowed.
I did not crouch down. I did not speak" (13).

Does this mean that as Death he cannot speak?  Or does that mean that his job is just to take the soul and leave?

Also, it is shown that Death has arms AND legs, just like you and me!

"Twenty-three minutes later, when the train was stopped, I climbed out with them.
A small soul was in my arms" (8).


Another part I was wondering about the book was...

Why did Markus Zusak decide to use Death as the narrator?

Well, here are a few ideas why in a short YouTube video!

If you're still wondering WHY he chose to use Death as the narrator, feel free to click here to see an interview speaking with Markus Zusak and about his books!

Okay, that's about it for this week!  See ya next week! (:

Negative Nor'easters

Nor'easters.

Ever heard of 'em?

Well, Nor'easters are basically hurricanes with a little twist.

They have strong winds, rain, and in some cases, snow.

Don't know exactly what a nor'easter is?

Click the radar below to read more about them!

(Don't forget to click and look at the different pages!)

This is the radar of a nor'easter back from 2006.

Did you know that the worst nor'easter was the one from Halloween in 2011?

More than 3 MILLION people were effected by this storm.

Also, there was a lot of snow. More than 20 cities set new snowfall records during this nor'easter.

Many were without power for days, even weeks.

This tree fell during the Halloween Nor'easter. The fallen tree destroyed 2 cars and damaged the roof.

Here's a time lapse of the snow during a nor'easter.

Difference between a hurricane and a nor'easter?

Click the picture to see more differences (:

On the left is Hurricane Sandy, and the right is Nor'easter Nemo.

More differences are shown in this chart:

Well, that's about it for this week! See ya later (:

Oh The Brain...

Sometimes when I hear the word brain, I think "Ew! That's disgusting!", but I learned that the brain is actually a lot more interesting than what I thought!

Click the book to read it!

So the other day in my Language Arts class, we read a part of a book called "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink.


We read a chapter that was about the left and right hemispheres in a brain.
I never knew that the different sides of your brain had like a task I guess.
I always thought that the only difference between the hemispheres was that the left hemisphere controlled the right side of your body and the right hemisphere controlled the left.

But apparently, the left hemisphere is about logic and organization.
The right hemisphere takes care of all your creativity.

Here's a little cartoon about the left and right brain:

And if you still don't understand the difference...

But, in the article we read, Daniel Pink said:

"...leading a healthy, happy, successful life depends on both hemispheres of your brain."

I learned that humans need to be able to use both their left and right hemispheres just as easily as the other.

It might take awhile to happen, but a good life depends on BOTH hemispheres, not just one.

Look at this to show that you always use both sides of your brain!

Your right hemisphere observed the color of the word,

And your left hemisphere saw the actual word.

I actually found all of these brain facts very interesting because I just thought the brain controlled how you think, if that makes any sense.

Well, that's all for this week! I'll be back next week with another topic. Byeeee (:

Why is it so hard to listen?

So last week, our class read a passage about the habits of mind.
Listening to others with understanding and empathy was one of the habits.
They called listening a complicated skill.
But why is listening so hard?

In the passage, the text states:
"This is a very complex skill, requiring the ability to
 monitor one's own thoughts while attending to someone
 else's words."

There aren't very many steps to actually listen and understand what someone said.

Here's a video that are really the steps on how to listen:

I just don't understand why they call listening such a complicated skill...

But on the other hand, reserchers suggest that humans only remember 25-50% of the things we hear.

Maybe we only hear so much of a conversation because a lot of people doze off in the middle of a conversation. If the topic is about something I'm not really interested in, I wouldn't really pay attention. But I think humans need to learn that not all topics we like will be discussed during class or during any conversation with a friend. 

Basically, the only steps to be an active listener are:

1.) Pay attention to what the person is saying and be sure to make eye contact.

2.) Show that you are listening by either nodding your head or say something relavent to the conversation.

3.) Share your opinion AFTER the person you are talking to finishes speaking their thoughts/opinion.

It just came to me that it's not actually THAT hard to listen.