The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old girl in Nazi Germany during World War II. Death is the narrator. Her younger brother Werner dies on a train in 1939. Her mother gives her up for adoption and she is adopted by Rosa and Hans Hubermann. The first book she steals is The Gravediggers Handbook, which she picks up in the snow at her brother's funeral. She can't read it, but it reminds her of him. Hans (Papa) teaches her to read at night when she can't sleep because of nightmares of her brother. Her best friend is Rudy, who lives down the street. He always wants to kiss her, but she refuses. Her mother does laundry and Liesel delivers it. One day the mayor's wife invites her into their home and shows her the library. She begins to read in the library and borrow the books one at a time. One day, a Jewish man, who knew Hans as a boy, shows up at their house. They hide him in the basement and Max and Liesel become friends. The Gestapo examine the basement at one point, but do not find Max. Max writes two books for Liesel, before he leaves and ends up in Dachau concentration camp. The air raids eventually begin and Liesel reads to the other people in the shelter during the raids. Her father, Hans, and Rudy's father, Alex, are drafted into the German army and Hans is assigned to the LSE who clean up the dead bodies after an air raid. He is sent there because he tried to give a Jewish man a piece of bread. He breaks his leg and is returned home. Liesel and Rudy also try to help the Jewish prisoners as they are marched through town and are whipped because of their efforts. Liesel and Rudy steal several books from Ilse Hermann's house (the mayor's wife). She knows they are doing it and leaves the window open and one time, cookies on the desk. One night Himmel Street is bombed and the air raid sirens don't go off in time. Everyone Liesel knows and loves is killed. She survives because she is down in the basement writing. The mayor's wife adopts her. She lives to an old age, marries and has children. When death comes to get her, he gives her The Book Thief, the book she has written about her life in Germany.
This was a marvelous book. Told from the viewpoint of the German people you see a different side of the war. With Death as the narrator, you also get a philosophical viewpoint of death and war. Words and books and writing are key concepts throughout the book and you realize the power of words in people's lives, especially during this time when radio and television were not available to everyone. The book is richly written with many similies, metaphors, personification. I found myself rereading sentences and paragraphs to absorb the richness of the language.

p. 9 - personification
p. 23 - conveyor belt of eternity
p. 26 - irony
p. 29 - grey - the color of Europe
p. 29 - similes and personification in bold print

Billy Creekmore by Tracey Porter

Billy Creekmore is a 10 year old boy living in West Virginia in 1905. His mother died in childbirth, his father abandoned him and he is living at the Guardian Angels Home for Boys run by Mr. and Mrs. Beadle. Life is very hard and when Billy finds out he is being sent to work for Mr. Colder at the glass factory, he decides to run away. Before he can, his Uncle Jim arrives and takes him home to live with his Aunt Agnes. He has a good life there and begins working in the coal mines as a mule driver. After a section of the mine collapses, the workers start forming a union (UMW). When Billy's uncle and friend are killed by the Baldwin-Felts agents, his aunt tells him to run away. He joins the Sparks circus and finds his father who is working for another circus. He goes with his father, but finds that he is a drunk and unscrupulous man who will do anything for money. Billy runs away again to go back to the Sparks Circus where he has friends who love him and consider him part of their family. The book is based on the author's mothers life. She was in a foster home, abandoned by her father after her mother died in childbirth and was later adopted by her aunt and uncle. The boys who work in the mines are real boys who died before the age of 17 in the coal mines. The Sparks Circus was a real circus owned by Charles Sparks who cared for his troop like family.

Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen

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This is the journal of a 12 year old girl, named Holly, who has no parents and has run away from an abusing foster family.  Her English teacher has given her a journal to help her to write down her feelings.  She takes the journal with her and writes in it about the problems she faces as she runs.  She makes it to California, but finds it very hard to live on the streets without food, clothing, a home, family, or friends.  She finally is befriended by another young girl who is living with her grandmother and has similar experiences.  They find a loving family for Holly and she is hopeful for a new future with Vera and Meg.  She discovers that Meg has also used journaling as a way to survive hard times.  They share their journals and Holly realizes that the journal has allowed her to turn the next page.

Possible read-aloud sections - Beginning and ending

p. 11 - May 22nd nighttime - books

p. 136 - 4:30 pm - how they became homeless

p 164-166 - I have no idea what day it is + 7 pm

p. 216 - last 2 paragraphs about family

p. 244-245 - how the journal helped her