Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is another novel high on the list of must-reads from The Great American Read collection. Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George  W. Bush, and John Green of Crash Course series fame share why this dark but hope-filled tale is their favorite book.

Concepts

nazism, the book thief, world war ii, point of view, characterization, narrators

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Include the novel in a study of World War II and The Holocaust
• Select a scene from the novel and ask groups to rewrite it from a different point of view or in the voice of a different character, and then in a whole-class discussion, ask readers to share how the changes affect the impact of the scene

Classroom Considerations

• Part of The Great American Read collection
• Requires a free BPS account to access materials

Pros

• Includes discussion questions and a vocabulary list with definitions

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.2 RL.6.3 RL.6.10 RL.7.2 RL.7.10 RL.8.2 RL.8.3 RL.8.10 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.5 RL.9-10.10a