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Reviews by Sharon Wang Yr 7

‘The Book Thief’ Markus Zusak Do you want to learn more about the Holocaust? Ever wondered what it would’ ve been like to grow up during that time? If you answered yes, then ‘The Book Thief’ is just right for you!

Markus Zusak’ s ‘The Book Thief’ is a historical novel about the Holocaust. It tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who is taken to a new home because her mother can ’t afford to take care of her. She never knew her real father, and her mother mysteriously disappears after taking her to her foster parents. On the train journey to her new home, Liesel’ s younger brother dies, and she steals her first book at his burial; her adoptive father a book called ‘The Gravedigger ’ s Handbook’ .

Liesel cannot read or write, and she realises just how much she is missing out on, so she and her Papa set themselves the challenge of reading ‘The Gravedigger ’ s Handbook’ every night, which is Liesel’ s last link to her brother and real mother. After they have finished reading this book, Liesel starts stealing books from places such as the mayor ’ s wife ’ s library and Nazi bookburnings.

Markus Zusak uses ambiguity at the beginning of the book to create interest and suspense. This book is separated into many small chapters. Each chapter starts by focusing on something small, and then it zooms out so that you can see the bigger picture. Something interesting about this book is the fact that it isn ’t told from any of the main characters ’ point of view, it’ s told from Death’ s point of view. This makes the whole storyline and plot more intriguing because you ’ re always wondering: “What’ s happening? Why ’ s Death here? Is something bad going to happen?”

I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed the way it was written and how the plot was depicted. This book is suitable for anyone above the age of 12, as younger people might not understand everything and will get confused about what’ s happening. ‘Part of Your World’ Liz Braswell Everyone knows the story of ‘The Little Mermaid’ , and how Ariel defeated the evil sea witch Ursula in the final battle. But have you ever wondered, what if Ariel never won, and Ursula defeated her?

Liz Braswell’ s ‘Part of Your World’ is a twisted tale based on ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Andersen. In the Disney film adaptation, Ariel defeats Ursula, but in this book Ursula wins and takes the life of King Triton. She keeps the gold shell necklace containing Ariel’ s voice and takes good care of it, making sure that it never breaks. Eric remains enchanted and does whatever Vanessa (who is actually Ursula in disguise) wants him to do. After the battle against Ursula, Ariel is forced to return to Atlantica, her home, and becomes ‘The Voiceless Queen of Atlantica ’ . She makes a vow to never go up to the surface again, after what happened to her father. But when Ariel discovers that her father might still be alive and is being held hostage by Vanessa, she is determined to return to a world she never imagined she would see again.

Overall, I think that this book is one of the best fastpaced, action-packed adventure books I’ ve ever read. The plot and the characters are based on the film made by Disney, but the author added more detail and personality for each character and made the story flow a lot better than other twisted tales I’ ve read. Each chapter is told from a different character ’ s point of view. The author uses a variety of sentence lengths that are direct and easy to understand and follow. However, some parts are very cheesy. Even though the plot follows the classic ‘ good guy versus bad guy ’ storyline, it is still very entertaining and held my attention to the end.

The average rating for this book is around 3 out of 5 stars, but I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars just because I enjoyed it so much. This book is suitable for anyone above the age of 12, but if you are a big fan of ‘The Little Mermaid’ , this will become one of your favourite books of all time!