Different Concept, Same Author

    Hey everyone! As you can tell, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is currently what I talk about constantly because it has been my favorite book so far. And also, I have finished I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak and I was wondering, "How are they different, but they come from the same author?" I think you can answer this easily because he wouldn't want his work to be the same and bore his readers. But I feel that there is a connection between these two books even though they both have a different concept.

   Now to start this off by seeing what they have in common. The main characters Ed and Liesel have a hard family connection. In the Book Thief, on page 21, the author writes, "It was January 1939. She was nine years old, soon to be ten. Her brother was dead." And in I Am The Messenger on page 353, the author writes, "" I killed your father, Ed."" This shows that when Ed and Liesel were little kids, Liesel and Ed lost very important family members in their own books. But the only difference was that Ed never saw his father hung, but Liesel has seen her brother die in her arms two days before he was buried by gravediggers. Ed recalls in the book that others told Ed that his father died while sitting on a chair in a moving van (because Ed's father worked for a moving company) being hangover because he drinks a lot. But in reality, it was a murder that someone (who is open to interpretation) has killed Ed's father. I felt that there wasn't a lot of things that were similar between The Book Thief and I Am The Messenger.

   Now as to how they are different, there are a lot of features that makes these books unique from each other. Firstly, The Book Thief took place during the time period of the Holocaust in Germany while I Am The Messenger doesn't have a time period or country set. Also in I Am The Messenger, not many people have been killed, however in The Book Thief, it describes millions of people dying in multiple ways because the time period was the Holocaust. Also, none of Ed's friends die, but for Liesel, someone important to her dies during a bombing in Germany.

    Even though Markus Zusak has written these wonderful books, they leave you with something to ponder about.

 Vs. 

First Time in Forever

I am really happy about how my Monday went because I got to meet my blog buddies Bledina and Sana for the first time (and please don't sing For the First Time from Frozen)! It was really what I didn't expect this experience to be. Bledina and Sana are really great people to have conversations with. One of my blog buddies Sana was really relatable to be because we like about the same things (examples: Supernatural, Girl Meets World, Fifth Harmony, Eminem, etc.). And my other blog buddy Bledina is what you would consider as sporty. She loves basketball and so do I. I wanted to write this because not only I have created a friendship between these two wonderful people, I have created a bond that can last a lifetime that I would never trade for the world. It was really fun to get to know both of you Bledina and Sana and hopefully we can meet up again in the near future.

Tough Questions for "The Message"

   Hi everyone. Because I have recently finished I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, I wanted to discuss something differently about this book. Because I have discussed the conflicts and lessons that Ed has been through in the book, I wanted to discuss difficult questions that I've had about this book.          

                       (This blog is obviously filled with spoilers. You have been warned.)

   So, on page 319, the author writes, " The girl got pregnant. Not unusual in these parts, but obviously not condoned by the Boyd's. The family left town. Nothing was ever said, and the Boyds were never really missed." What I never understood about this was that Suzanne (Marv's lover) left suddenly because her family "disappeared", but they never say in the beginning of the book that Suzanne never got pregnant and near the end of the book, they finally mention Suzanne getting pregnant but with who? I feel that Marv was the person that had Suzanne pregnant but I feel that we can only predict who we think that Suzanne got pregnant with.

  Also on page 353, the author writes, ""I killed your father, Ed. I organized the bank bungled bank robbery for a time when you were there. I instructed that man to brutalize his wife." What I obviously don't understand from this part of the book is that as a personal question for all of you, would you get angry if you found the person that did something horrible to someone you loved? I know I would, but I wouldn't kill myself for them just like in Romeo and Juliet. But the problem is that Ed didn't get angry with the person who told him that they killed Ed's father. Doesn't that seem odd to all of you? Because I still ponder about Ed not being mad at the person who killed his father. 

  Even though I have finished this book, the message that I will take away from this book is that there is always a spark of hope there waiting for you in the darkest of times.

More for The Messenger

   Hi everyone! As you might recall from my last blog, I was talking about the conflicts that Ed had to go through in I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak. Now for this blog, I want to talk about the lessons that Ed has received while being the messenger throughout this book. If you haven't read I Am The Messenger, then you have two options. Yo can either read my previous post (Trouble as the Messenger), or you can go to Amazon to get a summary. Your choice.

   Anyway, on page 226, the author writes, "Inside is a homemade Christmas card. All the kids have drawn on it. Christmas trees, bright lights, and kids playing. Some of the drawings are shockers, but still excellent. Inside are the words, also written by one of the kids:

"Dear Ed,

have a happy christmas! we hope you also have some beautiful lights like the ones you gave us.

From all the Tatupu family"

It makes me smile and I stand up and go into the lounge room, where the kids are all sprawled out, watching the Telly." This part of the page shows that doing something simp,e for someone can make both people happy. Ed usually helps and doesn't get appreciated often. But when he helps the Tatupu family, it not only makes the children happy, it also makes him happy.

   Also, on page 227, the author writes, ""No, Ed—you have to. You've given us so much. More than you'll ever know." He holds out the stone again and goes to the extent of putting it in my palm and closing my hand to hold it firmly." This shows that other people are grateful for the things that he has accomplished while being the messenger. Before Ed became the messenger, his mom and his passengers haven't respected I'm that he wanted. Because he had no one appreciate what he has done, this is all different to him.

    Even though we don't usually focus on small details, but those tiny details can make a difference for not just another person, but for yourself.

(Pardon for the bad grammar for the letter that was shown. That was how it was in the book and I wanted to use it for my blog.)

Trouble as the Messenger

   Hello everyone! For my new book I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak (the same author of The Book Thief), I wanted to talk about the conflicts contained in this book. If you don't know what I Am The Messenger is about, then let me give you a brief summary. The book is about a 19-year-old cabdriver named Ed Kennedy. He starts receiving orders contained in playing cards by an anonymous person after he is claimed a hero after a bank robbery that he was a victim of along with his friends Marvin and Audrey. These orders in the cards are some things that he needs to save or do in order to be a hero for someone. But nobody knows who is behind the cards.

  Anyways, I've noticed that the main character, Ed goes through a lot of situations in this book. On page 120, the author writes, "She soon says, " You're my best friend, Ed." "I know." You can kill a man with those words. No gun. No bullets. Just words and a girl." What this qoute is representing is the personal conflict of heartbreak that Ed had faced with his crush, Audrey. Ed has liked Audrey for a long time but Audrey is always seeing other people and that makes Ed more unconfident with himself having a better life or better things. 

   Also on page 88, the author writes, "I begin to shiver. I begin to shake. I begin to lurch and quake at the thought of killing another human. The aura that surrounded me earlier is gone. The air of invincibility  has deserted me, and I'm suddenly aware that I have to do this surrounded by nothing but my own human frailty. I breathe. I almost break." This quote shows the internal conflict that Ed has because of becoming the "messenger" and being forced to do dangerous things and in this moment he has to kill someone who was mistreating his wife every night when he returned from work.

  This all shows in general that Ed has to go through a lot of conflicts in I Am The Messenger and if you want to know more of what Ed goes through, then read the book.

Diary of A Relatable Girl

      Hi everyone! So for my new blog post, I wanted to discuss the personal conflicts that Anne Frank encounters in Diary of A Young Girl and how we can connect to her personal conflicts in real life. If you don't know who Anne Frank is, she was a Jew during the time of the Holocaust which was a horrible time for people of the same religion as she was. So what her family decided to was that they were going to be in hiding in an attic that they would call Secret Annex until the WW2 was over. Unfortunately, she could no longer do the things that she would normally do anymore because she was a Jew (see my other blog called Struggles of Diary of Anne Frank: The Play for the adversities that she encountered while in hiding). And to make things worse, her family, the Van Daans ( another family that the Frank's took in to the Secret Annex) and Mr. Pfeffer were captured by Nazi police and were sent to concentration camps. Everyone except for Anne's dad, Otto Frank was the only survivor of the concentration camps because America came to rescue the prisoners in death and concentration camps. In search of his wife and two daughters he reunites with Miep (one of the people who helped the family in the Secret Annex) but Miep tells Otto that his wife and both daughters died before American troops came to rescue the prisoners. When they returned to the Secret Annexe, Miep finds Anne Frank's stories, drawing, and most importantly her diary. Anne's edited diary was finally published in 1947 and has been translated into many languages.

       As I was saying, Anne goes through personal conflicts in her life that girls today can understand so easily. On page 45 Anne writes, "I'm not jealous of Margot, never have been. I don't envy her good looks or her beauty. It is only that I long for Daddy's real love: not only for me—Anne, myself." This shows that with girls that either have an older brother or older sister, you would be used to having the older sibling getting the most love from your parents than you would get. I can even relate to this because I have an older brother who is in college and sometimes he gets more attention that I do that sometimes, I feel invisible to my parents. So normally I would normally hide in my room and pretend that I am asleep, but I have my eyes open. Even though we can relate to Anne's personal conflicts, some of us may never know how it would be to hide just because of your religion.

Class of 2016 is Almost Here!

I can't describe to you how excited I am for June 1st. As you can tell by the title, on that day I will finally finish my education as a middle school student and enter the wild jungle that is know to be high school. I am excited to go to a new school, but the problem of starting high school is that you will become the target for seniors. If you watch any movies that set in a high school (except for High School Musical) you can see that the freshman would always be picked on by the senior jocks. And also it would be hard to choose the different clubs to join because it will identify who you want to be further in life after graduation. When I go to high school, I want to do marching and concert band, along with drama club and photography/yearbook club. I still remember that when I was in 6th grade, I already want to leave because of the pressure. But now, I still feel the pressure to be a smart person and because 8th graders are supposed to make good role models for 6th graders, yet I don't want to leave because of the good memories that I made, new teachers, new experiences, and most importantly my new friends who I will miss so much if they go to a different high school. I know that they will do great in life and I will be proud of them.