The Book Thief

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, was written quite a while ago, published first in 2006. I made the mistake of reading it again recently. I thought that I was fully equipped to handle the feelings that would stir up inside of me. I was wrong. After I finished reading the book today, I cried.

I don't cry normally when I read books. The most emotional I have ever gotten because of a book was this one. This book is amazing. The way Zusak split the novel into parts that was a mini table of contents was beautiful. It was easy to understand what was coming. Unfortunately, he was cruel as well. Zusak told the readers, through the narrator, what happened to the characters in the end (a few of them), just when they were getting attached to them.

Set in Nazi Germany during World War Two, The Book Thief is narrated by Death. It follows Leisel Meminger, from when she was nine years old and was sent to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, her foster parents. Liesel steals books, but the irony is that at the beginning she cannot read. She becomes best friends with Rudy Steiner, and her family hides a Jew in their basement. Liesel and Max (the Jewish man) become very good friends, but their world soon turns upside down.

This book is awesome. I highly recommend it. It definitely deserved all the awards it won.

Animal Lover's League

Hi my follower!

Thanks for following me, Shraavya's twin!!!

I joined the Girl Scouts and I just earned my VERY FIRST BADGE!

I'm working now on my Silver Award and I would share it with whoever sees this blog.

Animal Lover’s League

On the 16 of December my mom and I went to Animal Lover’s League (ALL). It was not was I expected, as I expected a clean place which didn't smell and I hoped it would be like the San Francisco SPCA. But it was dirty and the dogs were either in cages or roaming around. It smelled heavily of urine and feces. Some of the cages had five or six dogs in them. I didn't expect it to be like this in Singapore. The sound was quite loud. Barking and howling, mostly because the dogs wanted to play.  I felt a little sad at first but then I realized that at least the shelter is trying to help the dogs. Otherwise the dogs would still be on the streets and would live off junk and garbage from the sewers.

The shelter was in this state because only three or four people were working there and the rest of the total 7 people, including my mom and me were volunteers from schools or adults which came to help. The word ‘help’, I realized, was not to assist – in a sense, yes, it means to assist – but to make a difference by using that assistance and playing it to a totally different subject. For example, walking the dogs Christoph and Cookie with my mom today wasn't just taking the dog for a walk, like how we do for our dog, Chessy. It was taking two originally helpless street dogs and adapting them for life with a loving human. Christoph, I could tell right away, that he wasn’t a stray because he was born as one. He was the alpha male in today’s walk, showing me and my mom all the great sniffing places.  I felt a little sad, because a dog as adventurous as Christoph – well, who wouldn’t want him?

Cookie was a different story. She/he seemed hesitant to walk on a leash. It seems that she was a street dog originally. She lagged behind. Both dogs were eager to run with us but couldn’t, because, even though they were street dogs, I think that they didn’t ever get the ample amount of exercise.

Although donation drives and volunteering for the shelters does not seem very sustainable, simple donations that Animal Lover’s League needs can actually prove better for the animals in the long run.

ALL needs these items

©       Towels

©       Food (Cat and dog)

©       Dog toys/Cat toys

©       Newspapers (for housebreaking)

©       Leashes

©       collars

©       Sponges

©       Dishwashing liquid (for food bowls)

©       Floor washing liquid

©       Dust pans

©       Shampoo (dog and cat)

©       Rice (For cats)

©       Food bowls