Though The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Whirligig by Paul Fleischman are very different books (like comparing an orange to a door) I will try my best to compare them in my posts.
Post #1
The issue of injustice in Whirligig is not as obvious as it is in the Book Thief but I think the issue of injustice is judging people based on the small amount you know about them and also judging people based on a mistake they made. In other words, judging a book by its cover. There are two main examples of this in Whirligig. The first is when people judged Brent because he is new at school and he didn’t wear the right clothes to a party. The second is when Lea’s mom judges Brent on one bad decision he made, which was to drive drunk, but though he accidentally killed someone he is not a bad person. In The Book Thief books are also judged by their covers. Jewish people are judged based on their religion and they considered the superior race to be people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Also in a more literal sense Liesel chose to steal the book A Song in the Dark “because the book was green, and she did not yet own a book of that color.” (Zusak 366)
post #2
In Whirligig Brent’s parents thought it was unjust and unreasonable to make Brent travel to the four corners of the United States and create whirligigs. They protested and made up excuses trying to tell Lea’s mother that Brent couldn’t do what she asked. Brent took a more Nazi Germany approach, like many characters in the Book Thief, and accepted the challenge, doing as he was told even though he knew it would be hard. Brent’s journey ended up being a positive one. It was fairly enjoyable, educational, and he grew a lot. I think it changed his life completely. Of course in Nazi Germany doing as you’re told and going along with what others want you to do did not have such positive effects.
Post #3
Throughout Brent’s journey he encounters many problems, such as breaking a saw, almost having his wallet stolen, and losing his book on how to make whirligigs. He overcomes them all and doesn’t give up. On his first whirligig project he broke off a piece of the wing of the whirligig that was suppose to be an angel but instead of giving up or getting mad he decided not to make an angel, just a harp player. Close to the end was when he encountered his biggest problem. He lost the book that told him how to make the different types of whirligigs. He didn’t give up though and he designed his own completely original whirligig, which in my opinion, made it more special than the first three he made.
Post #4
Plus | Minus | Interesting |
-I like the little side stories that show how the whirligigs affected other. people who saw them-By the end Brent had new hobbies that would probably keep his mind off his previous goal in life of being popular. His new hobbies include looking at the stars, reading, playing the harmonica, and building whirligigs. | -Brent lie a lot in the book.-You never got to find out what Lea’s mom thought of the whirligigs. | -a woman who was Jewish during the second world war was a Jesse Owens fan and Rudy, who was German, had the same favourite athlete.-Brent met many interesting people on his journey including a man from Canada and an artist. |
post #5
No one could bring Lea back because she was dead but Brent brought back her spirit in a way. Lea always loved whirligigs and they made her smile and now whirligigs of Lea will make people smile in the four corners of the United States. Lea’s grandpa made her a whirligig when she was young and they put it in their front yard. “Hundreds of people over the years have noticed it, and stopped, and smiled, just like people smiled at Lea.” (Fleischman 40) It was a strange task for Lea’s mother to ask of Brent but it ended up changing Brent in a positive way.
Post #6
The end of the book Whirligig did not seem very significant. There was nothing spectacular or even too interesting except that Brent opened up to someone and told her the whole story and maybe after all that honesty he might discover that he doesn’t have to lie to make people like him. Also, Brent learns to like traveling. Though the ending wasn’t overly exciting it didn’t leave me very unsatisfied. I would have liked to read about Lea’s mother’s reaction to the whirligigs. In a lot of books the ending is the most exciting and interesting part of the book but in this one I didn’t think it was. I liked the middle of the book the most.
~Becky
Leave a comment