The Book Thief: Movie Version

By Gigi Mack

Study Guide compares the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak to the movie version The Book Thief (2013) starring Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Ben Schnetzer. Directed by Brian Percival. Fox 2000 Pictures.

- A Teacher Time-Saver - Perfect For CCSS - Distance Learning or Homeschooling -

The Common Core Standards call for comparing the novel text to a different version, especially a film version. Movie Version study guides provide reliable information about the comparison to know if student responses are accurate. Movie Version study guides compare the movie of a book to the book itself. The study guides cover both the plot and characters in the movie and the book.
 

Each study guide contains:

The Movie:  A scene-by-scene comparison with chapters in the book, including errors and omissions in the movie. 

The Book:  Complete chapter-by-chapter summaries of the book.

How Accurate is the Movie?  Each study guide rates the movie's accuracy according to Plot, Characters, Setting, Structure, Symbols, and Theme and reveals what's in the movie that's NOT in the book and what's in the book that's NOT in the movie.
 

Digitally download the movie version study guide today to find out how the movie is not like the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MovieVersion.com LLC
• Release date: Jun 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781937714352

Book preview

THE MOVIE VERSION OF THE BOOK THIEF IS NOT LIKE THE BOOK by Markus Zusak

RECOMMENDED MOVIE: The Book Thief (2013) starring Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Ben Schnetzer

HOW ACCURATE IS THE MOVIE VERSION OF THE BOOK?

WHAT’S IN THE BOOK THAT’S NOT IN THE MOVIE?

Liesel’s nightmares, Rudy’s medals, Arthur Berg’s theft gang, Max’s sketches, The Standover Man, The Word Shaker, Hans’s giving bread to a prisoner, Hans Junior, Trudy, Frau Holtzapfel, Sister Maria, Victor Chemmel, Tommy Muller, Ludwig Schmeikl, Reinhold Zucker, Rudy and Liesel leaving bread on the road to Dachau, whippings of Hans and Liesel, plane crash, teddy bear, Michael Holtzapfel, Ilsa Hermann’s gift of the blank book.

WHAT’S IN THE MOVIE THAT’S NOT IN THE BOOK?

Brahms lullaby, photograph of Werner, ones spit yes/two spits no, Your majesty, Max’s gift of a blank book, Liesel signing her name with X’s, Max hiding under the flag, Max venturing into the street, Franz Deutscher throwing the book in the river, The Invisible Man, Liesel’s story-telling in the air raid shelter, Rudy’s last words to Liesel.

WHAT’S THE SAME?

Himmel Street, World War II, soccer, Jesse Owens, the accordion, Liesel’s struggle to read, stealing books, burning books, Hitler Youth, Nazi tyranny, antisemitism, mayor’s library, Mein Kampf, pea soup, snowman, air raids, parade of Jews to Dachau.

THE MOVIE: SUMMARY

The following is a scene-by-scene comparison of the movie to the corresponding chapters in the book.

THE MOVIE: PROLOGUE

Death and Chocolate.

The narrator of the book is Death. (ACCURATE) Death says, It is a fact that you are going to die. (ACCURATE) The voice of Death explains that sometimes he becomes interested in some people. (ACCURATE) One such person is Liesel Meminger, the book thief. (ACCURATE)

OMISSIONS:

Death and Chocolate.

The narrator Death explains what happens when we die. Death takes our souls and carries us away. Death sees the world in colors. Death prefers to take people when the sky is a dark chocolate color. Death saw the book thief three times: 1. On a train 2. At a plane crash 3. At a bombing of a suburban neighborhood.

Beside the Railway Line. THIS CHAPTER IS OMITTED FROM THE MOVIE.

Death describes a white day, a snowy day in Germany in 1939. A little boy dies on a train. Two guards argue about what to do with his body. The boy’s mother and sister, the book thief, are silent.

The Eclipse. THIS CHAPTER IS OMITTED FROM THE MOVIE.

The sky is black. Death has come for a 24-year-old pilot whose plane has crashed. A boy and the book thief arrive at the crash. The boy places a teddy bear on the pilot’s shoulder.

The Flag. THIS CHAPTER IS OMITTED FROM THE MOVIE.

Death saw the book thief again on a day when the sky was red after bombs fell on a German town. The book thief was not killed because she was in a basement. She had a book in her hand when she was rescued. The book ended up in a garbage truck. Death climbed up on the garbage truck and retrieved the book. Death associates the book thief with the colors of the days on which he saw her: white, black, and red.

THE MOVIE: PART ONE The Gravedigger’s Handbook

Arrival on Himmel Street.

Liesel Meminger is 9-years-old. (ACCURATE) She and her mother and 6-year-old brother Werner are on a train to Munich on a snowy day. (ACCURATE) The setting is Germany in 1938. (ERROR: In the book the setting is January 1939) The boy is asleep, stretched across his mother’s lap. (ACCURATE) Liesel hums a lullaby by Brahms. (ERROR: Not in the book) Suddenly Liesel cries, Mama! when she sees the boy’s face. (ERROR: Not in the book) The boy is dead. (ACCURATE)

At the next town, Werner is buried in a cemetery. (ACCURATE) A priest, two grave diggers, the boy’s mother, and Liesel are present at the graveside. (ACCURATE) After the funeral one of the grave diggers drops a black book in the snow. (ACCURATE) Liesel finds the book sticking out of the snow and keeps it. (ACCURATE) The title of the book is The Grave Digger’s Handbook. (ACCURATE)

The date February 1938 flashes on the screen. (ERROR: In the book the year is 1939) A woman and a man from the agency take Liesel by car to her foster parents in the town of Molching. (ACCURATE) On the way, the woman tells Liesel that her mother would have kept her if she could have. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel sits and looks at a photo of her brother Werner. (ERROR: Not in the book) The foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, live on a street called Himmel which means heaven in German. (ACCURATE)

Hans Hubermann, a tall man, walks out to the car with his wife Rosa. (ACCURATE) Liesel refuses to get out of the car. (ACCURATE) Rosa asks the agency woman, What is the matter with her? (ACCURATE) Rosa questions the agency woman, complaining that they were promised two children and two allowances. (ERROR: Not in the book) When Liesel refuses to leave the car, Rosa says the girl is like all communists – dirty and stupid. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel finally gets out when Hans calls her Your Majesty. (ERROR: Not in the book) Rudy Steiner is playing soccer outside the Hubermann’s house and witnesses the scene. (ERROR: Not in the book)

OMISSIONS:

When Liesel realizes her brother is dead, she tries to revive him by shaking him. Mrs. Meminger is taking her two children to Munich to turn them over to an agency that will place them in a foster home. After Werner’s funeral, Liesel and her mother take a train to Munich. Liesel says goodbye to her mother at the office of the agency. When Liesel is taken to Molching, she rides in a car for the first time. At the Hubemann’s, Liesel stays in the car that brought her for 15 minutes. When she finally exits the car, she clings to the Hubermann’s gate crying.

Growing up a Saumensch.

Rosa holds out a piece of candy to Liesel, but closes her hand when Liesel does not say Thank you. (ERROR: Not in the book) In Liesel’s bedroom Hans makes her guess which hand has the candy before he gives it to her. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel sings herself to sleep with Brahm’s Lullaby. (ERROR: Not in the book) Hans goes to check on Liesel and hears her singing the lullaby. (ERROR: Not in the book)

The next morning Hans plays Brahm’s Lullaby on his accordion when Liesel comes down to breakfast. (ERROR: Not in the book) Hans says, Good morning, your majesty. (ERROR: Not in the book) Rosa instructs Liesel to call her Mama and to call Hans Papa. (ACCURATE)

Rudy Steiner knocks on the door and says he will take Liesel to school. (ERROR: Not in the book) Rudy tells Rosa that he is almost 12. (ERROR: In the book Rudy is almost 11 years old, 8 months older than Liesel who turns 10 in mid-February)

On the way to school Rudy brags about his running skills. (ERROR: Not in the book) Rudy remarks that Liesel does not talk much. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel spits on the sidewalk as a reply. (ERROR: Not in the book) Rudy asks if one spit means yes and two spits means no. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel spits once for yes. (ERROR: Not in the book)

OMISSIONS:

Liesel is thin and undernourished when she arrives at the Hubermann’s. She can’t remember her father who went away. She heard people say he was a communist. The first thing she notices about her new home is Rosa’s profanity. On the first night, Liesel refuses to take a bath. Rosa calls her a saumensh, meaning dirty pig, and insists that she bathe. Hans tells Rosa to let him handle the situation. He sits quietly and teaches Liesel how to roll cigarettes. He wins Liesel’s trust with his kind eyes. Liesel does not bathe two weeks.

Hans Hubermann is a house painter. He makes extra money playing the accordion in pubs at night. Hans is a veteran of World War I. He is a kind, gentle man. Rosa Hubermann is short and wears her graying hair in a bun. She is not a good cook. She makes extra money by doing the laundry for five wealthy households in Molching.

The Woman with the Iron Fist.

At school on the first day, the teacher asks Liesel to write her name on the board. (ERROR: Not in the book) Liesel writes two X’s. (ERROR: Not in the book) The other children laugh at Liesel because she can’t read or write. (ACCURATE)

Outside in the schoolyard, the children