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In your own physical journal, you would have responded to the prompt.

1.  Type out your journal entry as a new note (Click on the '+' at the bottom right of the screen).  Remember to indicate your name in your post if you had signed in anonymously.  This step will simulate the 5-8 minutes of writing time during our face-to-face meeting.

2.  Read each others' journal entry and respond to any (or all) using the 'Comment' function.  This step will simulate the sharing time during our face-to-face meeting.

3. Spend 5 minutes to pen your final thoughts in your physical journal.

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We read Perfumer to Museum.

Pick one of the following prompts to respond in your journal.

1. In the chapter 'Weakest', Werner's mind whizzes with questions. While chasing the unfortunately chosen weakest cadet, he wonders "where Frederick is, why they're chasing this boy, and what they're supposed to do if they catch him". More questions: "Why couldn't Ernst be faster? Why hasn't he practiced? How did he make it through the entrance exams?" Imagine for a moment that you're Werner.  Add to his list of questions.  Share why you crafted these questions.

2.  In the chapter 'Museum', Von Rumpel uses a veiled threat to hurt the two gentlemen's children.  Comment on this despicable act.

3. Share a quote that captured your imagination.

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Museum is by far my favourite chapter of the book. Finally there is a bit of writing that has volume enough in a scene to build up the scene, develop the characters within the scene and add tension. Like a kettle coming to a boil.. from still to simmering and then violently churning before finally erupting.

I love how the chapter uses time (six am, Two o’clock out in the city, five bells)

The flexing of von rumple and the discomfort of the 2 French men also show the progression of the chapter.
“I am quite gifted at waiting,” von Rumpel says in French. “It is my one great skill. I was never much good at athletics or mathematics, but even as a boy, I possessed unnatural patience. I would wait with my mother while she got her hair styled. I would sit in the chair and wait for hours, no magazine, no toys, not even swinging my legs back and forth. All the mothers were very impressed.”

The quote that captures my mind comes from this chapter. It is the nicest one that describes von rumple as a bastion of patience.

Von Rumpel’s pulse soars: has it already happened? So easily? He could wait two more days, three, while ranks of men broke against him like waves.

A close second is..

He appreciates that they are trying to play the game. But don’t they understand that the winner has already been determined?

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As I read Museum, mixed feelings of fear and anger rose within me as I went through the suspense of Von Rumpel's waiting game.

Fear - My thoughts went to innocent children who lost their lives so prematurely in recent times.  War in Ukraine, gun shootings in US and atrocities in Myanmar have taken the lives of so many promising lives.  I feared what Von Rumpel would do to the children of the two helpless museum staff.  Thankfully, the weakness in the two fathers saved the children (I presume Von Rumpel did not harm the children when they relented and showed him the gem.)

Anger - How despicable!  Only the soul-less will resort to putting another fellow human being through such fear for their loved ones.  And to think that Von Rumpel was proud of his prowess over these two gentlemen. He does not realize how low he has stooped to achieve his goal. For such a character, I wouldn't be surprised that when it comes to a life-and-death situation, he would put children in front of him as a shield.  Such would be the action of a coward. Such would be the action of a despicable villain.

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We read The Boches to The Professor.

Pick one of the following prompts to respond in your journal.

1.  If you were to produce a movie based on this book, how would you treat the chapter on Hauptmann?  What is the significance of this chapter?

2.  "This, she realizes, is the basis of his fear, all fear.  That a bullet you are powerless to stop will turn on you and usher a bullet to its mark." is from the chapter The Professor.  Share your greatest fear.

3. Share a quote that captured your imagination.

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I don't exactly fear death like Uncle Etienne but I would probably not like it if i'm left alone in the world and everyone I care about or who cares for me has passed on. That would be make a pretty lonely situation.

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I crafted this prompt because I wanted to respond to it!

For me, this scene would provide the comic relief for the movie. Imagine with me, Danny DeVito playing the diminutive Dr Hauptmann, his expression becoming more stunned from his initial smug look when Werner pieces everything together under fifteen seconds. Young Werner could be played by the young Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, 1999) with his hair dyed silver white. The other boys look on, impressed. The camera pans to Frederick who is grinning to himself. Scene fades.

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We read Occuper to Vienna.

Pick one of the following prompts to respond in your journal.

1.  "Is it right," Jutta says, "to do something only because everyone else is doing it?" appears in the chapter Don't Tell Lies.  Do you think the something refers to telling lies?  Why or why not? (This sounds like a PSLE Oral prompt! Haha!)

2.  What is your impression of Great-Uncle Etienne?

3. Share a quote that captured your imagination.

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I think he probably has PTSD after his experience in the war.  Wouldn't blame the man for being paranoid and being what he is.
He doesn't sound like a 76 percent crazy man to me, just a man trying to survive after having seen what he has. Having read on, I think he is actually quite cool, like an onion with many layers. I quite like Great Uncle Etienne!

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A quote that captured my imagjnation---
"Is it right" Jutta says, "to do something just because everyone else is doing it?"

This is my favourite quote is the entire book so far. Very much cos it reminds me of my all-time favourite quote from one of isaac assimov's books...

"Don't let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right."

At the core of it.. both these quotes are a constant reminder to me that perspective and contexts determine what is right and wrong. Ask anyone in a fight and each will claim he is right and the other is wrong. As would be anyone on either of the two corners.

At the end of the day, we ourselves determine what is right and wrong. Jutta has her own biases. Warner has his. To each one, his/her own actions/choices trump the objections of the other. Because one is more right that the other.

I'm curious, which readers take jutta's side in this situation?

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Although Marie-Laure is afraid of Etienne before she meets him, he turns out to be much like her, challenging her understanding of “insanity.” He is scarred by his time in WW I, and now he sometimes sees things that aren’t there, and his life feels lost and aimless. Marie-Laure’s life feels aimless, and she knows that the world she experiences is different than the world that really exists. Both Etienne and Marie-Laure spend much of their time in imagined worlds; they begin to do this together as Etienne reads aloud to Marie-Laure. There is something therapeutic about reading aloud to a listener. Somehow the horizons of the reader and listener merge to give clarity to the Sitz im Leben (life setting) of the narrative. Marie-Laure’s time with Etienne challenges the meaning of insanity and helps both of them see some light at the end of a dark tunnel.

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Referred to as Volksempfanger, "the People's receiver". Typical of German design - clean and simple.

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1. I think "something" can be interpreted in many ways - the atrocities that Germans are committing in this war, the lies that are being spread, the propaganda and that is being repeated daily by everyone around Jutta, Werner's hunger for a chance to walk out of poverty, turning a blind eye towards the atrocities being committed on another human race, being complicit in the war crimes...
It is a stark reminder of how even morally- upright people can bow to peer pressure or conform to the "socially accepted norms"...

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His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you  might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it in between your fingers.

I am continually amazed by the author's flair for stringing words together to form a vivid image in my mind.  If I were a secondary school teacher, this book would be the mentor text that I'd use over and over again.

Just from this sentence, there is so much to tell about Great-Uncle Etienne. That he is gentle, that his presence is a luxury, that he is to be admired, that he is real, more real than Francois Giannot who had fled his own residence.

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Pick one of the following prompts to respond in your journal.

1.  In the chapter Chateau, we sense Marie's father becoming desperate for the first time.  How did the author depict this desperation?

2.  "The eggs taste like clouds.  Like spun gold....Seconds later, she's eating wedges of wet sunlight."  What went through your mind as you read these sentences?  Try coming up with a similar sentence to describe your favourite food.

3.  Share a quote that captured your imagination.

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This reminds me of some of the influencers I follow on YouTube; those who vlog or do videos of food. If Anthony were to be a YouTuber, I think he would make a very good one as the description really makes the food sound soooo good!
The beef fell off the bone as I scrapped my fork gently on the meat. Juices gushed out forming a puddle of deliciousness on the plate.

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It was evident that he was getting desperate as Giannot's house was found to be abandoned and plundered, and as he described his imagined welcome by Giannot vividly. I found that paragraph poignant and heart-wrenching as it juxtaposed with their current predicament. He then tried to assure himself that their lives were not cursed by the diamond. The way that he lied to Marie  about the cheap, cosy hotel they were staying in, was moving and really touching. I wondered if Marie had realised the depth of his father's love, as she had been so sheltered and protected by her father all her life .
The smoking of the last of his two cigarettes betrayed his desperation. He was almost at the brink of losing hope as he battled his inner conflicts of retreating to Paris or staying out or moving on. Of course, he made the courageous choice of moving on, as we would expect from this book filled with strong-willed characters :)

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1. The desperation was depicted by the sentences counting down the number of cigarettes left. As he smoked each cigarette away, it reflected his hope diminishing.

2. The choice of words were cleverly used as it invoked the readers to drool. I would love to learn on how the author learnt to play with his words in such a manner.

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2) the eggs tasted like clouds, peaches like wet sunshine.

My response.

These were quotes that I took note of when reading the chapter. The uniqueness of the descriptors did prompt me to take notice of them.

Personally, I was momentarily thrown off. I had to read the entire portion again to make sure that I understood the writer. Cos, culturally, I eat eggs that are not typically fluffy.  And good eggs, to me are deep fried and with crispy edges.  So, I had to take a moment to understand the context of the situation before concluding that Marie was having A positive experience despite the fact the I couldn't relate immediately, when I first read the line.

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Writing that you can almost taste.  This thought popped into my mind when I first read the description of the food; the food that was consumed at the end of a desperate time.  The common saying that a picture paints a thousand words fails miserably here.  With just a few words strung expertly together, the writer paints a picture that I can almost taste!

Let me give it a go.

Context: I've just finished my run and my dear wife has juiced a combination of an apple and an orange for me.

Each gulp of the bright orange nectar was a cool spray of water from a waterfall.

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Pick one of the following prompts to respond in your journal.

1.  In the chapter Making Socks, Werner and Jutta are having a hushed conversation.  We catch a glimpse of what Jutta is like.  What do you think of Jutta?

2.  Throughout these 10 chapters we have just read, how do you see Werner developing into a young man?

3. Share a quote that captured your imagination.

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I admire Jutta for having her own views and for not conforming to what her society believes in. She has a mind of her own and isn't easily convinced. She understands that what she was listening to over the radio is real and doesn't believe the propaganda that Werner has come to believe. I feel sorry for Werner actually. That he has been indoctrinated-_-

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Jutta seems to think that Werner is concerned with principles and abstractions in the hard Sciences and is not aware of the existential issues - "Why so many socks?" "The Reich must need socks." She knows that something is not right. The last sentence uttered by Jutta "Our planes are bombing Paris" is telling. She is not making an existential statement but questioning the reason for the bombing raid on Paris, a city which she is unlikely to have visited. Notwithstanding her own physical and emotional needs, she appears to have a personal view of ethical issues - she is against the destruction of a city, its populace, and its right to exist.

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She's younger than Werner but she has a stronger sense of what's right and what's wrong.  Perhaps her innocence stems from fewer venture out to the streets and outside world relative to Werner's frequent traipse to the mines.  Frau Elena's teaching and tender care would also have had its impact on her.
I like it that the author placed Jutta as the focus of this chapter because it's not often that we get a supporting cast to be the centre of attention.

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From a curious boy seeking answers to questions and drawn to the world of waves and electrons to one who demonstrates remarkable astuteness in matters apart from his world of the radio.
Indeed, these 10 chapters have shown his growth. From simply experimenting to actually conducting complex repairs of faulty radios. More than that, his act of breaking the shortwave radio suggests to me that he has the ability to understand people and situations. Having encountered the upper class, in close proximity, the sense of unease he felt, I assume, is a result of being in the presence of wanton power thst allows them to do whatever they want to the common people. He also showed courage to act and - just as he usually does when he notices a problem in faulty radios - he takes it upon himself to break the illegal shortwave. I believe that he is also doing this more for Jutta than just himself. This is another example of him being a dutiful older brother.

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Jutta seems to be matured in her thinking and her actions in comparison with Werner. She has an inquisitive nature where she wants to know what is happening around the world. Similarly to what Judith mentioned, she wants to find out things for herself instead of just believing in everything that she sees