The Book Thief - a full scheme of work for Year 8/9

A full, 13-lesson scheme of work that focuses on the novel in its entirety.

The lessons cover a range of skills, from identifying and re-creating different narrative methods, to exploring the writer's choices and evaluating them. Students are asked to work independently, as part of a team, and as a class to uncover the hidden messages of the story and explore the different characters, events and plotlines.

Students should, by the end of the course, be able to read critically and write from a perspective that is subtle, clever and avoids cliché. They should also be able to approach a novel from a wide variety of perspectives, including the use of literature exam skills.

This SoW is best suited to higher-ability students, but can be adapted. Due to its length, in-class reading could also happen, although this would need to be extract-based.

Adapted from the Penguin materials guide published alongside the book.