domingo, 6 de septiembre de 2015

The Best Act of All

When I began to read the last pages of the book, I realized my prediction was wrong. The army officer had served the countess´ husband before he was executed, because he was one of the men that wanted and tried to kill Hitler. She had a long private talk with him and when it ended, the officer and the soldiers left. After that, Mutti, Karli, Lizzie and Peter said goodbye to the countess and began their journey to find the Americans with the choir schoolchildren. As they traveled, the schoolchildren sang as well as Karli, Mutti, Peter and Lizzie. They had to share shelter many times with other people but it wasn´t so bad because they shared food with each other. After days of walking and singing, the Americans appeared! But they came so loudly and shaking the ground that Marlene got scared and ran away. Peter told one of the Americnas that they had to find Marlene. He said that they would find her for them but that they had to leave because it was to dangerous. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie begged them to let them look after Marlene, but they didn´t let them. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie were taken to a camp refugee for "displaced persons" but Peter tried all he could to stop the Americans from taking them to a bigger camp with more "displaced people". Rules were rules and Karli, Mutti and Lizzie had to be separated from Peter. Peter told Lizzie that he was going to write, that he would come back and find her and that he was going to keep looking after Marlene. In the camp, there were actors, singers and artists so they held plays and concerts were the choir schoolchildren sometimes got to sing. Mutti realized they needed a school so they decided to have one and Lizzie was in charge of the small children. Six months passed before the war ended and Lizzie, Karli and Mutti were allowed to leave because they were going to stay in Mutti´s cousin Renate´s house. When they were in the camp, Peter and Lizzie wrote to each other and Peter told Lizzie that when he was released, they were going to get married and live in Canada, but the writing stopped when Lizzie and her family moved, even though she gave Peter her new address. They found an apartament near Renate´s house were they could live and they got the good news that Papi was alive! He had been prisioner of the Russian army. Karli and Lizzie began school again and one day, when they were coming back from school, they saw Peter sitting on the front doorstep! Lizzie and Peter got married and sailed away to live in Canada and when Karli was older, he also moved to Canada. Papi came home years after Lizzie had moved to Canada. One evening, when Lizzie and Peter were about forty years old, they went to a circus from France. When the act of the elephant started, Lizzie recognized Marlene immediantly and it seemed like Marlene recongnized Lizzie too. After the show, Lizzie asked the owners of the circus were they had found Marlene and they said they had her from another circus. Lizzie was with Marlene for hours in the weekend the circus was there but when it was time for the circus to go, she knew it was alright becuase she was glad that she had survived and that she was fine.


"But I´m sure it was Marlene who was the saving of them because Marlene made them laugh. They loved to watch her splashing in the streams, loved to feed her by hand whenever they could and, like Karli, loved to have a good giggle whenever they Heard her . . . how can I say this politetly? . . . letting off - which was often, and it was sure smelly too!" ( p. 177)

Marlene had a very big heart, she seemed to understand people and people undestood her. I think she knew how to make someone happy when they were sad. With her company, the choir schoolchildren forgot they were tired and hungry, they had a good time with her as well as Peter, Lizzie, Mutti and Karli.


"The star of the show was an elephant, and I knew as soon as I set eyes on her that it was Marlene. And the extraordinary thing was that she knew me. As she was led around the ring in the grand parade, she stopped right by me where I was sitting in the front row, and reached out her towards me." ( p. 193)

It was amazing how, about 35 years later, Marlene and Lizzie met again and that they could recongnize each other. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie had a big impact on Marlene´s life, they took care of her before and during the war, gave her food, found her a shelter, and most important, they accepted her in their family. I think that's why Marlene could recognize Lizzie in the circus.


I have enjoyed this book very much and I would recommend it because it´s entertaining and it teaches and reminds you very impotant things for life. For example to never give up and fight and keep going to get to your goal. Sometimes everything seems lost but like Mutti said in the book, "put one foot in front of the other", and maybe, you´ll find the answer. I hope my blogs have been interesting an fun to read. It has been a great experience to share them with you.  

 
During my summer vacations, I went to a circus in Denmark called Cirkus Arena were there was elephants. When I reached the part of the book were Lizzie and Peter went to the circus, I thought it was a very fun coincidendce and connection to the book.

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