Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 9780375831003
Reading Level: Grades 10-12
Interest Age: Grade 10 to adult
Genre: Historical--World Historical Fiction--Twentieth Century
Reader’s Annotation: Death narrates this moving portrait of a little girl who loves books growing up in Nazi Germany.
Plot Summary
Death takes a particular interest in one human, the book thief, whom he encounters three times in the early years of her life. The book thief is a nine-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger. When Death first sees her she’s watching the burial of her brother, who died on the train on the way to their new foster family. While Death watches, Liesel steals the first in what will become a long string of books, The Gravedigger’s Handbook. Soon she’s in Molching, a suburb of Munich, living with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. The second war is about to begin.
Hans and Rosa immediately love Liesel, though Hans has an easier time showing it. (Rosa curses and yells to show her affection.) Hans painstakingly teaches Liesel to read when she wakes in the night from dreams of her brother’s death. Liesel quickly makes friends with cocky, impetuous Rudy from down the street, though she never gives him the kisses he requests. Later Max, a young Jewish man, comes to hide in the Hubermann’s basement. Liesel faithfully keeps the secret of his presence and tells him stories to lighten his dark days.
She steals several more books, first from a book burning in the town square and later from the library of the mayor’s house (though the mayor’s wife knows what Liesel is up to and doesn’t mind). All of the characters live in increasing hardship and fear as the war drags on and the air raids come ever closer to the town.
Critical Evaluation
This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. Death’s narration is always lyrical, and when it breaks into asides on Death’s work, poetic. Death’s observations on the horrors human beings perpetrate on each other are tender and sad. Death lays out the sequence of events masterfully, from the first book theft to the scene of devastation in the street at the end, showing how each event leads to the next, as if inevitably. And though Death jumps ahead in the story several times, so the ending is not a surprise, its impact is nevertheless intense. (I cried for about two hours.)
Zusak’s characters are beautifully drawn. Rosa, Hans, Max, Rudy, and Liesl—the characters at the heart of the story—are flawed but intensely loyal and caring. The relationships among them feel lived-in. Liesel, though initially timid with both of her foster parents, almost immediately warms up to Hans, but takes a little longer to get past Rosa’s blustering. Max is at first awkward with the family, but Liesel quickly becomes essential to his survival. The gift he painstakingly makes for her touches her deeply. Rudy and Liesel’s friendship grows from teasing, to trust, to almost constant companionship, to the beginnings of a love recognized too late. The length of the book (nearly 600 pages) is not a defect but a joy, as spending time with these characters is a great pleasure.
Curriculum Ties: History--World War II
Booktalking Ideas
Explain why Liesel is called the book thief. Tell a bit about her book-stealing career and the meaning of books in her life.
Read one of Death's interludes about collecting souls from the gas chamber chimneys.
Challenge Issues: Violence, language
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I will include positive reviews from Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, Children's Literature, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, a mixed review from Booklist, and the assessment from Common Sense Media (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/book-thief).
About the Author
Australian author Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell.
“We have these images of the straight-marching lines of boys and the ‘Heil Hitlers’ and this idea that everyone in Germany was in it together. But there still were rebellious children and people who didn’t follow the rules and people who hid Jews and other people in their houses. So there’s another side to Nazi Germany,” said Zusak in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.
At the age of 30, Zusak has already asserted himself as one of today’s most innovative and poetic novelists. With the publication of The Book Thief, he is now being dubbed a ‘literary phenomenon’ by Australian and U.S. critics. Zusak is the award-winning author of four previous books for young adults: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger, recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature. He lives in Sydney.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/author.html
Why is this title included?
My teenage sister told me I had to read this book. I in turn told my husband he had to read it, and he cried for half an hour reading the ending. He is not a crier. It's also appeared on many best-of lists and won many awards, including Amazon Editors' Picks: Top 10 Books, 2006; Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2006; Horn Book Fanfare, 2006; Kirkus Best Children's Books, 2006; Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2006; School Library Journal Best Books, 2006; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007; YALSA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 2007; American Booksellers Book Sense Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, 2007 Winner Children's Literature; and the Michael L. Printz Award, 2007 Honor Book.