Wonderful book, even better as an audiobook because the narrator is excellent. ( )

Set in Nazi Germany from 1939 until 1945, the book tells the story of a young girl who, through tragedy, discovers the "beauty and brutality" of words (quote comes from the novel).

Some reasons to read this book:

1. Character development: There is no better era in history for creating villainous, one-dimensional people than Nazi Germany. Zusak avoids that trap; he creates a cast of characters who feel real in their combination of kindness, pettiness, selfishness, and bravery. Bigotry, classism, and violence are all central themes of the book -- yet he never makes a big deal of these issues. The characters always come first.

2. Point of view: Zusak's use of Death as the narrator was a stroke of genius. I loved reading the author Q&A in the back of the book; he admitted that his first attempt at writing from Death's p.o.v. failed. He had to come back to it six months later. Somehow, that was both inspiring and a wake-up call to me.

3. Story development: Though the story is told mostly in a chronological fashion, there are non-linear aspects of the development that intrigued me. Death's ability to be in multiple places and times at once, as well as his unique perspective on war, made what could have been "just another WWII story" into something fresh (to me, at least).

This was a great book. I highly recommend it! ( )

What a wonderful story! Liesel and the other characters were wonderfully brought to life. I loved that this story is told from Death's perspective and centered around Germans that were not necessarily Nazi's.
Some of my favorite parts of the book was where Max's stories for Liesel were shared.
Definitely a story that will stay with you after you finish reading it. ( )

Zusak, Markus. Book thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Themes: Young Adult, World War II, Germany, Nazi, Orphans, Jews, Holocaust.

Awards:

Ena Noel Award (2006)

A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2006)

Kathleen Mitchell Award (2006)

ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2007)

Book Sense Book of the Year (2007.4|Children's Literature Winner, 2007)

Michael L. Printz Honor Book (2007)

Sydney Taylor Book Award (2007)

Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (2007)

BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2006)

Whitcoulls top 100, 2008 (81)

ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2009.04|Death and Dying, 2009)

ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (2009.3|Literature & Language Arts, 2009)

Censorship Issues:

• Racism
• Child Starvation?



Plot Summary:

The Book Thief chronicles the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl whose mother places her for adoption at the beginning of the Second World War. During the trip to be placed in foster care, Liesel’s infant brother dies and she steals her first book from the grave diggers who bury her brother. She is placed in foster care with her two foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a painter who moonlights as an accordion player at night and Rosa supplements the family income by doing laundry for the town’s wealthier citizens. The backdrop is Nazi Germany and the effects of the war are being felt by all German citizens. As Hans loses work, for not immediately joining the Nazi party, and Rosa begins to lose jobs due to the economic crunch, the family bonds together. During this period, Hans begins to teach Liesel to read; they begin with the stolen book, which turns out to be "The Gravedigger's Handbook.”
It is revealed that Hans was in the First World War, and his life was saved by a man who died. Following the war, Hans tells the man’s family that he will take care of them if they ever need him. Once the war starts, the man’s son, Max, is smuggled into the Hubermann’s house. The book progresses through the war, as narrated by Death. The Story culminates as the war enters the Hubermann’s town.

Critique:

The book is well conceived and written. The unique perspective provided by using Death as the Narrator, is both interesting and thought provoking. Teens (and adults) are forced to examine the dichotomy of life for the average German child; the carefree joys of childhood coexisting with the horrors of war. Zusak does an excellent job of taking a story and an issue that has been examined for years and presents it in a new youthful manner.

Curriculum Uses:

The most obvious curriculum use is for any history unit dealing with World War II, but the novel also has merit as an examination of racism and poverty. The character of Leisel is compelled to overcome so many obstacles in her lifetime that she is a study in dealing with situations which seem overwhelming. ( )

If I could rate this book ten stars, I would. So well written. One of my favorite books. ( )

Young adults and adults will be moved by this story. The voices in the book are so real you can feel them. Recommend for everyone. Period. ( )

Very different from the usual Holocaust novel. Delicious language and symbolism. Unusual narrator. Very moving. 5+ stars - my favourite book yet! ( )

Set in Germany during WWII, "The Book Thief" tells the story of orphan Liesel Meminger, life with her foster parents, and her love for books. It is narrated by Death, whose character comes across as strangely human as he relates his encounters with the human race in general and Liesel in particular.

Death meets Liesel for the first time as she travels by train with her mother and younger brother to the town of Molching, near Munich. Her brother dies on the journey, prompting Liesel and her mother to disembark to bury the small boy, and it is at his gravesite that Liesel steals her first book, "The Gravedigger's Handbook".
She settles into her new life, doing household chores for her foster-mother Rosa, being taught how to read by her foster-father Hans, stealing food with her friend Rudy, and visiting her Jewish friend Max, hidden in the basement. All of Liesels activities are framed in the context of Nazi Germany as the regime struggles to maintain its war machine, indoctrinating the young men into Hitler Youth, sending all eligible males to the battlefront, and reducing rations for those left behind.

Although the story moves a little slowly at times and is occasionally confusing when it jumps around in time, overall it is a good read. As it approached the end and the various threads of the story came together, I couldn't put it down.

Markus Zusak is the Australian son of German immigrant parents and he grew up hearing stories of life in Nazi Germany. "The Book Thief" has won several awards, including the 2008 Ena Noel Encouragement Award for Children's Literature and the 2006 Kathleen Mitchell Award, and was named a 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book by the Young Adult Library Services Association. ( )

a book meant for youthful readers but great for all ages. Although the books message has been told many times before it's my 1st time hearing death tell the story of Hitler's victims. The Book Thief is worth reading and owning . ( )

One of the most moving books I've ever read. Told from the perspective of death, it dances beautifully back and forth from the future to the present. The characters will stay with me for a long, long time. ( )

I heard about this from numerous friends and BookCrossers who loved it. I was not disappointed. Death narrates this tale of WWII Germany about a young girl, her foster parents, neighors, stolen books, and a certain Jew. The characters are all quite memorable (my favorite was Rudy) and the unique narrator choice lends an interesting twist to the storytelling. The metaphors in particular are fantastic. There were times when I laughed and times when I cried, but ultimately the ending is quite satisfying. I'll definitely have to pick up Zusak's other works. ( )

Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, AKA the book thief. Death first encounters Liesel when her younger brother dies while they are on the way to live with foster parents. Liesel steals her first book, The Gravedigger's Handbook, at her brother's funeral (even though she can't read). Her foster father, Hans, uses the book to teach Liesel to read.

The Book Thief is set during the Holocaust, so Death is definitely feeling overworked. Liesel steals more books and forms close relationships with the people around her, especially Max, a Jew hiding in her basement, and Rudy, a blond boy who admires Jesse Owens.

Death jumps around and interrupts himself, which makes the beginning of the book quite confusing. However, this book is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking and a must-read for older teens and adults. ( )

Death is the narrator. Slow start, but once you're in you can't put it down. ( )

Reviewed by Francisca Goldsmith in School Library Journal (March 1, 2006). Found in Follett Titlewave.

I wish I knew about this book when I was teaching middle school Social Studies. I would have read it with my class. 'The Book Theif' is a fresh, honest, heart wrenching story of live in Germany during WWII. The voice is like nothing I have read before. It is intended to be adolescent literature, but kept this adult engaged through out. ( )

A brief introduction: Death is the narrator. It (for want of a better pronoun) follows with a sort of perplexed fascination the coming-of-age of the Book Thief, Liesel Meminger, the "perpetual survivor." The setting is Himmel Street, not far from Munich, during the rise and fall of the Third Reich. And the thing about Liesel, beyond her ability to survive, is her itching, irrepressible urge to steal books. A remarkable fact, considering she begins the book illiterate.

This might all sound a bit depressing. And it is, at times. At other times it's exceptionally funny. And touching. And mind opening. And thought provoking. I laughed, I cried. Wash, rinse, repeat, for some 550 pages. If you think that sounds a bit emotionally draining, you're not wrong. But it's worth it.

It has all the usual elements that go along with such topics: Meditations on death, musings on life; first crushes, the struggle to fit in and to get along with parents and the boy down the street; air raids, bomb shelters, Hitler, Nazis, the Holocaust (and trying to help someone survive it), the Draft; books. It may look hodgepodge, but Zusak pulls it off brilliantly. He manages to take a bunch of very familiar (should I say cliché?) ideas, mash them together, turn on the blender, and create something harmonious and utterly refreshing. All the issues and images interact, mix together, change each other, but are never incomplete ideas. The story doesn't get distracted by the war and skimp on Liesel's experiences as an adolescent. Nor the does narration lose sight of its discussion of literacy, even as Himmel Street is being bombed, even as a Jewish prizefighter hides in the basement. All these ideas have beginnings, middles and ends. That completeness of thought leads to a stronger, more complex, and more interesting read. And through it all, Zusak maintains a prose that clear, quick, and undeniably beautiful.

I feel I should mention that this book is Young Adult literature. You'll find it in the Independent Readers section at Borders. But you should hardly take that to heart. According to the bookstore staff member who recommended this title to me (bless her) while I was wandering about the children's section, looking lost (no seriously, bless her), The Book Thief is most requested by adults. More often than not, they're members of book clubs who get confused when they can't find that month's selection in any of the usual places. So get that - a kids' book regularly dissected (to varying degrees of quality) by a group of adults drinking coffee.

So all I can say is, never be embarrassed to shop in the children's section - half the stuff there is better than half the trash they sell to grown-ups. And read The Book Thief.

Not too sure what to say about this one. It's a huge bestseller which is greatly loved if the reviews are anything to go by but it didn't really grab me.

That's not to say there weren't plenty of good things in it. Several of the male characters are very nicely drawn but I dodn't find the female charcters very convincing - Rosa in particular rings false. It's also interesting to read about the war from a German perspective.

My problem with the book is that it felt too contrived. The book is narrated by Death who tells the story if Liesl, the family she is adopted by, her neighbours and a Jewish man her family hide in the basement. Adding this touch of irreality is very plainly a narrative device - it allows Zusak to refer to events occurring elsewhere in the world, highlights the theme of the book (death - what else) while hinting that death is not the end and most importantly provides some distance between the upsetting events the book describes and the reader.

This latter point is important to Zusak for some reason. I'm not sure if The Book Thief is aimed at a teenage or adult audience (the publishers seemed to be equally confused, marketing it to different groups in different countries). The story is ultimately very sad and Zusak is determined to soften to blow by, for example, telling the reader what is going to happen well in advance of it actually occurring - I've never read a book with so many self-spoilers in it! It may be that he did have a teenage audience in mind and didn't want his novel to be too depressing for them.

Most puzzling for me is what Zusak is trying to say about his theme. I'm sure there is something profound in here but if so, I've missed it entirely.

This all sounds a bit more critical about the book then it deserves. Possibly my expectations were raised too high by all the fantastic reviews. Ultimately I did enjoy it as a story but think it overrated. ( )

It was a surprisingly dry narration of what should have been an emotional subject matter - I suspect it was the unique point of view that made the story dry and detached - we are told about the characters, but don't see any real emotions in them, because it is Death telling the story.

It would probably be more enjoyable for its target audience of young adults as it will give some insight into life in Nazi Germany, but, again, the dryness of the "voice" telling the story really tones down just how horrifying it would have been in Germany at this time (probably this is a good thing for younger readers).

There are "interruptions" every couple pages where Death explains something (in list form) that is happening in the story. Often these interruptions have a humorous tone to them which seems out-of-place in a story covering this topic. Even if you don't mind "humor" to lighten a subject, these interruptions stop the flow of the story (and make the pages look choppy too). ( )

This is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl in Nazi Germany, who having watched her family disintegrate, is fostered by the kindly Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel sees the atrocities committed in wartime, and sees the best and worst that humankind has to offer. Hans is the father who takes care of her and teaches her to read - a gift that will be her salvation and the comfort of others. Rosa is the coarse but warm hearted woman who fiercely protects her family. During Liesel's story, we meet a whole cast of characters - Max Vandenburg, the Jew who is hiding from the Nazis and just hoping to survive the war; Rudy Steiner, Leisel's neighbour and best friend; Frau Holtzaphel, the Hubermann's next door neighbour; and Adolf Hitler, who while never actually appearing as a character in the book, certainly looms over the whole story.

The book is narrated by Death himself, who is a surprisingly thoughtful and compassionate storyteller.

To put it bluntly, this book is fantastic. It is apparently aimed at young adults, but I think this is a book that adults of any age would and should get a lot out of reading. The story completely immersed me in wartime Germany and in particular, Lieisel's world. The characterisation by Markus Zusak is terrific. Although there is a fairly large cast of characters, each and every one is beautifully drawn, and I felt as if I knew them personally. They were utterly believable, and I cared about all of them.

The book held my attention through every page - I never once felt bored. Death is an interesting, sometimes even amusing, and always thoughtful narrator - he reveals snippets of what happens to certain characters before the events actually occur, but despite this, when such things do actually happen, the impact is not lessened in the slightest.

As the vast majority of characters are German, the reader sees the war through the eyes of German citizens, and shows them as individuals rather than the collective nation which wartime Germany is often viewed as.

To sum up - occasionally, I come across a book which I want to tell all of my friends about. I feel as though I want everyone I know to read it. This is just such a book. Very highly recommended indeed. ( )

One of the best and most moving books I have read in a long time. Excellent. ( )

This is not just another book about the Holocaust -- at least for me it wasn't. It is the story of a young, poor, orphaned, German girl who lives in a small village during World War II, and it is narrated by Death, who is a surprisingly compassionate figure. A good plot, very good character development, and very well written. I whole-heartedly recommend it. ( )

The Book Thief is a story told by death, about death, but also about life. The story focuses on Liesel, a young German girl living during WWII. Left with a foster family by her mother, she is raised in a harsh but not unloving environment. Death traces the career of this young book thief describing how she begins stealing books and how each comes to represent a milestone in her life. Liesel struggles with issues typical for young adolescents as well as the weightier matters that the Fürher forced upon the German people. She is ridiculed at school, she struggles learning to read and write, she must act as if there isn’t a Jew hiding in her basement, she must attend Hitler Youth meetings, she must watch her beloved Papa go off to war, she must survive…
Although marketed for Young Adults, I would suggest that this book is for very mature teens or adults due to its weighty subject matter, sometimes coarse language, glaringly truthful descriptions, and intense emotional effect. Zusak’s unique style of narrative adds an interesting touch and often seems to echo the harshness of that era, but he is not remiss in including moments of brightness and humor to balance the tragic setting. It is hard to say that one truly enjoys such a bittersweet story, but the tale is a good one and all the more wrenching because history tells us that it is strongly based in reality. ( )

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

THE BOOK THIEF is on of the most memorable books I've read in a long time. It takes place during World War II in Molching, Germany. It's the writing, the unusual narrator (death), and the characters sketched in vivid colors that make this novel so difficult to put down.

Meet Leisel, the book thief, whose first encounter with death occurs on a train with her mama and brother - on their way to meet her foster parents.

Meet Rosa Hubermann, Leisel's new mama, whose rough, crude exterior can't hide the heart inside.

Meet Hans Hubermann, Leisel's firm foundation. The man who stays up with her after her nightmares, who teaches her to read her first stolen book, who finds empathy in a slice of stale bread.

Meet Max, a Jew, the shadow in the basement, a skeleton later seen marching, or more aptly, stumbling, down the road.

Meet Rudy, the lemon-haired Jesse Owens, Leisel's partner in crime and best friend, the one who yearns for Leisel's kiss.

Meet the Führer, the invisible, potent master of words.

Meet death, in a metal cockpit, on a snow-covered field mottled in red, hanging from a rafter at the end of a rope, sitting at a simple kitchen table, under a pile of rubble that used to be a home.

Markus Zusak fills the reader with vivid images of humans at war, humans led to the unthinkable by a force they cannot control. Some go willingly, others have no choice. Those left behind are merely attempting to survive each day as life crumbles around them. Leisel survives by stealing books.

As I read the final chapters of THE BOOK THIEF, I literally had to close the book to get my emotions under control before reading on to meet death. It was inevitable -- he would meet me at the end of the book. As I emerged from the story at the turning of the back cover, my reality felt so jarringly wrong. It was as though I went from a black and white silent movie to a new world: bright, free, and colorful. You cannot read this novel without feeling a resounding resolve that this should never, ever, happen again.

The writing is incredible. Mr. Zusak gave death such an unusual perspective. His descriptive phrases are nothing short of brilliant. THE BOOK THIEF is a powerful read that should not be missed by anyone, teen or adult! ( )

Written for young adults but a book to read by all. A haunting memorable story with rich characters showing unique qualities. Unforgettable story of love, books, friendships, Nazi Germany, and so much more with "Death" as the narrator. Highly recommended. ( )

Although classified as "young adult", this story is one for readers over a certain age (over 12 or 13) but for any over that age. This is the first book to make me cry (out loud, with an "OH NO!") this year. Unfortunately, to tell you much of anything, is to give too much of the story away. I wonder where the stories this powerful and simply written were hidden when I was growing up. ( )