The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

ISBN:978-0375842207

Publication Information: Alfred A. Knopf

Plot Summary:The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a 9 year old girl living in Germany during World War II. She is sent to the small town Molching, after her father is sent away for being a suspected communist, her brother dies and her mother is too sick to care for her. Despite the hard exterior of her foster mother, and the hard scrabble feel of the neighborhood, Liesel grows and thrives, becoming best friends with a boy in the neighborhood, Rudy, and growing to love her foster father, Hans. Hans is particularly loving to Liesel, and teaches her to read during the nights when she wakes up from terrifying nightmares. Liesel's life takes a new, dangerous turn, however, when Hans fulfills a promise he made to a friend many years ago, and hides a German Jewish refugee, Max. As Liesel befriends Max, she realizes how dangerous hiding a Jew can be, for both herself, her family, her friends, and especially, for Max.

Critical Evaluation: Zusak creates a near perfect YA historical novel in The Book Thief. He creates an incredibly insightful narrator in Death, who's pitch perfect weariness captures just how horrific the holocaust was, and how terrible war is in general. Zusak also creates a series of incredibly well written characters in Liesel, Rudy, Max, and Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Rudy in particular, will constantly break the reader's heart every time he tries to get Liesel to kiss him. Although the background of the novel is stark, there are moments of both beauty and comic relief. This book seems to have it all, wonderfully full characters and a well written plot that truly pulls the readers in. The pacing is brisk and readers will find themselves devouring this book. This is a must read for all teens, and would be an especially good tie in for teens studying world history and WWII.

Reader's Annotation: Liesel is growing up in World War II Germany with a big secret. She has a Jewish man hidden in her basement.

Author Information: Markus Zusak is the author of four other books: Getting the Girl, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, The Underdog and I Am The Messenger. His latest book, Bridge of Clay is due to be released next year. He lives in Sydney, Australia with his family. (Taken from the author's website http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/index.html)

Curricular Ties:n/a

Curricular Ties: History

Genre: Historical Fiction

Book talking ideas:

• Discuss the Holocaust, and Germans like the Hubermann family who were willing to risk their lives to defy Hitler.
• Why did Rudy and Liesel commit subversive acts, like laying bread down in the road for Jews marching to and from work sites?
• Why did the Mayor's wife feel the need to befriend Liesel?
  

Challenge issues: Violence

• Familiarize yourself with the book and its contents.
• Check the library for specific policies on challenged books.
• Check the ALA website for advice on how to respond and react when a book has been challenged. (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm)
  
• Find positive reviews from reputable websites.
• Ask the challenger for their specific objections and try to address them using information from the above research.

Interest Age: Grades 9 and up

Why I selected this piece: The Book Thief has garnered such rave reviews both in the adult and teen literary worlds that I had to read the book.