LS 5623 The Book Thief

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

ISBN: 0-375-83100-2

When the book thief, Liesel Meminger, is delivered into the hands of foster parents in Molching, Germany during the outset of World War II Death is there watching, as he just carried her brother’s soul to eternity. She has already stolen her first book at the graveyard where they buried her brother. And Death, although he gets busier as the War rages on, always finds time to look into Liesel’s life because she and he book thievery fascinate him somehow. Death tells us: “When I recollect her, I see a long list of colors, but it’s the three in which I saw her in the flesh that resonate the most.” Later Death tells us the colors, white, red, and black for pivotal times in her history that the being witnessed. As Death watches her thorough the years, her book thievery and thirst for knowledge grows and the war rages on.

The Book Thief is a deliciously dense and filling tome that teens who love language will just gobble up. Less advanced readers may be intimidated by Zusak’s wonderfully imagined descriptions and turn of phrase. Death on their poisoned showers of Auschwitz : “When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up . . . their spirits came towards me, into my arms and we climbed. ” and Max, the hidden Jew, on a brief freedom “If they killed him tonight, at least he would die alive.” The March 2006, edition of the School Library Journal calls it "an extraordinary narrative." Zusak makes Death, and in turn Liesel, sympathetic and believable: Death just has job to do and Liesel doesn’t know what to make of the chaos that war has made her life. Life is not always a smooth venture and many teens today can connect with Liesel’s struggles as she tries to make sense of a thing greater than she is. Liesel is heroic in small ways: she steals a book from the fire of a Nazi pyre, she and a friend sneakily leave bread on the road for the Jews that are marched through town on the way to Dachau, and they comfort a downed and dying American Airman. Teens can relate or even learn that the small things can make a difference and that there is always a bigger picture for actions you take in life.

The Book Thief can be a hard read, but it is entirely worth it to get to the satisfying end. Highly recommended for middle school readers reading above their grade level and high school readers on up.