The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Author of I Am the Messenger Writes Harry Potter and the Holocaust
Sep 13, 2009
Liesel Meminger is a righteous kind of thief. One book at a time, she tries to take back a little of what was stolen from her: her parents, her brother, the chance for a normal life, and her Jewish friend Max. Liesel steals to settle an unsettle-able score with life as Death looks on.
Overview of The Book Thief
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knop Books for Young Readers, March 14, 2006 ISBN 0375831002 ) is teen historical fiction at its literary best. The Book Thief illuminates the painful and provocative everyday life of a thirteen year old girl growing up in poverty in Nazi Germany.
Liesel's father, a suspected communist, is taken away, and her mother must bring Liesel and her six-year-old brother to a foster family not far from the Dachau concentration camp for Jews. The boy dies on the train, and Death, the book's oddly sympathetic narrator, now follows the young girl and tells her story in his appealing and aplologetic way (fraught with Lemony Snicket-like asides.)
The Book Thief's Heroine and Supporting Cast
Liesel Meminger is endearing, strong, dauntless and ordinary all at the same time. Her character is reminiscient of a female Harry Potter: an orphan growing up oppressed by an insurmountable force of evil personified. For Harry, it was Voldemort, for Liesel: Hitler.
Rudy is her feisty and rebellious red-haired friend and literal partner in crime. Foster mother Rosa Hubermann, sharp-tongued and boorish, never lets Liesel forget what a burden life is. And Hans Hubermann, the tolerant and docile opposite of his wife, brings love and balance to Liesel's troubled life.
The Book Thief's Theme – The Power of Words
Words forge a bond between newly orphaned Liesel and her foster father as he teaches her to read in the wee hours of the morning after her regular nightmares. Words bring comfort to Liesel as she mourns the loss of her family.
The Fuhrer's evil words in written form become the Nazi touchstone Mein Kampf , a book which Hans uses to save a young Jew named Max, who is then hidden in the Hubermann's basement. Later, with its pages painted over and re-written, Hitler's book becomes a record of Max's and Liesel's story and their unbreakable bond to each other.
Words empower Liesel to take something back as she liberates unread books from the wealthy mayor's library. Words heal wounds when Liesel and reads to the ill-tempered widow next door. Words bring peace to the community when Liesel reads aloud in the shelter during air raids.
Reader's Review of the Book Thief
Appealing to both young- and not-so-young- adults alike, The Book Thief not only educates and entertains, but also presents an opportunity to explore and discuss two very sensitive topics: prejudice and death.
The Holocaust is the ultimate example of what depths human beings can sink and what atrocities they can commit (and permit) when fueled by hate, and The Book Thief is guaranteed to launch invaluable discussions among teen readers and their parents and teachers.
Zusak's stylized writing is both poetic and terse, echoing the essence of humanity. The Book Thief is a must-read: poised to be the next modern classic.
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