The Book Thief

The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak

103 ratings 112 reviews 164 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 9 - 12Grades 3 - 6Z+5.1118933

The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780385754729
ISBN-10: 0385754728
Published on 10/15/2013
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 576

Book Reviews (108)

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Dork dog Dork dog

I have seen the movie. I love the book also.:)

Loved this book!! Really want to watch the movie!

this book was amazing i can read this over and over again if i wanted to...this had to be one of the best books ever

Liesel Meminger’s life isn’t so great; her brother died not too long ago, her mom is taken away and she is left to foster parents. When she sees a book lying on the ground at her brother’s funeral, she picks it up, and keeps it. So begins her childhood as a book thief—fascinated by books, by words. Her foster mother is not the nicest person—she calls Liesel words that shouldn’t be said to a child. She bonds with her foster father Hans though, over late-night story-times, writing lessons in the basement, and accordion playing. Hans isn’t quite a Nazi; his loyalties lie somewhere else. That life, knowing what to expect and that continuity is disrupted by the son of Hans’ friend from the war, who shows up at their front door. Max is a Jew, and he is looking for help. So the Hubermanns take him in, give him a hiding place in the basement to stay and provide him with food. Over the time, he and Liesel become friends and realize that they have a lot in common. They share memories, and spend time together. The only thing is, he has to be kept secret. If someone finds out, the consequences won’t be good. This is the story of a young girl, growing up and living life surrounded by Nazi Germany, stealing books and living with a Jew. Narrated by the unique voice of death, this acclaimed novel is definitely worth reading. My thoughts: This book was very enjoyable. With the narration of death, it had all sorts of fun different perspectives of looking at the world. It is written in a really quirky and awesome way; it’ll be in the middle of telling a story of someone dying, and then it’ll break into this little mini-paragraph and say something like “The sky was the color of burning newspaper.” It was intriguing and the story was great, as were the characters. You know, this was a weird book. In a good way. It kind of HAS no summary. Call me crazy, but in my mind it was one of those books that you can’t really describe, other than “a girl living in Nazi Germany.” Does that make sense? Probably not. I absolutely loved Zusak’s writing style, and I think this definitely deserved the Printz award. I look forward to more Markus Zusak!

Hard to get into... saw the movie before.... so its kind of spoiled but need it for the 40 book challenge... so... yeah.

I want to read this book because I like Markus Zusak. I also saw the movie, it was really good.

A girl is left in a foster home after her brother dies, during the Holocaust. She learns to read with her foster father (called Papa) and a Jewish man she befriends. During the story, she falls in love, steals books from the mayor's house, and starts a rebellion against Hitler.

This is my favorite book EVER!!!!!!

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