The Book Thief

The Book Thief
 by Markus Zusak

Bibliography

Zusak, M. (2007). The book thief. Orlando, FL: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0375842209

Summary

Death narrates a gripping tale set during the Nazi era in Germany.  He focuses on one girl (Liesel) to keep the monstrosities he is witnessing from overwhelming him.  Liesel begins her life as a book thief, and her involvement with death, when she picks up a gravedigger's handbook.  Over the next few years Death explains the circumstances involved as she steals several more books.  The theft of the books all mark significant life events for Liesel and those around her.  

Critical Analysis

A small part fantasy and a big part historical fiction.  That's a good balance for getting young adult readers to pick up a book!  Set in Nazi Germany, The Book Thief portrays an authentic life of a young German girl and the people around her as seen through the eyes of the narrator, Death.  Even though Liesel is younger than the typical reader of this book, there are many people to identify with throughout the story.  Rudy, a rough yet gentle friend, Max, a jew in hiding, and other believable characters pepper Liesel's young life as she just tries to get through every day and as she learns the value of words.  Historical fact makes its mark on this novel as the atrocities of Nazi Germany are a part of the characters lives and Zusak has certainly done his homework.  He leaves the reader feeling they know a bit more about how life was for common people when the Nazis were in power.

Review Excerpts

*“Brilliant and hugely ambitious…Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers…Adults will probably like it (this one did), but it’s a great young-adult novel…It’s the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, The Book Thief offers us a believable hard-won hope…The hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence. Young readers need such alternatives to ideological rigidity, and such explorations of how stories matter. And so, come to think of it, do adults.” --New York Times 

* Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative. --School Library Journal


Connections

* This website has an interesting video interview with Markus Zusak in which he discusses The Book Thief.  There is also a bibliography, forums, and book discussions!

* Awards:

• 2006 - Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific)
• 2006 - Horn Book Fanfare
• 2006 - Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award
• 2006 - School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• 2006 - Daniel Elliott Peace Award
• 2006 - Publishers Weekly Best Children Book of the Year
• 2006 - Booklist Children Editors' Choice
• 2006 - Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
• 2007 - Boeke Prize
• 2007 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• 2007 - Michael L. Printz Honor Book
• 2007 - Book Sense Book of the Year
• 2009 - Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Master List

     

* Expert from The Book Thief (read more here)

Part 1: DEATH AND CHOCOLATE

First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***
You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

***Reaction to the ***
AFOREMENTIONED fact
Does this worry you?
I urge you--don't be afraid.
I'm nothing if not fair.

--Of course, an introduction.

A beginning.

Where are my manners?

I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.

At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps.

The question is, what color will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying?

Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see--the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.

***A SMALL THEORY ***
People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment.
A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors.

Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses.
In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.

As I've been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I've been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style vacation destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski trip variety? The answer, of course, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision--to make distraction my vacation. Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors.

Still, it's possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he need distraction from?

Which brings me to my next point.
It's the leftover humans.
The survivors.

They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs.

Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and color. It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors--an expert at being left behind.

It's just a small story really, about, among other things:
* A girl
* Some words
* An accordionist
* Some fanatical Germans
* A Jewish fist fighter
* And quite a lot of thievery

I saw the book thief three times.