THE BOOK THIEFBY MARKUS ZUSAK

Book Talk by Jennifer Gay

WHERE? WHEN?

The Book Thief is a young adult novel that follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a German orphan, before and during World War II.

Leisel goes to live with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, after her mother is sent to Dachau, a concentration camp.

The story takes place in the fictional town of Molching, near Munich, Germany.

MAP OF GERMANY

WHO? WHAT?

The story follows the life of Leisel, who must adjust to living with her new foster parents after her young brother dies and her mother is sent to Dachau.

Liesel’s foster father, Hans, or “Papa”, is forced to join the Nazi party even though he doesn’t agree with what they believe. He takes a stand whenever he can against the party; eventually, he faces danger when he hides a Jewish man, Max Vandenberg, in the basement.

Liesel’s best friend, Rudy Steiner, joins Lieselin her adventures and develops feelings for her.

THE CLIMAX

As their lives become more affected by World War II, Liesel, her family, and friends, are forced to make decisions and choices that many people today cannot imagine.

Death is the narrator of the novel, so the reader sees the events in Liesel’s story through Death’s eyes.

THEMES

Life and death

Friendship

War

The Human Condition (brutality and beauty)

Coming of age (growing up)

WHY DO I LOVE THIS BOOK?

I felt like the characters were my own family and friends.

Many times when reading about the Holocaust and World War II, the story is centered around the way Jewish people were treated. This story shows the way Germans AND Jews suffered because of Hitler.

The novel shows that all humans are connected and can relate to each other, regardless of their past or present.

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10…

…I give The Book Thief a 10.

• While the story is fictional, the events are historically accurate.

• The characters are so believable that I felt as were part of their family while reading.

• The imagery and story were so powerful that I immediately had to go back to underline and make notes in my book.

LIESEL WITNESSES A BOOK BURNING

“A collection of men walked from a platform and surrounded the heap, igniting it, much to the approval of everyone. Voices climbed over shoulders and the smell of pure German sweat struggled at first, then poured out. It rounded corner after corner, till they were all swimming in it. The words, the sweat. And smiling. Let’s not forget the smiling.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Liesel is witnessing a book burning, in which members of the Nazi party burned ALL books that did not meet a list of requirements by the Nazi Party.

The passage does not describe people who are sad to be burning books, but it describes the joy that many Nazi party members got from destroying books that contained ideas different from their own.

Liesel waits until long after the townspeople leave the fire so she can steal books that have not been burned.

CHECK IT OUT!

Click here to watch an interview with

Markus Zusak,

author of The Book Thief.