The Book Theif

I know this book has been out for quite some time, but I wanted to review it because I think this is an important and great book for people of all ages to read.

Summary: It is 1939 in Munich, the Nazi Party has the people living in fear. This is not a kind or easy world for a child to grow up in, but Liesel Meminger she has never known any other way. At her brother's grave site she finds The Grave Digger's Handbook. Books become an obsession of Liesel and she bonds with her cooky foster father while he teacher her to read. She begins stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, and wherever she can find them.

In this time of hate, poverty, and fear Liesel tries her best to have a normal childhood with the help of her best-friend Rudy Steiner. Rudy is different from most Germany children. He hates going to the Hitler Youth, he doesn't support rations, and his idol is Jesse Owens. Liesel and Rudy bond over stolen fruit and football games.

Max Vandenburg is a Jewish boxer, struggling to survive in an anti-Semitic society. He finds shelter with the Hubermann's, and befriends a German girl named Liesel. Liesel doesn't comprehend why Max is hiding in their small, cold basement, until Jews begin marching through the heart of Munich to Dachau. Liesel doesn't grasp the full risk the Hubermann's have taken in hiding Max, but she know it must be kept a secret.

Thoughts: I don't think there is any way I could possibly do this book justice in a summary or any other fashion. I read this book around Christmas and it is hands down the best book I've read in several years. Most of my friends got this book as a Christmas gift because I think The Book Thief is a book everyone should read. The narrator, death, is witty but doesn't try to make light of the situation. He is overworked and tired, especially now in a time of war and genocide. Zusak's writing is amazing, his characters have so much soul and are so well developed you feel like they are your family. I've never had so much anxiety while reading a book as I did in The Book Thief. As I said the book opens in 1939, so throughout the entire book I'm counting down the days until the war is over in 1945. A lot of bad things can happen in 6 years, and they do.

Zusak for the most part is very straight forward with the reader that not everyone is going to make it out of this tale alive. But as Death says "I'm nothing if not fair," everyone dies eventually and that is a prominent lesson in this book. I think The Book Thief is one of the best WWII books on the market. It tells a different perspective; that of the German people. Since The Book Thief is based off of true stories I think it is important for teenagers to understand that the German people were prisoners of a different form, and that not all of them followed Hitler blindly. This book would be an excellent companion piece in a history class while studying WWII Germany. It would also be an amazing follow-up story to Night.

For Parents/Teachers: Knowing your child's maturity level is key to determining age appropriate books for them to read. This is especially true with this book. I would say that this book is safe for all teens starting at fifteen, but a large group of them may be ready to read this book before then. If a child at the age of 12 or 13 is interested in reading this book I wouldn't stop them, instead I would read it with them and answer any questions they may have. The themes is this book are extremely heavy, but I think that is normal for all WWII books. I'm not going to list of all the issues that this book tackles because it should be almost self-explanatory. I look forward to the day that this book becomes required reading in school, I know that some of my soon-to-be teacher friends plan on incorporating this book into their curriculum because this is the most important book written in the YA genre for easily ten years.

Rating: 5/5