The Book Thief
This unique book is among the favorites of many readers, and for good reason. Set in World War II Germany and narrated by Death, the book brings us Liesel Meminger. A foster girl who is taught to read and about quiet acts of resistance by her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel attempts to make sense of the horrors happening around her while living her day-to-day. When Max, a Jewish man, moves into the basement, Liesel shares her (stolen) books with him as he shares his stories with her. That the story is narrated by Death hints at its direction, but the tragedy of World War II is never a question. It's Zusak's vividly imagined daily lives of Germans in World War II and a dutiful Death lingering in everyone's shadows at that time that (perhaps ironically) brings this story to life.
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When Death has a story to tell, you listen.
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.