Module 10: The Book Thief

• Book Cover Image:

• Book Summary: Liesel Meminger is a nine year old girl growing up with her adoptive family during World War II in Nazi occupied Germany. The story, narrated by Death, paints a picture of both the tragedies and the beauty Liesel endures as she comes of age in a world where things are not always as they seem. Liesel learns that fighting for what you believe in sometimes comes at a very high price but in the end, it's all that really matters

• APA Reference of Book: Zusak, M. (2005). The book thief. New York, NY: Knopf Publishing.

• Impressions: Although I found this book a "slow start", once I finished it, I was fascinated with the depth of the content. There were several dualities in the book. One being on the power of words. Between Liesel's lack of reading ability at the beginning of the story, and being made fun of for it, to how she later used her reading ability to comfort people. Another being the duality between kindness and cruelty. Liesel's adoptive father dislikes the regime and is harboring a Jew for protection, yet scolds Liesel publicly when she expresses the same disdain. The author's use of details, such as when he describes the march of the Jews through the town, gives readers a good depiction of what the historical period was like. While this book is suggested reading for 9th grade and up, I feel it would be best received by 11th and 12th graders. The true messages of the book may not be picked up on by younger readers without deep discussion and analyzation of the themes.   

• Professional Review: Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. 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.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA 

Goldsmith, F. (2005). [Review of the book The book thief, by M. Zusak]. Amazon.com. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375842209?ie=UTF8&isInIframe=1&n=283155&redirect=true&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&s=books.

• Library Use: Use the story to have a class discussion on Literacy, past and present. The novel places an importance on literacy and on what a powerful tool it is. Ask students if they can remember the first book they owned. What was their favorite book as a child and did it have a profound impact on them? In today's society, literacy is being used as a communication tool in emails and texts. Discuss how literacy has changed in the 21st century. Is it taken for granted? Do the students think we disrespect language when we text and write emails with slang and/or poor grammar?