The Book Thief

Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief. 2005. 552p. ISBN 978-0-375-83100-3. Available on the library shelves at FIC ZUS as well as both an eBook and audiobook on Overdrive.

Entrusted to foster care, Liesel Meminger witnesses her brother die on the train taking both of them to a new family. This death marks her with nightmares about his vacant stare as he laid dead. More horrific, but less personal, is what the Nazis are about to inflict on Germany.

At 10 years old, Liesel cannot read, but her new foster father, Hans Hubermann, begins teaching her that words are powerful. Her foster mother is never hesitant with swears, call Liesel all sorts of name, but she means well. Having already stolen a book to replace her dead brother, Liesel becomes a book thief, stealing one book at a time and savoring all of its letters before moving on to the next one.

Her best friend, Rudy Steiner, wants to kiss her, but she stands up to him. She is not interested. The Hubermann family is poor and not very educated. But Hans and Rose love Liesel in their own way. Molching is a small town of no military interest save that it is on the road to Dachau. The beginning of the Second World War does not change life much for the Hubermanns, aside from jobs that slowly disappear as privations begin hitting everyone. But when Max Vanderburg, the Jewish son of the man who saved Hans from certain death during the First World War shows up on their doorstep, seeking refuge, their very lives become endangered. Harboring a Jew could mean their death.

Liesel becomes attached to Max, however, who lives in the basement, and as the tides of defeat encircle Germany, her small world becomes even more difficult. With bombs falling from the skies, Jews being walked through town, and Death hovering nearby and harvesting souls, the book thief will need more than courage to survive this ordeal.