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• I really enjoyed this book. While some of the descriptions of the horrors and tortures that happened during the Holocaust can be almost unbearable to read, this book was not.The book is narrated by Death! and it follows a young girl as her mother and young brother travel to a small town outside of Munich to live with her foster parents. Her little brother dies along the way and she finds a little book at the cemetery that she takes as a 'souvenir'. Her foster father Hans helps her learn to read the book which opens up her joy of reading and discovery.

  5.00 out of 5

  Squeakness2000

• One of my all time favorite books. Few books affect me the way this one did. I developed such a true connection with the characters that I couldn't put the book down and am genuinely sad that I have completed it and can no longer read about their experiences. This is a very emotional story told from the viewpoint of death. It follows several lives during WWII in Nazi Germany. The writing style is unique and appealed to me very much. I will probably have to put this one on my read again list.

  5.00 out of 5

  sbenne3

• The best novel I’ve read in ages, the story is set in a small town just outside Munich during WWII. Liesel Meminger lives with her foster parents during Germany’s darkest years. She survives by her wits, a bit of luck, and by stealing books. The latter she eventually comes to share with others crowded in a bomb shelter and with the Jewish man who hides in her basement before being marched off to Dachau. The theme of the power of words, language, and books is woven throughout the story. One of the most powerful images of the novel occurs when Max, the hidden Jew, paints over the pages of a copy of Mein Kampf and writes his own story on the recycled paper.Narrated by Death (who is as poetic, phlegmatic, fatalistic, and compassionate as one might imagine), this novel is populated by a marvelous cast of ordinary people, most notably Liesel’s foster mother who wields the wooden spoon and spews obscenities with rare enthusiasm. Any book set during the Holocaust is, on some level, miserable to read – and The Book Thief is no exception. Yes, there are losses, but there is also a great deal of kindness, love, compassion, and hope. A brilliant book for all ages (originally published in Australia as adult fiction, it has been released here as a Young Adult novel), this one is a keeper. Don’t wait for the paperback – The Book Thief deserves a permanent place on the bookshelf and several generations worth of readers. Reviewed in Island Parent Magazine April 2007

  5.00 out of 5

  BiblioFool

• The Book Thief is the story of a young girl (Leisel), living in Germany during World War II. The story is told from Death's perspective, making the story different that any other book from the first paragraph. This historical fiction book introduces characters throughout the book that affect young Leisel's life as a foster child under Hans and Rosa Hubermann's care. Leisel learns about death throughout the story as several people who are very close to her die, and it is in her learning about death that she grows up and becomes her own strong-willed, intelligent person. This is obvious from the beginning of the story when young Leisel steals her first book after her brother's death, and becomes determined to learn how to read. Markus Zusak experiments in his writing style in the entire book, making the story even more compelling and page-turning.The genre of this book, historical fiction, makes this book an excellent choice for students from eighth grade and up. Not only is the book teaching lessons about World War II and Nazi Germany, but Zusak does so in a way that makes the reader want to keep reading, and not in a way that would be misunderstood or hard to follow by 13-year-olds. The students would be able to relate to Leisel in some ways, which makes the book even more interesting to them. Along, with the book being historical fiction, it would also fit under the theme of "coming of age", which as we all know, is what young adults are obviously all going through, and this is the time when they may struggle the most in their lives. To have such a gripping way of telling this coming of age story keeps readers attention to the end.The form of the book is another genius part done by Zusak. Although lengthy, at 550 pages, and little white space, The Book Thief is still a fairly quick read. It is broken up in ten sections, each with a small introduction of what the section will include. I personally have never liked knowing what is going to happen in a book before I read it, so this was a little surprising to me, but it proved to be one of the most intriguing parts of the book. As students read, they will enjoy the refreshing sight of a page that only has 20 words on it, and they will be pulled in by the words that introduce a section, "Part Five: the whistler, featuring: a floating book-the gamblers-a small ghost-two haircuts-rudy's youth-losers and sketches-a whistler and some shoes-three acts of stupidity-and a frightened boy with frozen legs" (p. 239).Along with the book being broken into sections, the story being told is often interrupted by Death itself. As the narrator of the story, Death feels the need to interject it's input at certain points throughout the story, whether it is tell what a character is thinking, give a definition of a word, or give more detail on a person or a place. These snippets were extremely helpful for me, as I know they would be for my students. It seemed that Death eerily knew when I was wondering about something in the story, and that would be when his interruptions occurred. These also gave more of a voice to Death, as these were Death's own thoughts and views of what was happening. This made the fact that Death was telling the story even more real and unnerving.Finally, Zusak included multiple pages of illustrations or parts of illustrations. This breaks the book up for students, as well as for me, and keeps one's interest piqued. The illustrations seemed to make the story more real, for example one section in the middle of the book included a book that was made for Leisel, and as I read, I felt as if I was reading the real book that was made for her. I think that these illustrations, along with the other interesting parts of the book made up a brilliant compilation of the story of young Leisel.This book was an experience, in and of itself, and one that I hope to share with many other readers, young and old alike. I think that Markus Zusak used his talent to create a book unlike anything I have ever read before. From the first page, when you discover Death is the narrator, it is impossible to set this novel down. I would suggest it to anyone who likes to read--I can't see a single soul not taking pleasure in every page they read.

  5.00 out of 5

  coolcaro

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