bookthief

__ The Book Thief __ by Markus Zusak ISBN: 978-0-375-84220-7 ©2005 550 pages

-pp. 3-5 (Prologue)
 * Good sections to read aloud: **

Our main character, a young German girl named Liesel, is being followed by Death throughout this book set in Nazi Germany. After watching her brother die and being relocated as a foster child in 1939, Liesel learns to read after stealing her first book (which becomes a habit). She learns to love her Mama and Papa, but it is Papa who is especially her confident. He teaches her to read, sleeps by her bedside throughout the nightly terrors, and shows her comfort and compassion like no other. Liesel also makes a great friend in her neighbor, Rudy. But, like in real life, Death takes many souls. Death makes no bones about it early on in the book: Liesel will most likely survive Hitler’s reign of terror, but not all of her friends and family will. This book has been made into a movie (one I haven’t seen), but read the book in its entirety first to completely grasp all of the situations thrown at Liesel, and how, as a young teenager, she faces adversity amidst the daily fear of dying.
 * Summary: **

YA fiction: historical fiction; Germany; books; reading; storytelling; death; Jews; World War II; rescue


 * ©Jennifer Lang - WDMS – 2016 **