The Book Thief

The Book Thief

Written by: Markus Zusak

Published by: Random House Children’s Books, Alfred A. Knopf in 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction/Young Adult

Readability Lexile: 730L

Summary:

This is a book about a young girl names Liesel who lives in Germany during the time of WWII. She is on a train on the way to her foster parent’s house when her brother dies. Her mom disappears after that and she never hears from her again. Liesel has nightmares about the day on the train so her foster Papa comforts her every night and teaches her how to read. She steals books throughout the book because they are too poor to buy their own for her. Her foster mother works for herself and washes laundry for people that live around her. When things in the war start to get really bad she starts to loose business. Her foster Papa slays the accordion and paints houses but that is something that does not have much work right now. Her foster dad is not a loud in the Hitler’s club because something he did in the past. Liesel has to participate in Hitler’s Youth school even though her and her foster family is against him; they are not a loud to act that way. They hide a Jew in their basement and have to keep it a secret. Liesel and he became friends. She also becomes friends with the mayor’s wife and reads in her library. There is a “Parade of Jew’s” and her foster father is afraid that they will search the house so he is sent out that very night. Liesel’s foster father and best friend’s dad get forced to fight in the army. Max is also gone so she tries her best to get by. Liesel sees the Jew that they were hiding and marches with him but is not looked high upon for doing so. Her best friend stops her from following him and this saves her life. She decides to give her books to a library and in return she gets a blank book where she writes her own life’s story called “The Book Thief”. She is writing in it in the basement when her street is bombed. Everyone she loves dies, except for her because she was in the basement. Everyone she loves dies except for Max and her. At the end of the book she dies after a long life with her husband, kids, and grandkids.

Evaluation:

This is a great book. It not only teaches us about some of the events that happened during WWII but it shows us what it was like to be a German during this time. You usually do not see this perspective because you usually hear about the Jew’s story. It makes it a really interesting book because the narrator is death. This is also something that you do not usually see. You are able to understand the personality of each character, and get to know them personally. The story and characters seem natural because this is something that actually happened even though the characters were not real. When reading the text aloud I was able to hear the characters actually talking. The theme is worthwhile and the characters grow throughout the book.

Literary Elements:

-          Characterization- In this book you are really able to get to know the characters. You are able to experience their emotions, personality, feelings, and life. It really goes into detail with them and they all grow throughout the book.

-          Plot- The plot of this book is about a girl in Germany during WWI and the struggles that go along with it. It introduces us to the things that people experienced during the times of WWII in Germany.

-          Theme-The theme of this book is death. Death is everywhere. People are dying all around from the war that is going on. Death is even the narrator.

Mini Lesson:

I would do a mini lesson on the plot of this book. As a class we would read this book and then I would have them research about WWII and the Holocaust and what life was like to live in Germany during that time. I would teach them how to research and then we would do a research project on those things.

Target Audience:

Middle to high school