by Michelle Hand for TWU Course Literature for Children and Young Adults
Zusak, Markus. 2006. THE BOOK THIEF New York, NY: Knopf. ISBN: 9780385737425.
THE BOOK THIEF is a realistic fiction novel set during WWII revolving around an illiterate German girl who steals books, her adopted family and the trials that come with hiding a Jewish prisoner in the basement of the family's home.
Critical Analysis
Death narrates this realistic historical fiction with flowery language. At some points, I think Zusak confuses the reader with mixing up analogies of the human senses and distracts from the main plot of the story. Liesel Meminger, the main character, is most unfortunate. She loses her brother to Death and her mother abandons her. She finds solace in a stolen book she can't even read. Liesel experiences love and discipline by adoptive parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans teachers her how to read and shows her unconditional love. Rosa teaches her that life is not always rosy as Zusak describes in relating the events of Nazi Germany and Hitler's reign.
THE BOOK THIEF is definitely unforgettable from the believable and realistic characters to the heartbreaking setting. But most of all, the ongoing theme of hope through literacy will clinch the reader and never let go.
Review Excerpt(s)
"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 - School Library Journal
"The Book Thief is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but The Book Thief deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night. It seems poised to become a classic."
- USA Today
"Zusak doesn’t sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse-Five: with grim, darkly consoling humor.”
- Time Magazine
Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Connections
What is ironic about Liesel’s obsession with stealing books? Discuss other uses of irony in the novel.
The Grave Digger’s Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. Why did she take the book? What is signifi cant about the titles of the books she steals? Discuss why she hides The Grave Digger’s Handbook under her mattress. Describe Hans Hubermann’s reaction when he discovers the book. What does the act of book thievery teach Liesel about life and death? Explain Rudy’s reaction when he discovers that Liesel is a book thief. How does stealing books from the mayor’s house lead to a friendship with the mayor’s wife? Explain how Liesel’s own attempt to write a book saves her life.
Liesel believes that Hans Hubermann’s eyes show kindness, and from the beginning she feels closer to him than to Rosa Hubermann. How does Hans gain Liesel’s love and trust? Decide whether Liesel is a substitute for Hans’s children, who have strayed from the family. Why is it so difficult for Rosa to demonstrate the same warmth toward Liesel? Discuss how Diesel’s relationship with Rosa changes by the end of the novel.
Abandonment is a central theme in the novel. The reader knows that Liesel feels abandoned by her mother and by the death of her brother. How does she equate love with abandonment? At what point does she understand why she was abandoned by her mother? Who else abandons Liesel in the novel? Decide whether she was abandoned by circumstance or by the heart.
Connections from “Lit Lovers: A Well Read Community”, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/144-book-thief-zusak?.
Other contemporary realistic fiction and/or by Markus Zusak for young adults.
Yolen, Jane. BRIAR ROSE. ISBN: 9780765342300
Zusak, Markus. I AM THE MESSENGER. ISBN: 9780375836671
Toksvig, Sandi. HITLER'S CANARY. ISBN: 9781596432475
THE BOOK THIEF is a realistic fiction novel set during WWII revolving around an illiterate German girl who steals books, her adopted family and the trials that come with hiding a Jewish prisoner in the basement of the family's home.
Critical Analysis
Death narrates this realistic historical fiction with flowery language. At some points, I think Zusak confuses the reader with mixing up analogies of the human senses and distracts from the main plot of the story. Liesel Meminger, the main character, is most unfortunate. She loses her brother to Death and her mother abandons her. She finds solace in a stolen book she can't even read. Liesel experiences love and discipline by adoptive parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans teachers her how to read and shows her unconditional love. Rosa teaches her that life is not always rosy as Zusak describes in relating the events of Nazi Germany and Hitler's reign.
THE BOOK THIEF is definitely unforgettable from the believable and realistic characters to the heartbreaking setting. But most of all, the ongoing theme of hope through literacy will clinch the reader and never let go.
Review Excerpt(s)
"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 - School Library Journal
"The Book Thief is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but The Book Thief deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night. It seems poised to become a classic."
- USA Today
"Zusak doesn’t sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse-Five: with grim, darkly consoling humor.”
- Time Magazine
Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Connections
What is ironic about Liesel’s obsession with stealing books? Discuss other uses of irony in the novel.
The Grave Digger’s Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. Why did she take the book? What is signifi cant about the titles of the books she steals? Discuss why she hides The Grave Digger’s Handbook under her mattress. Describe Hans Hubermann’s reaction when he discovers the book. What does the act of book thievery teach Liesel about life and death? Explain Rudy’s reaction when he discovers that Liesel is a book thief. How does stealing books from the mayor’s house lead to a friendship with the mayor’s wife? Explain how Liesel’s own attempt to write a book saves her life.
Liesel believes that Hans Hubermann’s eyes show kindness, and from the beginning she feels closer to him than to Rosa Hubermann. How does Hans gain Liesel’s love and trust? Decide whether Liesel is a substitute for Hans’s children, who have strayed from the family. Why is it so difficult for Rosa to demonstrate the same warmth toward Liesel? Discuss how Diesel’s relationship with Rosa changes by the end of the novel.
Abandonment is a central theme in the novel. The reader knows that Liesel feels abandoned by her mother and by the death of her brother. How does she equate love with abandonment? At what point does she understand why she was abandoned by her mother? Who else abandons Liesel in the novel? Decide whether she was abandoned by circumstance or by the heart.
Connections from “Lit Lovers: A Well Read Community”, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/144-book-thief-zusak?.
Other contemporary realistic fiction and/or by Markus Zusak for young adults.
Yolen, Jane. BRIAR ROSE. ISBN: 9780765342300
Zusak, Markus. I AM THE MESSENGER. ISBN: 9780375836671
Toksvig, Sandi. HITLER'S CANARY. ISBN: 9781596432475
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