The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

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In this historical fiction novel, Death himself narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living Nazi Germany in 1939. Liesel is mourning the death of her little brother, and her new foster mother is full of thunder, while her foster father attempts to gain her trust. Liesel begins attending school and befriends a neighborhood boy named Rudy. Liesel's foster father begins to teach her to read, and Liesel begins stealing books to keep up with her new reading habit. Soon her foster parents begin hiding an ailing young Jewish man, Max, in their basement, whom Liesel befriends. When things get difficult, Max must flee and eventually is caught by the Nazi's. Liesel begins to write her story in a blank book, and is down in her basement writing when her street is heavily bombed. All of her friends and loved ones die in the bombing, but Liesel survives and is eventually reunited with Max years later. The Book Thief is for grades 9 and up, as it contains violence and death while it offers a unique look inside Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.


Zusak, M. (2006). The book thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

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