The Book Thief

Zusak, M. (2006). The Book Thief  . New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Interest Level: 9 - 12

Grade Level Equivalent: 4.0

Lexile® measure: 730L

The Book Thief takes place in Germany before and during WWII. It is told from the perspective of Death who finds the story of Liesel Meminger to be very interesting because she has avoided Death three times in her life. The story begins with Liesel being sent to live with Hans and Rosa Huberman in Molching because she and her husband were communists. Hans and Rosa take good care of Liesel even though Rosa and Liesel have a rocky relationship. Her foster father teaches her how to read and she develops her love of books and words. She befriends the other children who live on her street, works on her reading, and steals books from the mayors wife who tolerates her thievery. Liesel begins to write the story of her life when her town is bombed and she and Max are the only survivors.

This book is different from any other book I have read about the Holocaust because it is written from the point of view of Death, which I found to be very morbid. I would only use this book with my most mature readers, and probably not until 5-6th grade, though it is at a 4th grade reading level. I think some students might find it hard to get into, as I did, but it provides a wide breadth of learning opportunities.

The story is well written, and the characters are very well developed. The historical information is accurate, and the author lets you feel as though the reader is in Molching during WWII. 

Literary Elements highlighted by this text:

Foreshadowing: The story is written by Death, so in that the reader is lead to assume that there will be death in the story. 

Metaphor: In the beginning Death uses a lot of creative language and metaphors of color.

Personification: Giving Death human characteristics. 

Mini-Lesson:

This book could obviously be used in a unit about the Holocaust. Students could write the story of their lives like Liesel does.