Title of Book: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Setting:  Germany during the late 30s and continuing into WWII focusing on Hitler's Aryan Nation, the lives of the poor families on Himmel street and the horrific treatment of the Jews.  

Main Characters

1. Death:  The story is narrated by allegorical Death. 

2. Liesel Meminger:  The girl who is given into foster care by her starving mother

3. Rosa and Hans Hubermann:  Liesel's foster parents

4. Rudy Steiner:  Liesel's boyfriend

5.  Max Vandenburg:  A Jew

Summarize the story:  At the age of 10, Liesel is put into foster care when her mother can no longer care for her.  She is supposed to be accompanied by her brother but he dies on the train trip to the foster home.  At his burial, illiterate Liesel steals her first book when it drops out of the pocket of one of the grave diggers.  Liesel has nightmares and Hans, "Papa" comforts her during the nights and early mornings by playing his accordion for her.  When Hans learns how much Liesel wants to learn to read, he teaches her during those midnight hours and the first book she reads is "The Grave Digger's Handbook"; the one she stole at the graveyard.   

Papa is not an anti-semite and he complicates the Hubermann's lives when he makes good on a promise he made during WWI. 

Liesel continues to steal books from the Mayor's wife's library one at a time as reparation for the Mayor's wife's firing of Rosa, "Mama", who took in washing and ironing to make ends meet.

Aside:  I will never eat pea soup again in my life.   

This book is fascinating in the way the story is told.  Enveloped in the prose are a couple of "picture books" and there are many entries that look like notes scribbled on the back of an envelope that are actually succinct descriptions of characters/events/thoughts.  For example (as taken straight from the book):

*** SOME FACTS ABOUT RUDY STEINER***
    He was eight months older than Liesel and had
         bony legs, sharp teeth, gangly glue eyes,
                 and hair the color of a lemon.
             One of six Steiner children, he was
                       permanently hungry.
    On Himmel Street, he was considered a little crazy.
This was on account of an event that was rarely spoken about
but widely regarded as "The Jesse Owens Incident," in which he 
  painted himself charcoal black and ran the 100 meters at the 
                       local playing field one night.     _______________________________________________________

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?  Yes, indeed.  It is an excellent book.  It is actually categorized as YA (Young Adult) fiction with the intended reading group being grade 9 and up.  Enjoy!

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