Book Thief

The end of September and start of October are always punctuated by Banned Book Week, which is, in short, a celebration of books that tend to be challenged by various groups because of content, word choice, characters, titles, covers, and so on. And while that could be a perfect excuse to wax poetic about Mark Twain, Voltaire, or yes, even Harry Potter, my annual celebration of Banned Books is to reread a very ironic book on that list:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 Why is it an ironic choice? Because The Book Thief is not only a surprisingly funny and heartfelt story about World War II Germany, it centers on books and book burning.

The New York Times described the book as “not really… ‘Harry Potter and the Holocaust.’ It just feels that way.” It’s narrated by Death, who shouldn’t be as fabulous as they are, but they’re fabulous (even if I can’t shake the image of Death being a tiny, sassy Australian woman). The main character (the titular “Book Thief” who is really named Liesel) is an adolescent girl whose life has been tinged with death, but has remained resilient, warm, kind, and sweet. The first book she steals is a manual for grave diggers, and her love of learning proves insatiable. She and her adopted family show a tiny slice of the War from the perspective of German citizens and every act of defiance her family commits feels like a victory.

It’s completely worth the read, and the film version is set to be released in early November. ~~Maisie

Editor's note--If interested, call # is PR 9169.4 Z87 B66 2006