'The Book Thief' Markus Zusak by Kirsty Smith 9SD

The book thief was written by Markus Zusak and is the story of a young girl named Liesel Meminger who is living in Germany during the Second World War. When she is nine, she is taken away from her mother (who is a communist) after her younger brother dies, and is sent to live with a man and woman on a street called Himmel Street- meaning ‘heaven’ in German. During her time there, she becomes close friends with a boy called Rudi and although she is quiet and cautious at first, she grows to love her foster father and even her thundering foster mother.

    Once Liesel has settled in, a Jewish young man named Max comes to live with them. For two years they hide him in their basement to repay Max’s father for saving Liesel’s foster father’s life many years ago. Liesel becomes very fond of Max and also discovers her love of books after her foster father teaches her to read. As a result of this, she takes a book from a pile of them that are being burnt by the Nazis at a parade and a woman who is the wife of an important member of the Nazi party sees her, therefore, when Liesel delivers laundry to the house of this woman (to help her foster mother who does rich people’s laundry for a job), the woman allows Liesel to read a book from their huge library. However, after a while, the woman’s husband finds out what has been going on and banishes Liesel from their house- and their library. Despite this, Liesel longs to read more books so she decides to ‘borrow’ book after book from their library. This is how she earns herself the name: The Book Thief. One time, when she is doing this, Rudi spots her and gets annoyed that she is keeping it a secret from him so keeps pestering and questioning her on their way home… which leads to Liesel admitting that they are hiding a Jew in their house. Rudi promises not to tell anyone but the Nazis do regular checks of people’s basements and after they nearly discover Max, he decided that he must leave them for their own safety.

    Still reeling from the shock of Max leaving, Liesel cannot believe it when her father is conscripted for the German army and Rudi is told that must leave to do elite training for the army after his fourteenth birthday which is swiftly approaching. Leaving only her and her foster mother at home, Liesel feels as if she is being abandoned, however, she does not have time to dwell on this as there are ever frequent air raids happening when everyone on Himmel Streethas to sleep in a huge shelter in the dark and cold. Liesel’s foster father previously played his beloved accordion during these long nights in the shelter, but there is now an empty space where he used to sit, so during one air raid, Liesel tells a story to everyone in the shelter. In my opinion, this is the part that is the most powerful as it shows how Liesel has grown since she arrived; from not being able to read or write, to memorizing a whole story and using it to relax and comfort dozens of terrified people one night.

    In contrast to these tear-jerking moments of happiness and the lines (particularly between the foster mother and father) that make you laugh out loud, there is an overwhelming sadness at the end of the book when everyone Liesel loves dies one fateful night when the air raid siren doesn’t warn the citizens of Himmel Street of an attack. Following this unbelievable loneliness that Liesel feels- and the unfairness that Rudi didn’t get the chance to tell Liesel he loved her before his untimely death- she finds comfort in the woman who previously let her read books at her house. Years on, she works in their very own bookshop- when Max walks through the door!

    The Book Thief is a story that has the ability to give an insight into German people’s lives during the war because some British people don’t know a lot about what some German people went through; therefore it educates them and tells their side of the story. Furthermore, this book made me think about how people take for granted nowadays as Liesel goes through so much at such a young age. The Book Thief has been made into a film too which I am looking forward to seeing!