The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Year: 2005

# Pages: 552

Category: Historical Fiction Presentation

Genre: Historical Fiction

My Summary & Critique:

“It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.
With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.”—goodreads.com

This is the script from my booktalk, in which I introduce myself, as Death, the narrator of The Book Thief. Then, the booktalk is given from my/Death's point of view, with some direct quotations and paraphrased lines from The Book Thief:

Let me introduce myself using a few excerpts from the first book I will be discussing today:

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***

You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find that hard to believe. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

You are going do to die.

Does this worry you?

I urge you--don't be afraid.

I'm nothing if not fair.

--Of course, an introduction.

A beginning.

Where are my manners?

I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough in time. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away."

So Who am I??

Yes, I was told that you are a very bright group of humans.

I know I may not appear like you expect. What did you expect me to look like?

"A Small Piece of Truth:

I do not carry a sickle or scythe.

I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold.

And I don’t have those skull-like features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I’ll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue."

I want you to know that I don’t usually appear to so many of you humans at once, unless your lives were, indeed in peril, but I assure you that I have made a special visit to your group on my day off to share with you some very interesting books. Books that will intrigue you, delight you, entertain you, make you think, teach you something, and help you look at Death, me, in a whole new way. For in these books, I am prominent in the story, I may even be the star.

Let’s begin with one of my most prominent roles, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.

I have the honor and privilege of narrating this story—a story about a little German girl, Liesel Meminger, who was left with foster parents just before the outbreak of World War II. On the way to her new home with her younger brother, I meet Liesel for the first time as I have come to take her brother away. She intrigues me, so I watch her. At her brother’s funeral, she stole her first book—the Grave Digger’s handbook—that had been dropped in the snow. It would be the book from which she learned to read and it would not be the last book she stole. As she settles in with her harsh but caring foster mother, Rosa, and kind, gentle foster father, Hans, she gets to know the people of her poor neighborhood and learns to read. Her obsession with books grows as the war closes in, rationing is put in place, air raids sound, and Hans takes in a Jewish man named Max to hide in the basement. And through it all, I travel the Earth, taking in more and more souls every day and you’ll wonder who I will come for next. Read The Book Thief to find out what happened to Liesel, what became of the Jewish man in the cellar whom she came to adore, and find out how I could know her entire story when I only met the book thief three times. As you read this story, you will learn how the power of words transformed a little girl, a family, a war-torn community, a nation, and me.