by Markus Zusak
First published 2007
It's 1939 in Nazi Germany, and Death has never been busier. For Liesel, a foster girl scraping by, the act of stealing a book becomes a lifeline. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with neighbors during air raids and the Jewish man hidden in her basement. As Liesel's world opens up through the power of words, it also closes in around her family's dangerous secret. In this tale of courage and resilience, one girl's love of books sustains her through the darkest of times.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, world-war-ii
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resilience
Setting: Germany, Munich
Period: 1933-1945, 1939-1945, World War, 1939-1945
608 pages · Paperback · Knopf Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: death