Content levels
Trigger warnings
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she 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. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time. “The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —The New York Times
Is The Book Thief appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
Set in Nazi Germany during WWII, this novel addresses the Holocaust, war violence, death (including children), and persecution with literary sensitivity. Death narrates, providing philosophical distance, but themes are emotionally intense and historically heavy.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include child harm, genocide, death, death of child, and death of parent (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
A powerful story about a girl who finds hope and humanity through stolen books during the darkest days of World War II, narrated by Death himself.