The Book Thief Essay

The title of the book is “The Book Thief” and this is a historical fiction novel from World War II era.

Who is the author? What other books has the author written?
The author of “The Book Thief” is Markus Zusak and Zusak has also written “The Messenger”, “When Dogs Cry”, “Fighting Ruben Wolfe”, “The Underdog” and “Underdogs”.

The story begins when we meet preteen Liesel Meminger in Nazi Germany, who is whisked away from her mother to her new foster parents after her brother’s death. During Liesel’s time living with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Liesel experiences the reality of residing in a poor neighbourhood in Nazi Germany. At the beginning, Liesel’s life is relatively ordinary. Even though Liesel is illiterate, she’s fascinated by words and books and completely captivated by the idea of them. While Liesel engages in normal childhood antics, the political climate is worsening. As a returned favour to an old friend, Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish man, Max Vandenburg, in their basement, putting the family at risk. Liesel’s foster father continues to teach her to read and write which causes Liesel to recognize the true power of words. Liesel is forced to witness recurring tragic occurrences, from the frequent air raids to the parades of

Similarly to Liesel, I also have a passion for reading and I communicate better in writing than I do when I’m speaking to someone. I’m an introvert and so is Liesel and we both find comfort in reading and writing instead of speech. When Liesel documented her life and how she felt about all of her experiences, it reminded me of how I often pick up a pencil and paper when I can’t find the right words to say. I prefer to write instead of talk because pencil is less permanent than words are, if you make a mistake, you can go back and erase it whereas words are like writing in ink, you can’t take back what you once