Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars

Age recommended: 10 and up

The Book Thief is an out of the ordinary book. The plot was very captivating and unusual. I don’t think that I have ever seen a book written from Death’s point of view. In the initial part of the book, Death is one of the key characters and is shown collecting souls, witnessing bomb blasts, and knowing when people are going to die.

I found this part of the book a little unnerving because it described people dying and how they looked once they were dead. However, it is not something that lingers on in the rest of the story.

The book is set in Nazi Germany during the World War II era.

Leisel witnesses her brother die on a train and she is scarred for life. She steals her first book from the man who buries her brother.

Leisel is sent to a children’s home because her mother can no longer take care of her. There, Leisel is adopted by an abusive mother and a lazy father.

Leisel spends quite some time trying to learn how to read from the book that she has stolen but finally gives up and asks her foster dad to teach her.

Leisel slowly learns how to read, but when she is finally settling in to her new home, a Jew by the name of Max Vandenburg shows up on their doorstep and claims to know Leisel’s father.

Harboring a Jew is a punishable offense in Nazi Germany. Max needs to be hidden so Leisel and her father hide him in their basement. When German soldiers come to their house asking if they can look around, Max knows it is time to run.

While all of this is happening, Leisel’s book thefts are getting more dangerous with each book. Will Leisel be able to continue to steal books, hide Max and get away with it all?

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If you’d like to read this book, here’s a quick link to where you can purchase it from Amazon : The Book Thief