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The book thief

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'It's just a small story, really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery ...' This work is narrated in the all-knowing matter-of-fact voice of Death, witnessing the story of the citizens of Himmel Street: When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents, she refuses to get out of the car.

Liesel has been separated from her parents - 'Kommunists' - for ever, and at the burial of her little brother, she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual which she can't read.

It is the beginning of her illustrious career. In the care of the Hubermans, Liesel befriends blond-haired Rudy Steiner, her neighbour obsessed with Jesse Owens.

She also befriends the mayor's wife, who hides from despair in her library.

Together Liesel and Rudy steal books - from Nazi book burning piles, from the mayor's library, from the richer people of Molching.

In time, the family hide a Jewish boxer, Max, who reads with Liesel in the basement..

By 1943, the Allied bombs are falling, and the sirens begin to wail.

Liesel shares out her books in the air-raid shelters. But one day in the life of Himmel street, the wail of the sirens comes too late...A life-changing tale of the cruel twists of fate and the coincidences on which all our lives hinge, this is also a joyous look at the power of book to nourish the soul.

Its uplifting ending will make all readers weep.

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Product Details
Doubleday
0385611463 / 9780385611466
Hardback
823.92
01/01/2007
United Kingdom
English
Contemporary classics
584 p. : ill.
24 cm
general Learn More
Quiz No: 211399, Points 18.00, Book Level 5.10,
Upper Years - Key Stage 3 Learn More
The story of a young German girl who steals books, of her family and the Jewish boxer hidden in their basement as they struggle to survive in Nazi Germany when the bombs begin to fall.
The story of a young German girl who steals books, of her family and the Jewish boxer hidden in their basement as they struggle to survive in Nazi Germany when the bombs begin to fall. FA Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)