Status
Available
Publication
Knopf Books for Young Readers (2007), Edition: Later Printing, 608 pages
Library's review
When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her
-Kirkus Review
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learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)-Kirkus Review
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Subjects
Awards
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Winner — 2007)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2006)
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Nominee — 2009)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 9-12 — 2008)
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — 2006)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2009)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Winner — 2006)
Indies Choice Book Award (Winner — Children's Literature — 2007)
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2009)
British Book Award (Shortlist — Newcomer — 2008)
USBBY Outstanding International Book (Grades 9-12 — 2007)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Winner — Grades 9-12 — 2009)
Thumbs Up! Award (Honor — 2007)
Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award (Nominee — 2010)
South Dakota Teen Choice Book Awards (Nominee — 2009)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee — 2009)
Margaret A. Edwards Award (2014)
The Flume: NH Teen Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2008)
Virginia Readers' Choice (Nominee — High School — 2008)
Printz Award (Honor — 2007)
Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (Winner — 2007)
Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers (Nominee — 2008)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2008)
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Winner — 2009)
Sakura Medal (High School — 2007)
Buxtehuder Bulle (2008)
Kathleen Mitchell Award (2006)
Ena Noël Award (Winner — 2008)
Sophie Brody Medal (Honorable Mention — 2007)
Whitcoulls Top 100 Books (24 — 2010)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2007)
CCBC Choices (2007)
Read Aloud Indiana Book Award (High School — 2006)
Around the world in 80 books (Germany)
OYAN Book Rave (2007)
The Big Jubilee Read (2005 — 2002-2011)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2005
ISBN
0375842209 / 9780375842207
Other editions
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Paperback)