The Book Thief ReviewTheres nothing like reading a good book. This is something that Markus Zuzak knows a lot about. Author of 2005 best seller The Book Thief, takes us to Nazi Germany during the Second World War. A catching, amazingly written and magnificent story narrated by Death, where the character of a girl, a lemon-color-hair kid, a fist-fighting Jew and an accordionist come to life. A heartbreaking novel that will give you a million things to talk and think about.

A train is heading towards Molching, a place where a brand new home, on Himmel Street, is waiting for both children and the life of an orphan with new parents. After being delivered to her foster parents Liesel never hears from her communist mother again, or her father. She starts a fresh new life with two adults that she would have to call Papa and Mama for the rest of her life with them. Her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, are poor German citizens that have agreed to take in the two children for the exchange of an allowance. Hans, a kind-hearted painter, that has served in the previous world war that has no room in his mind for Anti-Semitism, he plays the accordion, one that means a great deal to him. Rosa is a tough woman that swears a lot but deep down she is a big hearted person, although she doesn't show it a lot. While Liesel lives there, she becomes best friends with her neighbour Rudy, The boy with hair the colour of lemons who wants to become a runner like the african-american Jesse Owens and turns out to be deeply in love with Liesel. The young blue-eyed girl becomes fascinated with the idea of learning to read. Her passion for reading is so strong that she seeks to get her hands on a book no matter how, even risking punishment from powerful people that one would not even dare to steal from.

On The Night of Broken Glass, we get told the story of a young fist-fighting Jew by the name of Max Vandenburg, the son of Hans friend from WWI, the man who gives the accordion to Hans and in return he will forever be in debt to the Vandenburg family. He has promised that if they ever need help with anything, Hans will do everything he is capable of to do so. Max ends up on the doorstep of the Hubermann household, where he is let in and hides in the basement from the SS patrols that try to find hiding Jews. This act will have serious consequences if Max is found. Hans knows about these consequences, the tremendous risk that hes putting his whole family through, but he promises he will help in whatever way is possible and that promise means a lot to him. Eventually Max and Liesel become good friends, Max even writes a heart-tearing story for Liesel that he calls The Standover Man, which Liesel cant tell anyone about, even her best friend Rudy.

This wonderful story sends a message to the reader, a very special one that contradicts to the stereotype that some people have of the German population of those awful years: not all German people were the type of people that hated the Jews; there were citizens that risked it all to help people like Max, innocent Jews that were framed, tortured and killed for just their beliefs and unique culture, Jews werent and arent any different from the Aryan race that Hitler so dearly admired. This story could be read by almost any audience mature enough to understand the severities of these times, the pain that the Jew population were going through and the sacrifices that they had to make. This is truly a wonderful story that catches the reader and sends very important messages such as showing us that not only the Jews suffered under the hands of the Nazi regime, the German population were constantly harassed by them, forced into believing ideas that some didnt agree at all with and for the people who stood against these ideas awaited severe punishment. You should really consider putting this book on your to do list because is worth it.