Book review

The Book Thief is set in during the Second World War in Nazi Germany. It is about a nine-year-old girl called Liesel Meminger who is sent to live with foster parents on Himmel Street. In the next few years of her life, Liesel finds a new hobby: stealing and reading books. This book follows her and the other residents of Himmel Street as the bombs begin to fall. It's quite strange in more than one way. The narrator, for example, isn't human. He's called Death - the skeleton in the black robe (when describing himself, Death says, "you want to know what I truly look like? …find yourself a mirror while I continue"). Despite that, The Book Thief is a moving book with characters so real it feels like they are standing next to you, telling their stories.

The book is quite long as it covers four years of Liesel's life. Various events that are recorded include Liesel's best friend Rudy running around a track in the middle of the night pretending to be the famous athlete Jesse Owens, the first time Liesel steals a book, and the tragic bombing of Himmel Street.

The Book Thief is an incredible, thought-provoking book that is ideal for girls and boys aged 11 years and over. It helps you understand about the horrifying things that were happening in Germany during the Second World War. But it also shows how humankind always seems to survive through the worst circumstances. As Death says at the end of the book, "I am haunted by humans".