** spoiler alert ** 
 GENRE: Fiction: Historical fiction, realistic fiction. 
 SUBJECT/THEMES: Nazi Germany, survival, Jews, the Holocaust, friendship, coping, parental bonding. 
 SUMMARY: For many years during World War II, Death was kept very busy by humans. Death narrates this story of Liesel Meminger, a human he has found intriguing. On the train journey for Liesel's mother to drop her off at her new foster home, her brother died. During his funeral service, Liesel began an act that she would commit several more times over the next handful of years: she stole a book, a gravedigger's handbook. Not fully understanding why her mother left her, Liesel learns to adapt to her harsh foster mother, and quickly warms to her kind and caring foster father. Her 'papa' teaches her to read, and she develops a close and unshakeable friendship with a neighborhood boy named Rudy. When Liesel's foster family takes in a Jewish man to hide, it isn't long before Liesel becomes attached to him, and she and Max form a special bond as well. 
 EVALUATION: This is a meaty, complex book. It started off a bit slow for me; I suppose I expected Death to have more of an involvement than a once-in-a-while spectator. The author keeps the number of core characters small, which enabled me to fully connect with them not too far into the book. Once that happened, I loved this story. It is full of hope, yearning, fear and desire. Each character has their own special way of expressing their emotions and dealing with the situations they are in. For Liesel, it is stealing books and reading them aloud. I especially enjoyed the many references to words in The Book Thief. Words became tangible and active participants in this story. They were thrown at someone's feet, flung about, shoved, embraced, spit out and more. This book made me cry several times throughout the story, which is always the hallmark of strong writing for me: if it makes me cry. The time period is certainly a difficult one, though the difficult parts do not detract from the wonderful book as a whole. 
 WHY I WOULD INCLUDE IT: The power of words and how they are used is a recurring theme, one that I think most astute teen readers will enjoy. While any young adult collection should have a good share of titles that are good for 'reluctant readers', by the same token, a collection should also contain some thought-provoking, more challenging titles for teen readers that are hungry for such a thing. This book will fill that need. Other readers will be interested in how this story is told. Using Death as a narrator is something of a novelty, and how he is moved by Liesel provides a wonderful backdrop. The Book Thief could also provide some fictional research for students studying this time in history, or for English students that want to dissect the word theme that runs throughout the novel.