Parents' Guide to The Book Thief

This classic book uses a creative narrative structure to portray the horrors of Nazi-occupied Germany in the lead up to and during World War II through the eyes of both a young girl and the character of Death. It's no surprise that The Book Thief has won multiple awards—including the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, the School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year, and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book—it definitely stands out as an important novel that provides an emotive and educational glimpse into a horrific time in history. Adults and teens will likely turn to it for multiple readings, finding new details each time, and the 2013 movie adaptation offers another angle to explore from.

As well as learning about history, readers can reflect on important subjects like human nature and what it means to act in line with your values, and how heroic acts often put people in danger. While the violence isn't described in too much detail, it's an incredibly impactful reminder of the atrocities committed during this period in time. The use of Death as a character is a clever device to step away and look at events from afar, while Liesel experiences life as a non-Jew firsthand. Coming from the point of view of a child who struggles to fathom why, her naturally empathetic response toward the brutality experienced by Jewish characters only serves to hammer home the horrendous nature of their treatment. Author Markus Zusak doesn't take his foot off the pedal in following the stories of each character through to their mostly tragic conclusions, and the endings, along with the rest of the book, will likely stay with readers for some time.