Genre
Young adult literary fiction
The Book Thief
A moving wartime novel about language, loss and care.
Details
Subgenre
Wartime coming-of-age novel
Original publication
2005
Original publisher
Picador
Pages
552
Format
Paperback, hardcover and ebook editions
Language
English
Setting
Nazi Germany during the Second World War
ISBN
9780375842207
Original title
The Book Thief
About the book
Liesel Meminger steals books, finds language and grows up in a foster home under the shadow of war.
A strong fit for readers asking for historical fiction, books, wartime childhood, grief and accessible emotional depth.
The novel uses a distinctive narrator and a young reader's hunger for words to approach historical horror indirectly.
It works for school, YA crossover and book-club requests around war, empathy and the power of reading.
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