A Brief Summary
One thing needs to be made clear right off the bat, The Book Thief is narrated by Death and not by the main character; his point of view will be much as an outsider looking in and this is going to be the view that students take with the text. This has the wonderful benefit of giving some connection with the narrator, as Death is telling the reader a story and injecting his own unique views on the matter.
The Book Thief opens with Death's narration, introducing himself, explaining the importance of colors, and giving the reader an overview of the major events in the life of the book thief (a young orphan girl named Liesel Meminger) which he was present to witness. The means by which Death knows the things that happen in between are established in the form of a book that he finds, belonging to Liesel, and the reader is given the basic structure of the book. The book is divided into parts, which are further divided into chapters, and the page labeling which part of the book the reader is currently in will give hints as to the subjects of the chapter. (This should make it easier to break down, if being used as part of a class.) After the opening introduction the book properly begins with Chapter 1.
Liesel Meminger is traveling with her mother and her sickly younger brother aboard a train, heading to the town of Molching. Her brother dies during the trip, the first death that Liesel has ever experienced, and they are forced to stop in town to have the poor boy buried. It is here that the first of the book thief's prizes are taken, in the form of a book full of instructions for gravediggers. She pockets the item, keeping it safe for herself as a reminder of her brother. From there, Liesel and her mother arrive in Molching where Liesel is given to Hans and Rosa Hubermann. These are her new foster parents, with Hans being a sweet father and Rosa being a horrendous mother who swears worse than any sailor. Thankfully, these characters avoid becoming one dimensional, as there is more to them that these initial traits and they both prove to be good parents, for the most part.
Action in The Book Thief continues as Liesel grows up in town, with a lot of focus being put on how she comes to learn her letters and become literate and on the people that she encounters in the town. From the rapscallion Rudy Steiner to the strange Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife. Events unfold and things become serious when Max Vandenburg, the son of a Jewish man that Hans knew during World War I, comes to the Hubermann household. It is a definite shift in the book, as things begin to grow steadily darker for Liesel after Max's arrival and as the second World War drags on.
Thematic Elements
The Book Thief is a thick book, with a whole lot to say, and it is easy to find any number of potential meanings in the text. One of the major themes are the importance to literacy, which is a driving force of Liesel and her actions as the book thief. Others include value of family and friends, the nature of people, and the effects of poverty on those that are poor and being oppressed. The latter is subtle, but important, as it stands as a reminder that not every German was a Nazi (in fact, Hans refuses to join the party despite the words of his son) and the effects of war on this small town. There are other elements, to be sure, but those are some of the most evident and, I believe, some of the most important.
Analysis
The Book Thief is unlike most books that most students will have read, perhaps unlike any book they have read, and I feel that that needs to be stated before getting into a summary of events. A teacher looking to use this book is going to have to take the time to read it and really get into the bits of it. This was published as a work of adult fiction in its native Australia and it is deserving of the title, it is challenging and one of the finer pieces of literature to be produced in the last decade. Students at the high school Junior and Senior levels should be able to handle it, but they are going to need your help. It is a rewarding read, but it takes some effort to understand what is happening and to connect the events as they unfold.
A Little Something More
If a teacher is looking to make use of The Book Thief in class then it will be easy enough to fit it into a history unit that deals with World War II, the Holocaust, and a unit that deals with how things look from a different point of view. Seeing as the main character is German and not Jewish, it adds an interesting shift the usual feel for these sorts of books. It combines well with Maus, despite the latter being a graphic novel, if you decide to use the work as part of a WWII/Holocaust unit. Otherwise, this is a good read for any advanced readers in your classroom, if you feel like giving them a challenge for their next independent reading assignment.
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