The Book Thief by Markus Zusak “received many awards for .., including the Michael L. Printz Honor and the Kathleen Mitchell Award(Australia).”(“Markus”). Which are awarded for excellence in young adult literature. The Book Thief most definitely deserves these awards as its ability to combine fact and fiction is truly remarkable. Markus Zusak takes his own imagination, and his life experiences and turns them into an outstanding novel. Zusak takes the facts and events of World War II, his own creativity, and his life experiences and mashed them together to create the one day classic in The Book Thief. To start off, Zusak sets the story during Nazi lead Germany, and incorporates real parts of the war into his piece. The first real event
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As mentioned before Zusak’s parents were born in Germany and Austria, and they lived through World War II and Hitler’s reign. “My mum and dad are from Germany and Austria, and when they told my brothers and sisters and me about their childhoods, it was like a piece of Europe entered our kitchen… There were also stories of children giving bread to starving prisoners on their way to concentration camps, and parents being punished for not letting their kids be taken to special schools by the Nazi Party” (“Parent’s”). As shown in the quote the stories his parents told him had a very heavy influence on him if it felt like a piece of Europe was in his own kitchen. In the story he also mentions that during the war there were marches and children gave the Jewish prisoners bread. In The Book Thief Hans, Liesel’s foster father, gives a piece of bread to one of the slower prisoners and both him and the prisoner are whipped(Zusak). Then later in the story Liesel and her friend Rudy get the idea to scatter bread in the street for the prisoners to eat (Zusak). Zusak says in the interview that his father told stories of people scattering bread in the streets and this corresponds exactly with what happened in the book. Another part of his life that he incorporated into The Book Thief is that he loved to read and write from a very young age. “Zusak began writing fiction at age 16 and pursued a degree in teaching”(“Markus”). In the story both the main character Liesel and her friend Max loves to read and write. Ever since her brother died at a young age Liesel has loved reading. On that day when they were burying her younger brother one of the gravediggers dropped their hand book and Liesel was able to grab it. She obsessed over the book both because it was something to remember her brother by, and she was fascinated by the words that she could
As mentioned before Zusak’s parents were born in Germany and Austria, and they lived through World War II and Hitler’s reign. “My mum and dad are from Germany and Austria, and when they told my brothers and sisters and me about their childhoods, it was like a piece of Europe entered our kitchen… There were also stories of children giving bread to starving prisoners on their way to concentration camps, and parents being punished for not letting their kids be taken to special schools by the Nazi Party” (“Parent’s”). As shown in the quote the stories his parents told him had a very heavy influence on him if it felt like a piece of Europe was in his own kitchen. In the story he also mentions that during the war there were marches and children gave the Jewish prisoners bread. In The Book Thief Hans, Liesel’s foster father, gives a piece of bread to one of the slower prisoners and both him and the prisoner are whipped(Zusak). Then later in the story Liesel and her friend Rudy get the idea to scatter bread in the street for the prisoners to eat (Zusak). Zusak says in the interview that his father told stories of people scattering bread in the streets and this corresponds exactly with what happened in the book. Another part of his life that he incorporated into The Book Thief is that he loved to read and write from a very young age. “Zusak began writing fiction at age 16 and pursued a degree in teaching”(“Markus”). In the story both the main character Liesel and her friend Max loves to read and write. Ever since her brother died at a young age Liesel has loved reading. On that day when they were burying her younger brother one of the gravediggers dropped their hand book and Liesel was able to grab it. She obsessed over the book both because it was something to remember her brother by, and she was fascinated by the words that she could