Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Saba

World War Two is just on the brink of beginning. Chaos is everywhere - and so are Nazis.
Liesel Meminger and her brother are to be transported to another home, for reasons unknown. She is both sad and exhilarated - what is happening?
But her brother dies on the journey, and Lisel finds it hard to face the grief. She and her mother, silent and solemn, conduct a funeral for the little boy outside in the snow.
That is when it catches her eye - "the Gravedigger's Handbook", a lone book lying on the ground. She pockets it, and this is her first act of book thievery.

Life goes on. Her new, foster family, the Hubermanns, enrol her in school, where she finds a friend in the mischievious, lemon-yellow-haired Rudy. But her eye is always on the look out for new books to steal - from Nazi book-burnings, or the Mayor's house's library.

This is a story with a unique and interesting plot. It is a story that shows us the importance of words, and where we would be without them. Narrated by "Death" itself, it captures aspects of life and love, and the power of words.

A must read.