The book is narrated by Death and starts off with Liesel Meminger life by starting with living with her foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann at the beginning of World War II in Molching, Germany. While living in the house called 33 Himmel Street, she learned how to read her first stolen book and found a passion for reading. Liesel made many memories with her best friend, and they always stole books and food. As later on when Death tells the story, you can notice Liesel becomes more responsible at a young age. She matured faster because of the obstacles that she and her family would encounter because of World War II.

The first thing that I loved was how Death uses complex words, and he also uses a lot of figurative language in the story he made of Liesel’s life in Germany. The figurative language makes you feel like you are right next to characters, and it helps you visualize or feel the same thing the characters are feeling. Where Death says, “The town that afternoon was covered in yellow mist, which stroke the rooftops as if they were pets and filled up the streets like a bath.” (Zusak 247) you can picture the sky being so mesmerizing to watch. It is easy to notice the author puts a lot of thought when he writes the book. In addition, I love how Markus Zusak incorporates German words to give authenticity to the book that they use in  Germany around the midst of World War II. For instance, when Liesel’s venerable mother uses this German word to insult everyone “Sausmech”.

Another thing that the author did well was how he chose the narrator to be Death. The reason why I enjoyed Death being the narrator is because the setting is in Nazi Germany. I feel like it ties in well to the story because of how many people were dying in World War II. Death also tells the readers, “ I am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550) and can see he is afraid of us humans because he always finds us at our worst when surrendering our souls to him. Death tells Liesel’s story to everyone to show himself another side that humans can be beautiful.

I would recommend this book to young adults. The reason why is because of how higher level the wording is. In addition, because of how the overall tone can be depressing. Lastly, because of the swearing that happens.