Our class is now reading a book called the Book Thief, which is a story about a young girl caught in a Nazi fanatical Germany during world war two. The girl was dropped off on the front step of a middle aged couples house and has to deal with her abusive step mother and paranoid Nazi's as death himself narrates this wonderful book. The author of this book is Markus Zusak he is Australian 30 years of age, and has been writing sense he was 14. Zusaks mother grew up in Germany during the holocaust and witnessed the horrible treatment of the jews and a terrible bombing in a town called Munich. He has written a few other best sellers such as The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting The Girl, and I Am The Messenger. Markus Zusak has recieved many awards for his liturature:The Book Thief
2008 Ena Noel Award - the IBBY Australia Ena Noël Encouragement Award for Children's Literature
2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book by the Young Adult Library Services Association
2006 Kathleen Mitchell Award 2006
The Messenger (a.k.a. I Am The Messenger)
2007 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
2006 Michael L. Printz Award Honor book 2006 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
2005 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year-Children
2003 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award
2003 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
When Dogs Cry/Getting the Girl
2002 Honour Book for Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year (Older Children)
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
2001 Honour Book for Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year
shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
Many people wonder where he got his ideas from for The Book Thief He got his ideas from two stories he heard from his German mother. one of the bombing of Munich, the other is how a young kid tried to give an emaciated Jew a piece of bread and both of them were whipped.
