Markus Zusak

Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time. (Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)

protect the diamonds survive the clubs dig deep through the spades feel the hearts Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first ace arrives in the mail. That's when Ed becomes the messenger. Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance. At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle. The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

Вражаюча історія, яку розповідає... Смерть! До влади в Німеччині прийшли фашисти. Вперше Смерть побачив маленьку Лізель, коли прийшов забрати душу її братика. Він став свідком того, як дівчинка вкрала першу книжку, і зацікавився її долею. Він приходив до її будинку, де, ризикуючи життям, родина переховувала єврея. Він слухав, як Лізель читала книжки під час бомбардувань. Смерть завжди був поруч. Під час останньої зустрічі він розкриє крадійці книжок свою найбільшу таємницю...

Den Tod muss man nicht fürchten. Er ist nämlich, wie er als Ich-Erzähler von sich selbst in einer Vorbemerkung sagt, „bemüht, dieser ganzen Angelegenheit eine fröhliche Seite zu verleihen“. Nur hätten die meisten Menschen „einen tief sitzenden Widerwillen, der es ihnen unmöglich macht, mir zu glauben, so sehr ich auch versuche, sie davon zu überzeugen“. Mit einem weiteren Vorurteil räumt der Tod gleich zu Beginn auf, dass ihm nämlich die Menschen gleichgültig seien. Im Gegenteil. Ab und zu, so erfahren wir, braucht er sogar eine Auszeit, um sich abzulenken. „Ihr wollt wissen“, fragt er, „wovon ich mich ablenken muss? (…) Es sind die übrig gebliebenen Menschen. / Die Überlebenden.“ Eine solche Überlebende, „eine Expertin im Zurückbleiben“ ist die neunjährige Liesel Memminger. Von ihr handelt dieses wunderbare Buch. Zum ersten Mal begegnet der Tod der neunjährigen Liesel 1939 am Grab ihres kleinen Bruders, wo sie auch ihre Karriere als Bücherdiebin beginnt: Mit Hilfe des Handbuchs für Totengräber lernt sie das Lesen und muss fortan immer wieder Bücher stehlen. Sie „rettet“ auch welche -- vor den Flammen der Nazis. Und hin und wieder bekommt sie auch welche geschenkt. Ihre Liebe zu Büchern muss es sein, die den Tod, der sich selbst hier als großer Erzähler erweist, die Liesel lieb gewinnen lässt. Während um sie herum Bombenhagel alles in Schutt und Asche legen, findet sie Schutz im Keller – und in ihren Büchern. Der Tod, den der Autor uns hier präsentiert, muss man in der Tat nicht fürchten. Er ist weder böse noch kaltblütig. Und er hat eine Schwäche für Menschen, die lesen und die Bücher lieben. Ist das nicht beruhigend? Und er kann obendrein -- zumindest in der Fantasie Markus Zusaks -- wunderbar erzählen. -- Andreas Vierecke, Literaturanzeiger.de

Cameron Wolfe's life gets very complicated when he falls for his brother's girlfriend in this winning, wise novel from the dynamic author of FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE.Cameron Wolfe is the quiet one in his family, not a soccer star like his brother Steve or a charming fighter with a new girl every week like his brother Rube. Cam would give anything to be near one of those girls, to love her and treat her right. He especially likes Rube's latest, Octavia, with her brilliant ideas and bright green eyes. But what woman like that would want a loser like him? Maybe Octavia would, Cam discovers. Maybe he'd even have something to say. And those maybes change winning, loving, losing, the Wolfe brothers, and Cameron himself.Book PaperbackPublication 6/1/2004 250Reading Age 12 and Up

It's the difference between being a winner and being a fighter... Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are brothers from a family clinging to the ragged edge of the working class. Initially to make some money, the boys hook up with a sleazy fight promoter who sees something marketable and audience-pleasing in the untrained brothers' vulnerability. So they hide the boxing from their long-suffering mother. And Cameron hides what's going on in his head from the girls who come to the matches, the girls he wishes he could reach. But the Wolfes soon find that they're fighting for more than tips and pay-off money. It becomes for them a fight for identity, for dignity, and for each other. The question is, in a fight like that, who makes it out of the ring intact?

Boys are like dogs - ready to bite, bark and beg to be given a chance to show their value.. "I vowed that if I ever got a girl I would treat her right and never be bad or dirty to her or hurt her, ever." Cameron Wolfe is a dirty boy. He knows it. His brother Rube knows it, because he's one too. they could change - but what would it take?