#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.  In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.   “The kind of book that can be life-changing.” — The New York Times   “Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” — USA Today DON’T MISS BRIDGE OF CLAY , MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE THE BOOK THIEF. AWARDS •  2006 Horn Book Fanfare winner •  2006 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year winner •  2007 Virginia Young Readers Program Master List winner •  2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific) short-listed •  2008 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List winner •  2007 Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year winner •  2007 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age winner •  2007 Michael L. Printz Honor Book winner •  2007 Michigan Reading Association Great Lakes Book Award short-listed •  2007 ALA Best Books for Young Adults winner •  2006 Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award winner •  2008 Rhode Island Teen Book Award short-listed •  2007 Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List winner •  2007 Book Sense Children's Pick List winner •  2006 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book winner •  2006 IRA Notable Books for a Global Society winner •  2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific) •  2007 Michigan Reading Association Great Lakes Book Award •  2008 Rhode Island Teen Book Award