Have you ever been to a talk given by an author about their book or books and how they write? I have a on a few occasions and recently it was to hear Markus Zusak speak. I traveled with my husband and some friends to my Alma Mater, The College of Mount Saint Joseph, on the west side of Cincinnati returning to the auditorium I last saw upon graduation (the year of that graduation not to be mentioned).
How wonderful it is to hear an author speak. Mr. Zusak’s most recent book, The Book Thief, is geared towards young adults. There were many “kids” there from the college and surrounding high schools but it was wonderful to see older readers of the book and hear their questions for the author. His accent, being from Australia was wonderful to hear and the way he told life stories that later described how he writes was fascinating.
The Book Thief is set in WWII, an era that I find myself reading a lot about. It involves a young girl who has lost her father and brother and whose mother leaves her with a foster family. Her new foster parents are quite interesting and have a Jew hidden in their basement. Her foster father teaches her how to read finding the first book she stole (the name of which and how she came to steal it will break your heart). She spends many nights reading with her foster father who is always there for her when she has nightmares and she also spends a lot of time in the basement.
The vision of the streets, the bomb raid warnings, the relationship with the Mayor’s wife, the Hitler youth, the Jews being marked through the streets on their way to concentration camps and much, much more really reminds you of a time that I hope we don’t see again. Mr. Zusak did talk about this time in history and how he thinks that with the wealth of information there is on WWII there will be many more stories written about this era.
Lastly, I enjoyed hearing Mr. Zusak read from memory the first paragraph of his new book, which I can’t wait to read.
