" "The Book Thief "is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader' s mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but "The Book Thief "deserves a place on the same shelf with "The Diary of a Young Girl "by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel' s "Night. "It seems poised to become a classic." -"USA Today"" Zusak doesn' t sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in "Slaughterhouse-Five": with grim, darkly consoling humor." - "Time Magazine"" Elegant, philosophical and moving...Beautiful and important." - "Kirkus Reviews," Starred" An extraordinary narrative." - "School Library Journal," Starred" Exquisitely written and memorably populated, Zusak's poignant tribute to words, survival, and their curiously inevitable entwinement is a tour de force to be not just read but inhabited." - "The Horn Book Magazine," Starred" One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years." - "The Wall Street Journal" "From the Hardcover edition."

Markus Zusak is the award-winning author of "The Book Thief" and "I Am the Messenger," both Michael L. Printz Honor Books. An international bestseller, "The Book Thief" has sold over 4.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and has garnered worldwide critical acclaim. The "New York Times" called it "Brilliant and hugely ambitious. . . . It's the kind of book that can be life changing," and "The Guardian" (UK) said, "Unsettling, thought-provoking, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner."Markus Zusak is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens. He lives with his wife and children in Sydney, Australia.