From his home in Australia, author Markus Zusak will speak, via a video call, to Centre County residents about his motivations for and experience with writing The Book Thief. WPSU's Patty Satalia will moderate.
Mt. Nittany Middle School Auditorium
656 Brandywine Drive
Read the winning entries! As part of the 2012 Centre County Reads community read of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the Center for American Literary Studies at Penn State sponsored a Grim Reaper Writing Contest. Because The Book Thief is narrated by Death, the contest asked for submissions to be written from the point of view of Death. Thank you to everyone who entered!
The winners are:
Grand Prize Winner: Kathleen Miller, "Forgetting" (short fiction)
Centre County Reads is pleased to announce that our 2012 reading selection is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This award-winning book has captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world. We hope you'll read it and discuss it with your Centre County neighbors. We have many exciting events planned for this year including an Indoor Sports Day at the YMCA, a Grim Reaper Writing Contest, and a Skype appearance by author Markus Zusak!
Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger's Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother's burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a full-fledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her first book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, death, and grief. This is Liesel's life on Himmel Street, told from Death's point of view. Click here for discussion questions for The Book Thief.
