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• Originally from Scotland, but has lived all his adult life in Western Canada

Dave Duncan

• Enjoyed a long career as a petroleum geologist before • taking up writing.

• He has published more than forty novels, mostly in the fantasy genre, but also young adult, science fiction, and historical.

• He has at times been Sarah B. Franklin (but only for literary purposes) and Ken Hood (which is short for “D’ye Ken Whodunit?”).

• He and Janet were married in 1959.

• They have one son and two daughters, who in turn are responsible for a spinoff series of four grandchildren. Dave now lives in Victoria, BC

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About the Book

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The Seventh Sword SeriesEarly Stand Alone Books

Other Titles by Dave Duncan (Sarah B. Franklin, Ken Hood)

Rollo Woodbridge

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Madeline (Maddie) Woodbridge

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Bram (Brat) Woodbridge

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The Book ThiefBy Markus Zusak

© 2005

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Biographical Info

• Born to an Austrian father and German mother in Australia on January 1, 1975

• Youngest of four children• Lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and

daughter

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How it all began“The Book Thief was supposed to be a

small book - only a hundred pages or so. When I was growing up, I heard stories at home about Munich and Vienna in war-time, when my parents were children. Two stories my mother told me affected me a lot. The first was about Munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. The second was about something else she saw...”

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“One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him

...Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are.”

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Awards

2008 Ena Noel Award - the Australian IBBY Encouragement Award for Children's Literature by Australian IBBY

2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book by the Young Adult Library Services Association

2006 Kathleen Mitchell Award 2006 (literature)

The Book Thief

2006 Michael L. Printz Award Honor book 2006 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book 2005 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year-Children 2003 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award 2003 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner

Prize for Young People's Literature

I Am The Messenger

AwardsAwards

Book Reviews  USA Today - Carol Memmott

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.

The Independent - Marianne Brace This is a moving work which will make many eyes brim. Zusak shows us how small defiances and unexpectedly courageous acts remind us of our humanity. It isn't only Death who is touched. Liesel steals our hearts too.

Kirkus Reviews The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it's a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important.

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Liesel

• A young German girl.

• Central character to the story.

• Goes to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann at age nine.

• This book is about the people that live in her community

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