80 pages • 2 hours read
Markus ZusakThe Book Thief
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Prologue-Chapter 8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue: “A Mountain Range of Rubble” - Part 1: “The Gravedigger’s Handbook”
Prologue 1 Summary: “Death and Chocolate”
The book’s narrator introduces himself. He is Death and explains that he sees the day as a progression of colors. Chocolate brown is his favorite. He says he is going to tell a story about someone called “the book thief.”
Prologue 2 Summary: “Beside the Railway Line”
Death describes a young boy dying while aboard a train. His mother and sister stand by helplessly as all three are put off at the next station. Death becomes fascinated with the girl, whom he has come to know as the book thief.
Prologue 3 Summary: “The Eclipse”
Years later, Death catches another glimpse of the book thief when he comes to collect the soul of an airplane pilot who has crash-landed. Rather than describing the experience in colors, Death says he sometimes sees eclipses when people die.
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