The Book Thief: An interview with the stars, director, and author

Markus Zusak's best-selling, critically acclaimed Holocaust novel is finally hitting the big screen

The Book Thief

Few recent novels have made as much of a splash as Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, which quickly became a worldwide bestseller upon its publication in 2005. The book — which focuses on an adopted little girl named Liesel growing up in Germany during the Holocaust — remains extremely popular, and its profile is about to rise again: Today, a cinematic adaptation starring Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush and newcomer Sophie Nelisse expands to theaters nationwide.

In the film, Liesel (Nélisse) serves as the protagonist, and soon after she moves into a new home, her adopted parents begin hiding a young Jewish man named Max (Ben Schnetzer) in their basement to prevent him from being killed. The story's title refers to Liesel's thievery of books early on in the film as she learns how to read with the support of her adopted father Hans Hubermann (Rush). The Book Thief is a very personal story for Zusak, whose German mother was a young girl during the Holocaust.

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John Hanlon is a contributing editor at Townhall Magazine and a freelance film critic. He has written for CNN.com, USAToday.com, Big Hollywood, the Daily Caller, and Townhall.com as well as numerous other outlets. His movie reviews appear on Big Hollywood, RottenTomatoes.com, and JohnHanlonReviews.com. Hanlon has also appeared on "The Dennis Miller Show," "The Hugh Hewitt Show," and the Reelz television program "Mark at the Movies." A native of Massachusetts, Hanlon now lives in the D.C. suburbs.