In the event of snow, you must make sure you use a good shovel...

Death as the narrator of The Book Thief... This definitely adds a unique element to the novel.

"First the colors.  Then the humans."  My biggest question with Death comes back to this first line - the colors. Death's perception of colors is fascinating and makes him out to be a beautiful artist.  Any painter would tell you that a sky isn't blue - a sky is blue and yellow and orange and purple and red and bursting with life.  His visioning of all of the different colors is incredible and rivals the beauty of a famous painting.  Also, how could Death not be interested in Liesel when her first stolen book was about the proper way to treat the dead?

Liesel's story is sad and heartbreaking and a contradiction to popular belief.  Normally, Holocaust stories portray the pain and suffering of a Jewish person, but this story takes place on the other side of the spectrum.  However, at the beginning of the story I thought this had to be about a Jewish girl.  When Liesel was traveling on the train and her brother died, I automatically assumed that this must be a train to a concentration camp.

This personality contradiction seems to be a favorite of Zusak.  In Maus, the therapist claims, "Perhaps there shouldn't be any more Holocaust stories."  The therapist and Vladek seem to feel like the basic story has been told over and over; however, both Vladek and Zusak decide to take their stories to the next level.  They want their story to be different than any other Holocaust narrative.  Zusak's story is one of pain, but it is a universal pain, a bystander's pain.