Books published by publisher John Lane The Bodley Head

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist-books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

A hundred years ago in Western Australia there lived a boy called Midnite. He was seventeen and all alone in the world except for five animals - a rather silly cow called Dora, a tall and noble-minded horse called Red Ned, a short-tempered cockatoo called Major, a willing sheepdog called Gyp and a very wise and handsome Siamese cat called Khat. Midnite himself, although nice, was not really very bright and it was Khat who first suggested that he might become a bushranger and call himself Captain Midnite (for non-Australians, a bushranger is a kind of highwayman). His adventures - how he kept getting put in prison by his delightful but treacherous best friend Trooper O'Grady, and how Khat and the other animals kept getting him out - are full of fun and excitement. There was also a girl he wanted to marry, but she was rather treacherous too - not like Mrs. Chiffle who always wanted to hide a bushranger under her bed. Even Queen Victoria was very upset by his bushranging until he finally became a millionaire, and then of course everyone started being very polity, though Midnite had no idea why.