The Book Thief is the most popular book by the author Markus Zusak. The book is set in 1939, Nazi Germany, and is narrated by Death. It is the story of Liesel Meminger, who finds herself escaping her world through books, books she’s stolen to take something back from the cruel world she lives in.

This book cover was designed to bring the idea of a stolen book in a subtle, but understandable way. Liesel’s second book was taken from a burn pile, and Nazi book burnings are something I felt like most people could recognize for the cover. The most complicated thing however, was showing a stolen book without showing the process of someone physically stealing a book. The end product is a book with a die-cut slip cover that shows a book, and reveals the burn pile with that same book missing. The colors chosen, were colors that the character Death described the most throughout the book.

AAF Dallas ADDY’s 2021 Gold Recipient