Works by
Markus Zusak
(Writer)
[1975 - ]

The Underdog (1999)

Getting The Girl (2001)
Cameron Wolfe is the quiet one in his family, not a soccer star like his brother Steve or a charming fighter with a new girl every week like his brother Rube. Cam would give anything to be near one of those girls, to love her and treat her right. He especially likes Rube's latest, Octavia, with her brilliant ideas and bright green eyes. But what woman like that would want a loser like him? Maybe Octavia would, Cam discovers. Maybe he'd even have something to say. And those maybes change everything: winning, loving, losing, the Wolfe brothers, and Cameron himself.  (See also When Dogs Cry in Australia)

I Am the Messenger (2002) -- Winner 2003 Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia (The Messenger)
Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love. Young Adult

Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2002)
The working class family of Cameron Wolfe and his brother Ruben isn't having much luck these days. Their dad has just lost his job and is too proud to go on welfare. Their older brother has moved out of the house in disgust. Which leaves them open to suggestion when a local boxing promoter signs them up for illegal bouts. But it's more than the meager winnings that draws the two brothers in. Soon they find themselves fighting for something else. Is it pride? Love? Or just the experience of winning for once? A knockout debut from the front lines of a family's recession.  Young Adult

The Book Thief (2006)
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

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.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.  Young Adult.