All Hopkins students were sent home with their very own copy of this year's all-school book. Read on to find out what the book is.

This morning at assembly Head of School Barbara Riley suggested to the students that the much-anticipated and extended 4-week winter break this year will be the perfect time to sit down with a good book. With this, Mrs. Riley announced the 2009-10 all-school book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The search for the perfect book to share as a community was a difficult one, with superb suggestions from students, faculty and alumni/ae alike, including The Grapes of Wrath by John Stein-beck and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Mrs. Riley said of the book in a letter to parents: "By way of a preview, in The Book Thief, books – so casually abundant and fundamental to our lives at Hopkins – are watched, burned, stolen, read, treasured and written. The Book Thief is “about” “a girl/some words/an accordionist/some fanatical Germans/a Jewish fist-fighter/and quite a lot of thievery;” it is “about” definitions of family and of courage; it is “about” the resilience of the human spirit in defiance of all that conspires to break it."

Throughout the spring term special assembly guests will be brought in to augment the themes in The Book Thief, and as all members of the Hopkins community including faculty and parents are invited to read the book as well, there will be many opportunities for discussion, whether formally or informally. After assembly as an early holiday gift, Mrs. Riley provided every student with a copy of The Book Thief in adviser meetings. A generous and fitting way to send the student body off for break.