One blank page in the "A" section of the New York Times makes you wonder: Mistake?

Two blank pages makes you suspicious.

Turns out the two vast acreages of white space in today's edition is an ad for the upcoming movie, "The Book Thief," according to an explanation on the website for The Poynter Institute, a journalism center.

Low on the second page is a link to wordsarelife.com, the official site for the movie, which "tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany."

While noting that the movie is based on "the beloved bestselling book," it's well-nigh impossible to find the author's name anywhere. It's Marcus Zusak, an Australian author, who was on the NYT bestsellers list for 230 weeks after the book was published in 2005. Just as Zusak's name has been disappeared, we can only guess that the point of the ad is to imply that the words have been stolen.

Rates for such a fullpage ad are anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000, according to industry estimates. Times two? That could be close to a cool half-mil.

Here's the trailer for the film: