Takes place in 1939. Takes place in Germany during Hitler’s rule. The narrator is Death Death introduces himself as the narrator. He sees the book thief for the first time on a train, then at a plane crash, and for the third time at a bombing. Death puts a color with each sighting:white, red, and black, which are the colors of the Nazi flag.
The book thief is introduced as Liesel Meminger, she in 9 years old. Liesel and her brother were on their way to their new foster family when he died on the train. Liesel adapts to her new family very well thanks to her foster dad, Hans Hubermann. She doesn’t like her foster mom, Rosa Hubermann, nearly as much as Hans. Hans teaches her how to roll cigarettes, he stays with her when she has nightmares, and he plays the accordian for her. She steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, and Hans teaches her how to read
Liesel steals The Shoulder Shrug so it doesn’t get burned. People start firing Rosa, so Liesel has to deliver the laundry now. Liesel starts to suspect her mother is a communist. The Hubermanns have two kids, Hans Junior and Trudy, Hans junior is a Nazi. Hans slapped Liesel because she said she hates Hitler. He told her it is too dangerous to say that out loud
Ilsa Hermann showed Liesel her study. Frau Hermann let Liesel read any book in the study. Max Vandenburg is introduced, he is a jew that hides in a closet with no food, light, or water. Walter Kugler is hiding him, he brings him carrots, bread, and fat. Walter sent Max somewhere else to hide. Arthur Berg helps Liesel and Rudy steal food, but later move away.
Hans and Erik Vandenburg fought together in World War I. Hans applied for the Nazi party, but is denied. Hans promised Max’s mother he would always help her after the death of Erik Vandenburg, Max’s dad. Max gets on a train to go to the Hubermanns.
Rosa and Hans hide Max in their basement. He sleeps for three days and dreams of fighting Hitler. Viktor Chemmel is the new leader of the group of thieves. Rudy and Liesel eventually quit the group because Viktor is very uptight and strict. Max and Liesel have a lot in common: they love to read, they have nightmares, and they had to leave people they love. Max and Liesel form a special bond because of their similarities. Max writes Liesel a book by painting over Mein Kampf. It is called The Standover Man. Liesel gets really mad because Frau Hermann said she can’t afford to send out laundry anymore, but the Hubermanns are struggling more than they are Furious, Liesel and Rudy steal back The Whistler from Ilsa. Victor threw The Whistler into a freezing river when he found Rudy and Liesel hiding from Franz Deutscher. When Rudy found the book he asked Liesel for a kiss.
Max’s health starts to go down hill, and he goes into a coma. When he was in a coma Liesel brought him thirteen presents. Rosa pretended to yell at Liesel in school to secretly tell her Max was awake. Nazis start searching for basements deep enough for bombings. They hide Max in Hans’s paint supplies and he never gets caught. On Christmas Eve, Liesel built Max a snowman in the basement
Ilsa knows Liesel has been stealing books so she puts a note in one. Rudy runs races for Hitler, he wins three, but loses the fourth on purpose. Bomb sirens go off to warn people. The first time was a false alarm, but the second time was real but the bomb missed Himmel street. Max saw the outside world for the first time in 22 months. Hans gets in a lot of trouble after he gave bread to a Jew. Max has to leave the house because suspicions start rising. Frau Holtzapfel offers Liesel a ration of coffee in exchange for Liesel to read to her
Nazis want Rudy to go to their special school, but the Steiners decline. Hans is now apart of the Nazi party, soon enough, Alex Steiner and Hans get drafted for the war. Hans isn’t ordered to fight, his job is damage control. Liesel and Rudy give bread to Jews during a parade. Rosa lets Liesel read Max’s sketchbook, which is written for Liesel, The Word Shaker. Rosa misses Hans very deeply
Hans’s breaks his leg due to a car accident during the war. Zucker was in the passenger seat and died. Death once again sees Liesel at a plane crash. Hans is allowed to come home due to his injury
Max is supposed to be at a concentration camp, but Liesel sees him at a parade. Ilsa gives Liesel an empty notebook so she can write her own book, The Book Thief. Liesel spends every night in the basement writing. Himmel street is bombed, but Liesel survives because she was in the basement
Death collects The Book Thief after the bombings. After living a long life, Liesel dies and gives death her book back. Death admits to Liesel that he is haunted by humans.
There are several stages to successfully execute a genocide. One of the earlier stages is dehumanization. In order for people to hate Jews, Hitler had to make them look like the devil. Hitler stripped Jews of their rights and portrayed them as monsters. For example, when Max and Hitler were in a fight. Hitler hit Max several times and the crowd cheered, but when Max hit Hitler back the crowd went silent. Hitler used this as an example of how dangerous and unpredictable Jews are.
This shows how easily people in Germany were manipulated and how they perceived Jews. Hitler’s speech at town square is another example of dehumanization. “We put an end to the disease that has been spread through Germany for the last twenty years, if not more!” Shouted Hitler. He told the crowd to seek out and destroy the evil machinations plotting to infect the motherland with its “deplorable ways”. Once again, Hitler is persuading people to kill Jews. The only place Max can live is a cold basement. Jews are forced into hiding rather than living like normal people.
Books that were either stolen or given to Liesel have a major role in the plot, it is divided among these books. The Nazi book burning shows how Hitler is threatened by books. He fears that books will contradict his propaganda. The book burning also represents the limited amount of free speech and how powerful books are. Liesel retaliates by stealing one of the books from the pile. Mein Kampf is an example of Nazi propaganda and how books can be used in several different ways.
Mein Kampf is a destructive book meant to manipulate people. But, Max uses the book in a different way. He writes over it with his own creative, compassionate language. Now the book is meant to bring happiness and creativity, rather than to persuade and dehumanize. The Book Thief saves Liesel’s life both figuratively and literally. The book saves her life by putting Liesel in the basement. The book figuratively saves her life by allowing her to escape the world around her. She was able to focus on her good thoughts rather than her bad ones.
Death: Death is the narrator of the story, and puts perspective on the story that acts as a third person and a first person’s point of view. Rather than acting dark and scary, Death has visible feelings and cares about a lot of the characters in the book.
Liesel Meminger: She is the main character as well as the book thief. Liesel’s relationship with words changes quite often throughout the book. She loves words, because she loves to read and write, but she hates what they can do in cases like the words that Hitler used to turned Germany against Jews.
Hans Hubermann: He is Liesel’s foster father, and has a very close bond with her. He plays his accordion for her, paints with her, comforts her, and teaches her to read when she struggles.
Rosa Hubermann: Although she is much stricter and more harsh, Rosa loves Liesel just as much as Hans. She calls Liesel a Saumensch (pig girl) and runs a very tight ship at home.
Rudy Steiner: He is Liesel’s best friend throughout her whole childhood. The two of them steal together, play soccer together, and get themselves into a lot of mischief.
Max Vandenburg: He is the son of a friend of Hans’s, who is a Jew. Max stays in the basement of the Hubermanns and develops a very close bond with Liesel. He does push ups in the basement and imagines fighting Hitler.
Ilsa Hermann: Ilsa is the mayor’s wife and lives on Grande Strasse. She shows Liesel her library and lets her read in there. Her son died in World War I and she is still grieving. After having to fire Rosa when money gets tighter, she lets Liesel sneak into her library and steal books, even though Liesel yelled at her to get over the death of her son.
Frau Holtzapfel: Although she shows her disliking for Rosa in the beginning of the book by always spitting on her doorstep, she eventually gives her coffee ration for Liesel to read to her. This shows how drastically people’s relationships can change in a time of crisis.
