Summary: The Book Thief
The Book Thief
Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old German girl who is given up by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of Molching in 1939, shortly before World War II. On their way to Molching, Liesel's younger brother Werner dies, and she is traumatized, experiencing nightmares about him for months. Hans is a gentle man who brings her comfort and helps her learn to read, starting with a book Liesel stole from the cemetery where her brother was buried. Liesel befriends a boy, Rudy Steiner, who falls in love with her. At a bonfire on Hitler’s birthday, Liesel realizes that her father was persecuted for being a Communist, and infers that her mother was likely killed by the Nazis for the same crime. At the bonfire Liesel gets agitated and decides to rebel against Hitler by stealing a book when she is seen by the mayor's wife Ilsa Hermann, who later invites Liesel to read in her library.
Keeping the promise he made to the man who saved his life, Hans agrees to hide a Jew named Max Vandenberg in his basement. Liesel and Max become close friends, and Max writes Liesel two stories about their friendship, both of which elaborate on his past. When Hans publicly gives bread to an old Jew being sent to a concentration camp, Hans is drafted into the military at a time when air raids over major German cities were escalating in terms of frequency and fatality, Max decides to leave. Liesel next meets Max when he is being marched towards the concentration camp at Dachau. Liesel loses hope and begins to disdain the written word, having learnt that Hitler's propaganda is to blame for the war and the Holocaust and the death of her real parents, but Ilsa encourages her to write. Liesel writes the story of her life in the Hubermanns' basement, where she miraculously survives an air raid that kills Hans, Rosa, Rudy, and everyone else on her block. Liesel survives the war, as does Max. She goes on to live a
Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old German girl who is given up by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of Molching in 1939, shortly before World War II. On their way to Molching, Liesel's younger brother Werner dies, and she is traumatized, experiencing nightmares about him for months. Hans is a gentle man who brings her comfort and helps her learn to read, starting with a book Liesel stole from the cemetery where her brother was buried. Liesel befriends a boy, Rudy Steiner, who falls in love with her. At a bonfire on Hitler’s birthday, Liesel realizes that her father was persecuted for being a Communist, and infers that her mother was likely killed by the Nazis for the same crime. At the bonfire Liesel gets agitated and decides to rebel against Hitler by stealing a book when she is seen by the mayor's wife Ilsa Hermann, who later invites Liesel to read in her library.
Keeping the promise he made to the man who saved his life, Hans agrees to hide a Jew named Max Vandenberg in his basement. Liesel and Max become close friends, and Max writes Liesel two stories about their friendship, both of which elaborate on his past. When Hans publicly gives bread to an old Jew being sent to a concentration camp, Hans is drafted into the military at a time when air raids over major German cities were escalating in terms of frequency and fatality, Max decides to leave. Liesel next meets Max when he is being marched towards the concentration camp at Dachau. Liesel loses hope and begins to disdain the written word, having learnt that Hitler's propaganda is to blame for the war and the Holocaust and the death of her real parents, but Ilsa encourages her to write. Liesel writes the story of her life in the Hubermanns' basement, where she miraculously survives an air raid that kills Hans, Rosa, Rudy, and everyone else on her block. Liesel survives the war, as does Max. She goes on to live a