The Book Thief Summary

Max describes Liesel’s use of books as a refuge in the story he leaves for her, “The Word Shaker.” In Max’s book, words are transformed into seeds, which Hitler uses to create a forest that fills people with Nazi ideology. However, Liesel grows her own tree and takes shelter in it, no one can chop it down but Max is able to climb it and take shelter with her. The story dramatises the way Liesel has used words and books to create a refuge in the midst of Nazi Germany and how she shared her refuge with Max. Also, Liesel begins using book to comfort people in the shelter by reading to them. The last lines of Liesel’s own book are “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” This shows Liesel’s drastic development from the girl who was unable to read in front of her class, to the person who uses books to comfort her neighbours. However, books can’t protect Liesel from everything. When Liesel sees Max on his way to the concentration camp, she rips the pages out of a book in Frau Hermann’s library in rage. It is this moment that Liesel makes a connection in her mind between words and the current state of the world. Although, at the end of the novel, a book indirectly saves Liesel’s life as she was in the basement working on her own novel when the bombs fell on Himmel Street. This is the book that Death finds, and that gives Liesel her

The first of them happens on the Fuhrer (Adolf Hitler)’s birthday. Because of her Hitler Youth group, Liesel is forced to attend the celebration in the town center. There, the people make a large pile of books and belongings and papers, all to be burned and destroyed for entertainment. Here, Liesel is traumatized by the shouts of Communism and destruction. She sneaks away and sits on the steps to wait for Papa. This is finally where Liesel analyzes her mother’s complete disappearance. She realizes that her being gone was of Hitler’s doing, and curses Hitler’s name. The other traumatic event happens at the very end of the novel. Liesel is in her basement writing The Book Thief, which is a summary of her life since she arrived at 33 Himmel Street in her own words. During this time, a bomb is dropped on Molching. This bomb ends up killing Hans and Rosa Hubermann and Rudy Steiner. This moment is when Liesel loses almost everybody who matters to her. Max Vandenburg already had left, her foster parents and best friend are dead, and her mother and brother have long been gone. Readers can see how much this affected Liesel when she doesn’t leave her bed in the Mayor’s house for days. She lets all of this emotion she’s built up pour out when she finds Max Vandenburg in a store and just hugs

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, takes place in 1940s Nazi Germany in the small town of Molching. The main character, Liesel Meminger, takes on a role as the foster child of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She also meets a young boy named Rudy Steiner, who goes on to be her best friend and lover. In the book, Liesel faces many challenges big and small. From hiding a Jew in the basement to a thieving lifestyle, Liesel has to learn to overcome all of life's problems. Through all of this, she is supported by her foster father Hans Hubermann who is caring to people he barely knows, intelligence despite his lack of education, and generosity even when he has little for himself.

Her enthusiastic attitude can only be calmed down by the sound of Papa’s accordion. Nothing can come in between her and her words, not the darkness of the room, and of course not even the Nazi Germans. Furthermore, in the book A Girl Made of Darkness, it is shown that Liesel is intrigued by the smallest thing in life as she questions her parents about her Christmas present (Zusak, 89). Understand her family situation, Liesel is not expecting for any present for Christmas, however her dad has been able to trade cigarettes for some books . To most of us, when we receive presents we will just accept the present, no questions asked. On the contrary,many questions have been proliferating in Liesel’s mind when Papa gives her the gifts. Not to mention another obvious evidence is when Max first arrived at the Hubermann’s house. As can be seen, Zusak has portrayed Liesel as the book thief because her inquisitive characteristic indicate those who questions the Nazi German

The book 's importance is explained through Death where ‘“The books meaning 1. The last time she saw her brother. 2. The last time she saw her mother.” Despite Liesel being illiterate, the Gravedigger’s handbook holds significant meaning for the character. Liesel has an overwhelming feeling of loss of control and acts out in rebellion to steal the book that lay beside her brothers grave. By stealing the book, she has a reminder of her small family and it stops her feeling defeated by her ever changing life, which she has no control over. This idea is then reinforced with another action of the character. Liesel then finds out that Hitler was the cause of the suffering and loss of freedom of the people she loved and knew in her life.This second act of rebellion takes place while Liesel visits a Nazi book burning. Liesel soon understands that the Nazi’s burnt books to brainwash citizens of Germany(_____). As a result of this Lisel then understands the importance and power words have, causing her to again acts rebelliously in a protest. “And it was anger and dark hatred that had fueled her desire to steal it.” This passage from the novel shows the emotions of Liesel. As a character who is unable to express herself verbally, her actions speak for her. Liesel 's desire to understand words begins to grow, with her understanding that Nazis burn books in fear of what they may do to society.

Liesel most definitely could have trusted Rudy with the secret of having Max hidden in her basement. Rudy was clearly Liesel’s best friend and partner in crime when Liesel was doing her acts of thievery stealing the books from the mayor’s wife bookself. The devotion to Liesel Rudy also had was strong and I believe Liesel could have trusted Rudy.

Death describes himself a little; he doesn't carry a scythe, or wear a black robe unless its cold, and he looks like any person. 1942 is a very busy year for him, and he needs a vacation. There are so many humans to collect and colors to see. War is not Death's best friend, as the saying goes, but more like a demanding boss. When he remembers that year he likes to think of a little beauty as well, though, so he returns to the book thief's story.

The book thief and her brother were traveling down toward Munich, where they would soon be given over to foster parents. The book thief’s name is Liesel Meminger! It was January 1939, Liesel was nine years old, and her younger brother, Werner, was dead after an intense spurt of coughing. Liesel Meminger was dreaming of Adolf Hitler, and awoken to her brother dead. Death stayed and watched as Liesel shook her brother, refusing to believe he is dead. The train stopped due to faulty work, and the mother climbed down into the snow with the boys body, and Liesel followed. As we know the two guards argued, and eventually decided to take all three of them to the next township to sort things out. Werner was buried two days later. Death went to Werner’s funeral, and Liesel started digging saying to herself, he couldn't be dead. Liesel found a book in the

Liesel and her family have been hiding a Jew in their basement. During WW2 this was a serious crime. This book started off with liesel stealing books and then takes a plot twist when Max shows up in their house one day. Max and liesel have become really good friends. Liesel has been hanging out with her friend Rudy on the side, and getting into some trouble too.

When we had to choose book for our literature circle discussion, we had an option to pick one book out of six. I picked The book thief, because it looked very interesting and I never read it before. Basically, Liesel was taken in foster family to start the new way of life. She moved from her town to Molching, Germany, close to Munich. The book thief talks about struggles of German girl and her foster family during the World War II.

Liesel had to keep quiet about the Jew she hides in her basement, Max, or else both Max, and her new family will get taken away. If it was me I would probably handle it similarly to Liesel, I would try to pretend everything was normal. I would differ from her by coming up with excuses first before getting newspapers and the gifts for Max while he was sick in case someone gets suspicious. I learned from this book that words have great power. Teaching Liesel how to read bonded Hans and Liesel, this shows you that friendships can be formed through the power of words. The day of the bombings Liesel is reading in her basement and is saved from the bombs. The power of words is vey strong and can go so far as to save you from death. In the book, many characters had great power, but Death is the most powerful character. He has the ability to separate the souls from the dead and uses this power to transition the people to their afterlives. The Book Thief is narrated by Death. If the book was narrated from a different P.O.V. then the book might have not describe so many peoples’ lives. It also wouldn’t have a third person’s view on the events in the

Books have been a major part of Liesel’s life and is a symbol of her development. Liesel’s relationship with books conveys the fact that she is rebellious to the nazis and retains her core value of peace through finding a voice. During the book burning, the nazis’ fire consists of books and posters from jewish poets, as well as their flag and their signs as shown in the book. However, against the ideals of the nazis, Liesel Meminger sees a book left out of the pile then snatches and hides the burning book from the nazis. “Smoke was rising out of Liesel’s collar. A necklace of sweat had formed around her throat. Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up” (122). Not only did she have to go against the commands of Hitler and the nazis, she has to go against the pain of the burning against her chest from the book as well. Liesel is determined to steal the book since she wants to have her voice heard. She considers the Jew’s belongings very precious and wants to be

The Book Thief The Book thief is a film set in 1938 and directed by Brian Percival. This film is about a young man named Max Vandenburg and a young girl named Liesel Meminger. This film is about how these two friends who live in two completely different worlds grow to be stronger than ever. Max Vandenburg, who is a Jewish man, is a very kind hearten person who would do anything to protect Liesel and her family.

The Book Thief focuses on a girl named Liesel Meminger who stays with her foster family in Munich, Germany after her biological mother didn’t want to risk Liesel and her brother’s life. Their mother was a communist, something that wasn’t well-tolerated at the time, especially in Nazi-Germany. Sadly, her brother died on the train to Munich and had to be buried next to a train track. This is where Liesel Meminger started her criminal record by picking up a book that one of the grave diggers had dropped called, ‘The Grave-Digger’s Handbook,’ and keeping it all the way to Munich. Liesel’s foster parents quickly become more her own parents than anything else.

Liesel second book she stole is from a Nazi parade in dedication to Hitler’s birthday, of which she really develops a sense of hatred for the fuhrer. The last book, or rather books, that she steals comes from the Mayor's wife, as they had a rather large library in their library. Although on day Liesel knows that she is caught by the mayor's wife, Frau Hermann, and even though she is a little disappointed in Liesel, she allows her to continue to read and take that last book and welcomes her in anytime to read. Moreover, she gives Liesel the following time a notebook instead of a book. Instead of reading about other stories, Frau Hermann intends for Liesel to write her own.