The Book Thief Book Summary

In this book, we see it through the death's eyes as he follows a girl named Liesel during World War II in Germany. The story starts with one day Liesel, her mother, and her brother heading on the train with her mother and brother to meet their new foster parents. Suddenly, her brother died on the way because of his illness. They both went to the graveyard to do death rituals. Strangely, Liesel, stoles a book from the people in Graveyard.  After, the death rituals, Liesel and her mother went on their journey to Molching. She met her foster parents, Hans and Rose Hubermann, there. 

At the start, she doesn’t like her new parents, but Hann wins over her heart by teaching her how to roll cigarettes. Slowly, she is getting comfortable with her foster parents and adjusting to her new life, but her brother's death haunts her every night like a nightmare. When Liesel tries to read the book she had stolen, Hanns notices that Liesel doesn't know how to read. He helps her learn how to read, and they both read that book. 

As the political situation in Molching and throughout Germany became serious. In Germany, war is escalating, and because of this, there is a shortage of food and work. To celebrate Hitler's birthday, the town held a book-burning event where Liesel stole another book from the flames.

Her mother, Rosa, runs a laundry business from home, so Rosa assigns the work of delivering laundry to Liesel. Ilsa Herman, the mayor's wife, is one of  Rosa's customers. In the mayor's house, there was a big library with a large number of books. The mayor's wife allows Liesel to read the books freely.

Meanwhile, a Jewish man, Max, seeks refuge in their basement because Max's father saved Hann's life in World War l. In a short time, Liesel and Max become close to each other and start enjoying the company of each other.

Because of the war, Rosa's laudary business is at stake. They lost their precious customer, one of whom is the mayor's wife. So, Liesel no longer has to deliver laundry to the mayor's house. Liesel is furious that she isn't able to read books anymore. So, she started to steal books from the mayor's house. But the mayor's wife leaves the dictionary and thesaurus with a note that she knows about Liesel stealing. As the war intensified,  the Nazi soldier paraded the Jewish prisoner from the town to the concentration camp at Dachau. 

An old man is struggling to keep up with his group.so Hans offers him a loaf of bread, but Nazi soldiers intervene and whip both Hans and the old man. Hans knows he arouses suspicion towards himself. Max is no longer safe in the basement, so he escapes that night. 

As a punishment, Hans has to leave to serve the nazis. He joins a squad that cleans the place after air raids. During work, he fractured his legs and was sent back to his home. 

Liesel misses Max very much; she tries to find Max among the prisoners as she sees him among them. Liesel wants to hide the max but fails. After that, the mayor's wife gives Liesel a blank notebook to write her story. One night, Liesel is writing in the basement. Her neighborhood got bombed, and because of the bomb blast, Liesel lost her family. The mayor's wife takes the liesel with her as no one is left to take care of the liesel. 

After the liberation of concentration, Max returns to Liesel. She cries and hugs Max about her parent's death. Lastly, Liesel grew up and moved to Australia, where she has family and lived the rest of her life. When death comes to take Lisel's life, he shows her a book she has written a long time before.