This is a story told by Death, which is entirely appropriate considering the book takes place during 1939-1943 of World War II. This is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl growing up in Nazi Germany and also our book thief.
Liesel Meminger is sent to live in Molching Germany “with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands (Francisca Goldsmith, 2011).” Liesel arrives having just stolen her first book The Gravediggers Handbook acquired at the gravesite of her younger brother who died in route. From 1939 through 1943, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as an interesting set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayor’s reclusive wife, and especially her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann.