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The Book Thief By Liesel Meminger

1807 Words8 Pages

Death, our narrator, tells the story of Liesel Meminger. We begin with her at age nine, right after losing both her mother and brother. Liesel goes to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Molching, Germany. When Liesel arrives, she is made of fun in school for not being able to read. She feels powerless, so Hans teaches her how to read at night in their basement, reading from a book Liesel stole from her brother 's funeral: The Grave Digger 's Handbook. In the beginning of the novel, Liesel often has nightmares. Hans helps her through this and eventually gains her trust. She becomes friends with Rudy Steiner, a boy the same age as her who lives next door. b. Rising Action or Complication: For a while, the Hubermanns’ …show more content…

Liesel, by miracle, is in the basement writing in her journal and survives. When she emerges from the basement, she finds the bodies of those she loves — Hans, Rosa, as well as Rudy. She is taken away by air raid officers, and it is at this moment that Death finds and takes her book, The Book Thief. This is how he knows her story. Alex Steiner, Rudy’s father, is relieved of duty after he hears about the bombings and finds Liesel. They spend a lot of time together, going for walks and hiking to the nearby concentration camp after its liberation. She spends a lot of time with Alex in his shop. One day in 1945, Max Vandenburg shows up. They have a tearful …show more content…

They are presented as one of the most powerful ways in which people connect with one another. Numerous examples of this can be found in the novel. Learning the alphabet and how to create words is how Liesel and Hans Hubermann start to develop their relationship. Later, Liesel’s descriptions of the weather outside to Max also help to establish a bond between them. The greatest example of the powerful effect of words is Max’s The Word Shaker, the story he writes for Liesel. In it, he suggests that words are the most powerful force there is, indicated by the fact that Hitler uses words and not guns or money or to gain control over

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