The Book Thief

On Christmas Eve, Liesel brings a handful of snow down for Max so he can experience the weather outside. She then collects more in pots and buckets. Eventually, her foster parents join in the fun, and the group succeeds in building a small snowman in the basement. Unfortunately, as the snowman melts during the following weeks, Max catches a chill and soon appears to be gravely ill.

Max grows so unresponsive that the Hubermanns fear he is dying, but Liesel doesn’t give up. She reads to him until he regains consciousness and then begins bringing him little presents. These consist of a squashed soccer ball, a ribbon, a button, a pinecone, a stone, a feather, two newspapers, a candy wrapper, a written description of an unusual cloud, a toy soldier, and a leaf. Liesel’s final present is to finish reading The Whistler aloud to Max. 

Liesel has run out of fresh reading material and convinces Rudy to help her steal another book from the mayor’s library. This time, they bring rusted old bikes for their getaway. Liesel chooses a volume called The Dream Carrier. Despite her elation at her new prize, Liesel is concerned when her foster parents speculate that Max may soon be dead. They don’t know how to dispose of the body. Liesel sternly reminds them that he’s still alive.

That night, the girl experiences a variation of her recurring nightmare. Her brother’s face has been transformed into Max’s, and Liesel fears it might be an omen. A few days later at school, Liesel’s lessons are interrupted when Rosa appears. After the two go out into the hall to speak privately, Rosa says that Max has awakened, and she wanted to give Liesel the news right away.

Death recalls a bombing raid that killed 500 people in Cologne. He says, “Just past the rubble of Cologne, a group of kids collected empty fuel containers, dropped by their enemies. As usual, I collected humans. I was tired. And the year wasn’t even halfway over yet” (108).

Liesel is out playing soccer with her friends when she learns that Nazi officials are coming to inspect the basements of the houses on Himmel Street to see if they would make suitable air raid shelters.

Faking an injury while playing, Liesel rushes home to warn her foster parents. When the inspector arrives, everyone waits nervously to see if he will discover Max. He doesn’t because the Jew is huddled behind a drop cloth beneath the stairs.

After the inspector leaves, Rudy comes by to check on Liesel’s injury. She sends him away before he can come inside, assuring him that everything is fine. From her perspective, it is: “For her, the Jew in her basement had not been revealed. Her foster parents were not taken away, and she herself had contributed greatly to both of these accomplishments” (111).

On June 23, 1942, Death claims a group of French Jews who have just been gassed. He is already weary of the slaughter at the death camps and on the battlefields. He thinks, “In complete desolation, I looked at the world above. I watched the sky as it turned from silver to gray to the color of rain. Even the clouds were trying to get away” (112).