The narrative is on behalf of Death - the immortal being of the masculine gender.

Prologue. Broken Stone Mountain Range

The duty of Death is to take the souls of the dead to the conveyor of eternity, not paying attention to the living. But Death broke the rule and began to follow the girl, whom he called the "book thief."

He met her three times. The first time - when the girl’s brother died, the second - when he came for the soul of a crashed pilot, and the third - after the bombing. Just then, “on a ridge of broken stone”, the “book thief” lost the book that she wrote about herself. Death saved her and undertook to tell the story of the girl.

1. Manual to the grave digger

Germany, January 1939. The woman drove her son and daughter to foster parents. The woman’s missing husband was connected with the Communists, and she gave children to strangers in order to hide them from the Nazi authorities.

On the way, the boy died of pulmonary hemorrhage. He was buried near the nameless station. One of the gravediggers lost a book. The girl, Liesel Meminger, picked her up and became a "book thief."

An official from the state guardianship took Liesel to the town of Molking on Himmel Strasse (Heavenly Street) and gave it to her foster parents - Rosa and Hans Huberman. The rose was short, full, and always foul. She was washing clothes to the rich of Molking. Very high Hans worked as a house painter, and in the evenings played the accordion in taverns. The Hubermans had already raised their son and daughter, and now they took foster children for a small allowance.

Foster parents told Liesel to call them Mom and Dad. The girl was afraid of her mother, although she loved her in her own way, but she became attached to the Pope right away. At night, the girl dreamed of a dead brother, and the kind, calm Hans saved her from nightmares.

Non-abandonment is a manifestation of trust and love, often recognized by children.

Having entered school, nine-year-old Lizel got into the classroom for the kids, as she could not read and write. One night, Liesel again had a nightmare, and she wet the bed. When Dad helped her change the sheets, a grave digger's book fell out from under the mattress - the memory of her mother and brother. Liesel learned that the book is called “Instructions to the Grave Digger” and tells how to bury people properly.

Seeing the book, Hans decided to help Liesel learn to read. At first they wrote letters on the back of sandpaper at night. Then - in the evenings in the basement, painted on the walls.

Next door to the Hubermans lived Rudy Steiner, a boy from a large tailor's family, "obsessed with black American athlete Jesse Owens." Once "Rudy smeared with coal and one night came to the local stadium to run a hundred meters."

When Liesel was transferred to a peer class, Rudy became her best friend. Unlike other boys, Rudy liked the girls, especially Liesel, and he undertook to patronize her.

Worse than the boy who hates you, only one thing - the boy who loves you.

Liesel vowed that she would never kiss a yellow-haired and ugly Rudy in her life.

Throughout the summer, Liesel learned to read, but she did poorly, and at school she was considered a dumbass. In the fall, World War II broke out, and Liesel failed the reading test. After the lesson, the children began to mock her, and the girl beat two boys, for which she received the title of “champion of the school yard in heavy weight”.

2. Shrug

Hubermans could barely make ends meet. The rich, one after another, refused the services of Mom. Rosa ordered Liesel to collect and distribute the clothes alone, hoping that the pallor and thinness of the girl would pity customers.

In mid-January 1940, Liesel's class learned to write letters, and the girl decided to write to her real mother.She wrote several letters and took “linen”, without demand, money to send them through a lady from the social security service, for which Rosa beat her with a wooden spoon. Liesel did not receive an answer. From an overheard conversation of the Hubermans, the girl found out that her mother had been taken away by "they."

On April 20th, 1940, Hitler's birthday was celebrated. In Molkking, they made a huge bonfire of old things and "harmful" books. On this day, Hans quarreled with his son. Huberman was not a supporter of Hitler and was not a member of the party, for which he was rebuked by his fascist son.

It is clear to everyone that there is no need to paint over dirty words written on the facades of Jewish shops. Such behavior harms Germany and harms the apostate himself.

Calling his father a coward, and expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that Liesel reads some nonsense instead of Hitler's book “My Struggle”, the son left. Death reported that two years later he died in the Battle of Stalingrad.

In the evening, when the fire on the square burned out, Lizel, passing with the Pope by, saw several surviving books in his red-hot depth. Seizing the moment, she hid one of them, Shrugging Shoulder, under her clothes and suddenly noticed that Frau German was watching her, the governor's half-mad wife, whom Rosa was washing clothes.

3. My fight

A smoldering book burned the skin, so Liesel took it out as soon as she and Dad walked away from the fire. The act of the girl and the last words of her son helped Hans solve the dilemma that had been tormenting him for a year. In the local branch of the fascist party, he traded Adolf Hitler's book “My Struggle” for tobacco and went out, thinking about postage.

Liesel lived in fear of Frau Ilsa German, but she still had to take her clothes.

At eleven, paranoia is fierce. Forgiveness at eleven years intoxicates.

Once Frau German invited her into the house and took her to a room full of books. Liesel did not suspect that such a room could exist.

Further, Death spoke about the Jew Max Vandenburg, who had been hiding in a dark closet for a long time and severely starving. Finally, a friend Walter Kugler brought him the book “My Struggle”, in which he put false documents, a map of the area and a key, and gave his name - Hans Huberman. Max boarded the train and set off for Molking. On the way he, like a shield, was obscured by the Fuhrer’s book.

Summer has come. At night, Liesel read Shrug, and in the afternoon, books from the burgomaster’s library. The girl accidentally found out that the broken and half-crazy Frau German became due to the death of her only son.

Liesel and Rudy took in a gang of robbers of gardens under the leadership of fifteen-year-old Arthur Berg. Things went well, but friends could not bring their share home and ate everything themselves.

In late summer, Arthur moved to Cologne. Death saw him there with a dead little sister in his arms.

On a November night, Max opened the door of a house on Himmel Strass with his key.

4. The Hanging Man

Fighting in the First World War, Hans met Eric Vandenburg, who taught him how to play the accordion. Before the next battle, the sergeant was looking for people with neat handwriting. Eric stated that Hans' handwriting was impeccable, and he wrote letters while the platoon was dying. So Eric saved Huberman's life.

After the war, Hans visited the widow of Vandenburg and found out that he has a son, Max. The widow gave Hans Eric's accordion, and Huberman left the woman his address. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Hans did not join the fascist party because the Jew saved his life.

In 1937, Hans surrendered and applied for joining the party, and the next day he painted a yellow star on the door of a Jewish acquaintance. The statement fell at the end of a long line, but it still was, and Hans was not taken away, like many other "dissenters."

In 1939, Hans found Walter Kugler and asked Max to help. Huberman did not refuse and traded the Fuhrer’s book for tobacco.

Unlike most Jews, patient and meek, Max was a fighter. After Eric's death, Max's mother moved to her brother. The constant fights with nine cousins ​​became a good school for Max.

On November 9, 1938, the largest Jewish pogrom, Kristallnacht, took place. Mother persuaded Max to flee and gave him the address of Huberman. Max began to consider himself a traitor and a deserter. For two years, Walter hid Max in the pantry, and this broke the twenty-four-year-old guy.

Hubermans hid Max in the basement.

Imagine what it feels like to smile when you get a slap in the face. Now imagine what it is twenty-four hours a day. That was it - to hide the Jew.

Dad told Liesel his story and explained: if she tells anyone about the guest, they will be taken away with Mom, but first he will burn all her books. The girl promised to be silent.

It was a frosty winter. Max slept in a room by the fireplace and talked about himself in the evenings. Liesel discovered that Max also had nightmares about his dead family. This became the basis of their friendship.

For her birthday, Dad gave the girl a book. Max could not give anything, but Liesel hugged him, and this was a gift for a Jew. He painted the pages of the Fuhrer’s book with white paint and made the book “Hanging Man” for Liesel. This was a series of drawings illustrating Max's acquaintance with a girl.

5. Whistler

At the end of May, Max returned to the basement and did gymnastics - he did push-ups and squats. Sometimes he put out the lamp and imagined himself in a boxing ring with Hitler. At first he suffered the beatings of the Führer, but then he began to win, and then the whole German people attacked him. Max told Liesel that he was waiting for the Fuhrer, and therefore began to train.

When German troops invaded Russia, the burgomaster urged the inhabitants of Molking to "prepare for possible difficult times", and he himself refused the services of Rosa. In parting, Frau German gave Liesel her favorite book, The Whistler. The girl took it, but then thought that the burgomaster was a rare bastard: despite difficult times, he refused a poor family work. Liesel threw the book at the feet of Frau German and rude to her.

Apples ripened, the time has come for thefts. The leader of the gang was Victor Hemmel.

He had a wind in his hair and fog in his eyes, and he was such a juvenile delinquent who has no other reason to steal except for the fact that he likes it.

Victor was a sadist and supporter of Hitler. The year turned out to be a lean one, and on the first day the friends received one small apple for two. Rudy tried to argue, but Victor strangled him, and then drove him away. When leaving, the boy spat on his boot with bloody saliva and acquired an enemy. Rudy also had another enemy - the counselor of the fascist youth organization Hitlerugende, the sadist Franz Deutscher.

At the end of the summer, Liesel offered to climb into the burgomaster’s house. She knew that the window in the library was always open - in the cold, Frau German punished herself for not saving her son. Rudy, always hungry, was interested in food. The Book Thief only wanted the book Whistler, and she received it.

Rudy stopped walking in the Hitler Youth. Returned him to the organization only the opportunity to change the squad.

In early December, Liesel and Rudy were caught by Victor Hemmel. In the hands of the girl was "Whistler." Victor grabbed a book from her and threw it into the river. Rudy caught the “Whistler” from cold water, hoping for a kiss, but never got it.

6. Postman of Dreams

Throughout 1942, Death worked hard, and the war came closer to Molking. In winter, the thirteen-year-old Lizel dragged into the basement of snow so that Max could dazzle the snowman, because of which he fell ill and spent many weeks between life and death.

Liesel blamed herself and tried to help Max. She brought him presents - a dried-up sheet, a button, a candy wrapper - and for hours reading aloud the “Whistler”. One day, Death came to Max, but the Jewish brawler rebuffed him. Death rejoiced and retreated.

The Whistler is over. Liesel needed a new book, and she got it in the library of Frau German. The book was called The Postman of Dreams, and Liesel continued to read Max out loud, and her parents wondered where to put his body in case of death.

Jewish corpse is a big nuisance.

But Max survived and in mid-April returned to the basement.

In the spring, party members began to go around the house and look for basements suitable for bomb shelters. Liesel noticed them when she played football. She specially injured her knee in order to call the Pope and warn him without arousing suspicion. Max managed to hide in his shelter under the stairs.

7. Duden's Complete Dictionary and Thesaurus

Hans Huberman got a job - he repainted the blinds in black. For the poor, Hans worked for a cup of tea or half a cigarette. While Liesel was helping Papa, Rudy trained. In mid-August, the Hitler Youth held a sports festival, and the boy wanted to win four running competitions and wipe his nose for Franz Deutscher.

Rudy won three medals, but in a hundred-meter race he was disqualified for breaking the rules. He had no strength to run, but he did not want to lose. Rudy gave fake gold medals to Liesel. The boy was recognized as an outstanding athlete.

At the end of August, “Book Thief” stole a new book from Frau German. A week later, Rudy brought her to the burgomaster’s house and showed her a book leaning against the library window. It was either a challenge or a trap. Liesel took a chance and got a book - “The Complete Dictionary and Thesaurus of Duden”, and in it - a letter from Frau German. She knew that the girl was stealing books, she was glad of this and hoped that someday Liesel would enter her library through the door.

The bombing began. Hubermans hid in the basement of the neighbors, leaving Max alone. Once during a raid, to prevent panic, Liesel began to read aloud the “Whistler” she had taken with her, and people calmed down. Hearing about this, Max conceived a new series of drawings called "Word Enforcer."

The next day, Frau Holzapfel came to the Hubermans, who had been at enmity with Mom for many years and spat on the door of the house as she passed. She wanted Liesel to read her twice a week for coffee cards, and Rosa agreed.

Two weeks later, a column of Jews passed through Molking.

They walked to Dachau - to concentrate.

Dad gave a piece of bread to an old Jewish man, and both were whipped. Now the parents were waiting for the Gestapo to pick them up. Because of this, Max had to leave the Huberman. Hans was never taken away, and his conscience tormented him that a Jew could suffer because of him.

8. Word Conqueror

Instead Huberman came for Rudy. The Nazis wanted to take him to a special school, where the perfect breed of people was displayed, but Alex Steiner did not give his son. Although Rudy was afraid for his father, he still wanted to go to this school, but did not dare.

Soon punishment followed. Hans Huberman was hastily admitted to the party, and then he and Alex Steiner were sent to the front.

When they come to you and ask you to give one of the children, ‹...› you should answer “yes”.

Tailor Alex Steiner was taken to a hospital near Vienna, where he was repairing a soldier's uniform. Hans was sent by LSF, a passive air defense unit, whose soldiers extinguished fires and saved people from the rubble after air raids.

Reading for Frau Holzapfel became Liesel's only entertainment. Columns of Jews passed through Molking several times, and the girl looked for Max among them. Once Rudy and Liesel scattered bread in the way of the column. Depleted prisoners began to pick him up, the guards noticed the children, and they barely escaped.

After the next raid, during which Liesel reassured people by reading, Mom gave her a book of Max's drawings. There was a fairy tale about the Fuhrer, who wanted to conquer the world with the help of bad words. He was disturbed by a girl, a Word Conqueror, who planted and grew a tree with good words.

9. The last human alien

Having climbed into the library of Frau Herman after Christmas after a regular book, Liesel found a dish with cookies on the table. She took the book The Last Human Stranger and thanked the burgomaster’s wife, who at that moment entered the room. Liesel shared the cookies with Rudy, and the dish was returned to Frau German by ringing the front door.

The truck in which Hans's squad was transported had an accident, Huberman broke his leg, and he was sent home. Lizel received this good news a week after her fourteenth birthday.

Soon, an airplane crashed near Molking. Everyone ran to see the dead pilot. Lizel saw and recognized death, and the girl felt him near her.

The human heart is a line, while mine is a circle, and I can infinitely keep up with the right place at the right moment.

In early April 1943, Hans returned home. He was given a week off and paper work at the military office of Munich.

10. Book thief

Hitler stubbornly "sowed the war" and exterminated the "Jewish infection." Once, in a column of Jews passing through Molking, Liesel saw Max. The girl joined the crowd of prisoners and went near. They drove her, dragged her away, and then, together with Max, they carved a whip.

For three days, Liesel lay in bed, and on the fourth she took Rudy to the forest, talked about Max and showed "The Courier of words."

She wanted him to pull her hand and draw her to him. Anyway, where. On the lips, on the neck, on the cheek. All her skin was empty for him, waiting for him.

But Rudy did not dare.

In mid-August, Liesel went to Frau German for a new book, but thought that the words that Hitler had so dexterously managed were to blame and tore her up. Then the girl wrote to Frau German why she would not come again.

Frau German herself came to the Hubermans and presented Liesel with a book without words. She read the letter and decided that the girl herself could fill it with words. Since then, Liesel sat in the basement at night and wrote the story “Book Thief” on lined pages.

During the air raid, which was not warned by sirens and the radio, Liesel also sat in the basement, and therefore remained alive. All Himmel Strasse died before she woke up, and Death took their souls.

Liesel was saved by people from LSE. For the first and last time, she kissed Rudy, laid an accordion next to Dad, and sat for a long time next, holding Mom's hand. The book that saved Liesel's life went to Death.

Epilogue. Last paint

Liesel took Ilse German to her. After the funeral, Alex Steiner returned to Molking, wishing he had sent Rudy to a special school. After the war, he opened his workshop, Liesel helped him. There in October 1945, Max found her.

Liesel lived a long life and died in a suburb of Sydney, leaving her husband, three children and grandchildren. Arriving behind Lizel, Death gave her the “Book Thief” - the words in the book were almost erased from time and roads.