One symbol can hold so much meaning

It can change someone..

It could even kill millions of people

The Book Thief Written by: Markus Zusak

Liesel has already lost so much in her life, abandoned by her mother, the

death of her brother

and mysterious disappearance of her father

She is sent to live with a foster family on Himmel Street, Germany during

World War Two

She quickly becomes comfortable with her foster parents Hans and Rosa

Hubermann

The “Gravediggers Handbook” is her last connection to her brother and

becomes her goal to read

Hans helps her to learn how to read and write

Soon she becomes enchanted by words and feels empowered by them

During bombs raids procedures, Liesel reads to her neighborhood to calm

them

Liesel befriends a boy abscessed with Jesse Owens named Rudy

She and Rudy are compelled to thievery by hunger, but Liesel wants to

steal books instead

Liesel steals books from the library of mayor’s wife Illsa Hermann and forms

an unlikely understanding with her

Latter there is a book burning, celebrating Hitler’s birthday Liesel

listens to a Nazi spokesmen

Liesel listens to a Nazi spokesmen

He calls for death for communists and Jews

She realizes that Hitler is responsible for the disappearance of her father, her brother’s death, and her mother’s disappearance

Hitler becomes her sworn enemy

A promise Hans made a long time ago

Surfaces when the son of the man who saved his life

Asks him a favor, one that if anyone found out, Hans whole family could be

killed

His name is Max, and he is a Jew who wants to be hidden

The Hubermanns took Max into hiding, deep in their basement

But their lives were put in more danger every day

Max and Liesel become friends connect through words

They connect through words and dreams of avenging Hitler

One day, Nazi knock on their door to check their house for hidden Jews

They come close to finding Max, too close to take anymore chances

Max has to leave, but before his does he gives Liesel a book he wrote for her

Soon Liesel and Rosa are all alone when Hans is drafted into the army

Every time there is a parade of Jews marching from Molching to Dachau,

Liesel looks for Max not knowing if she should be glad to see him or miserable

because the Nazi found him

But she knew the chances that a Jew wouldn’t be caught traveling alone

were unlikely

All she sees though are tired faces and skinny features that look the same

Liesel sees a Jew also looking into the crowd for someone

She enters the group of Jews and finds Max

Her reunion with him is cut short by Nazi guards that whip her

Rudy holds her back when she tries join the line

Soon after Hans comes home from the army, Liesel decides to stop stealing

books

When she apologizes to Illsa for the stolen books and harsh judgement,

Illsa gives her a gift, a journal to write in

Liesel decides to write a story about her life and the power of words

Every night she spends writing her story of loss and hope

Words saved her life on night, but murdered hundreds of others

The warning sirens were too late

Death visited all except a girl in the basement

Himmel Street was bombed…

and almost everyone Liesel has ever known or loved was killed

She is pulled from the wreckage of her house and cries next her familie’s

bodies

Illsa Hermann adopts her and she lives out the rest of her teenage years with

her

She is reunited once again with Max after he survives the concentration

camp

And she lives the rest of her life in tolerance of fate

Because surviving the worst of times will only make an individual stronger

Zoe Goldberg Per #7