The narrator of the film, Death, first met Liesel after he came to claim her brother. This event also starts her habit of stealing books, after she takes the book dropped by the grave digger, The Grave Digger’s Handbook.
Liesel is adopted by an older couple, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. This is due to her mother having to flee Germany because of her communist views. Hans tells her that she lives on “Heaven Street” emphasizing the symbolism of death. She also meets Rudy Steiner here.
Liesel is told to write her name on the chalkboard but is only able to draw three X’s. She’s then bullied because she can’t read or write and ends up getting into a fight with the main bully, Franz Deutscher.
Liesel tells Rudy she’s going to run away and find her mother; he responds by saying he’s coming with her. The conversation then turns into Rudy starting a race back to their street, and if he wins, he gets a kiss. Liesel takes a head start and they end in a tie after they slide into a snowbank.
That night Hans sees Liesel hugging her stolen book while in bed and begins to teach her how to read utilizing The Grave Digger’s Handbook.
This scene shows Max Vandenburg who is forced to leave his mother behind because only one of them could escape. His mother insists he’s the one to go, and guiltily he leaves her behind. Death also begins to narrate again.
Hans shows Liesel what he made for her in their basement, a dictionary on the walls that she can fill with all the new words she learns.
Liesel steals her next book at a book burning. The mayor’s wife sees her from within her car. Liesel hides the book in her jacket, and it starts to smoke on her way back home. This causes her to drop it and be discovered by Hans who tells her that they’ll read it like the other book.
Max shows up at the Hubermann’s and they begin to hide him in their house. They do this because Max’s father gave up his life for Hans, so he owes a debt to Max’s family. Hans explains the Liesel that she can’t tell anyone about Max, not even Rudy.
Liesel begins to take the mayor’s clean laundry back to their house. The mayor’s wife remembers her and allows her to read books from her own library.
Max is moved to the basement so he can move around more. Liesel an Max have a snowball fight and build a snowman in the basement, afterwards Max gifts Liesel a book where all the pages have been painted over. That way she can write her own. But the snow combined with the cold basement, causes Max to get extremely ill.
Liesel begins to steal books from the Mayor's wife's library in order to read to Max while he is bedridden. Rudy follows her and discovers the secret of Max Liesel has been keeping from him.
Rosa comes all the way to Liesel's school in order to tell her that Max lived. They have to act like she came to scold Liesel, not to tell her good news.
Hans tries to help a neighbor who is also a Jew, when he is being taken by the police. This causes Hans to have his name taken and is later sent off to war. Max must leave their house because now they're being watched.
Hans returns from the war due to an injury. His Homecoming celebration is cut short when that night the air raid siren fails to go off and their street is bombed. Liesel survives because she fell asleep in the basement, but she wakes up to all her friends and family being dead.
Two years later is the final scene where Max and Liesel are reunited when he comes into the Steiner tailor shop she now works in.
The Book Thief follows the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany. She is adopted by an older couple, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, after her mother is forced to flee due to being a communist. She meets her best friend, Rudy Steiner, when he offers to walk her to school on her first day. At school, everyone learns that Liesel is unable to read or write and they begin to bully her. This soon changes when her new father, Hans, teaches her how to read by going through a book that she stole. Her life changes even more when Max Vandenburg, a Jew, shows up at their door. They take him in and begin to hide him in their basement. One day Liesel decides to bring snow into the basement so that Max can experience it, but by the next day he became extremely ill. Liesel decides to read to Max every chance she can get, even going so far as to steal more books in order to read something different to him. When he finally recovers, Rosa actually goes all the way to Liesel's school in order to tell her, not wanting to wait until she comes home. But not long after, Max has to leave because the Hubermann family starts to be watched after Hans helps a Jewish neighbor. Hans is even sent off to war. The family has short-lived homecoming when Hans returns due to an injury. But that night their street is bombed. Leaving only Liesel alive, who had fallen asleep in the basement. The story does end on a good note when Liesel and Max are reunited two years later.
5 Words: Books, Writing, War, Death, Family
Liesel Meminger, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, learns how to read surrounded by people who love her, as death and destruction take place in the world around her.
The title sequence starts off with a completely blank page like an actual book would. The transition is a turning of this page to the next one.
This page is completely covered with unreadable words. It's what a book page would've looked like to Liesel when she first started reading.
Words then start to be revealed on the page that form a sentence. It's a dedication page just like a real book.
The page turns to an unreadable one again.
Words start to be revealed. Both the main words of starring and the actress's name, as well as the same words but in the background.
The pattern repeats but more and more words are revealed each time. As if this is Liesel reading the book and learning more words as she goes along.
The same pattern continues until the last page.
The previous page turns to reveal just the title of the film. No words in the background and no unreadable words to start off with. The title is shown immediately as legible to imitate how Liesel was finally able to learn how to read. This final page turns to a blank one, ending the book just like how it started.