Set in World War II Germany and narrated by Death himself, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, a 9-year-old orphan.  Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster parents, teach her to love and to trust.  Hans teaches her to read from her first treasure, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book she found at her brother’s funeral.  Together, they shelter a young Jewish man, Max Vandenburg, from whom Liesel learns perseverance and compassion.

Her “treasures” help Liesel through the darkest times of her young life and provide a shield against the grief she must endure.  Her impulse for marking time with her stolen books cements her friendship with the boy next door and the mayor’s wife, who observes her passion for books.  The Book Thief is a book of love found of necessity, of fate and choices that must be made, and of loss in an appalling time.