Rosa, who does laundry for wealthier neighbors, takes Liesel on deliveries and privately berates her customers. Hans goes to a bar some evenings to play the accordion for money. In February Liesel turns ten and is enrolled into the Hitler Youth. Liesel begins school but is forced into a much younger class of students just learning the alphabet. Secretly Liesel keeps The Grave Digger’s Handbook under her bed despite not being able to read even the title, Liesel is reminded by it of the last time she saw her brother and mother.Ī few regular activities are introduced. Liesel begins to call her foster parents "Mama" and "Papa."įor the first few months, Liesel would have a nightmare about her brother every night and wet the bed. Hans, described as a house painter and accordion player, acts more kindly, teaching Liesel to roll a cigarette. Rosa, described as loving Liesel yet acting harshly, constantly shouts profanity at Liesel, calling her a saumensch ("pig girl") when she refuses to have a bath. Liesel feels abandoned by her mother but dimly understands that she is being "saved" from poverty and persecution. Her father was a Communist, but she does not yet know what this means. Liesel is very malnourished upon arrival. Liesel has just a small suitcase containing clothes and the stolen book: The Grave Digger’s Handbook.ĭeath remarks that Liesel will steal several books and be made two by a hidden Jew. At first Liesel refuses to get out of the car only Hans is able to coax her out. There is the home of Rosa Hubermann, a squat woman with a short temper, and her husband Hans Hubermann, a tall quiet man who rolls his own cigarettes. In Munich, Liesel is given to foster care authorities and driven up to Himmel ("Heaven") Street in the small town of Molching. Before leaving on another train, Liesel steals a black book from the cemetery ground. Traumatized, Liesel digs at her brother’s grave but is carried away by her mother. Two days later, Liesel’s brother is buried by two gravediggers. The train stops due to track work, and the three exit with two guards who argue over what to do with the body. As Liesel’s mother sleeps, Liesel sees Werner die, and Death takes Werner’s spirit but remains to watch what happens next. Half asleep, Liesel dreams of Adolf Hitler speaking at a rally where Hitler smiles at Liesel, and Liesel, who is illiterate, greets him in broken German.
On a snowy night, the book thief Liesel Meminger and her six-year-old brother Werner are traveling with their mother by train to Munich, where Liesel and her brother are to be given over to foster parents.
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