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Liesel Meminger's Brother Dies
While on their way to their new foster parents, Werner Meminger begins coughing horendously and dies. This is the first traumatic event Lisel experiences, she will never forget the lifelessness left in her brother's eyes. -
Liesel Steals her First Book
When burying her brother, Liesel finds and steals a book titled The Gravedigger's Handbook. This is the first of many books Liesel steals, leading Death, the narrator, to label her The Book Thief. -
Liesel is Taken to Himmel Street in Molching
After her brother's funeral, Liesel is taken to meet her foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann. It was extremely difficult for Liesel to leave her mother, but Hans eventually coaxed her out, starting a very strong connection between the two characters. -
Hans teaches Liesel to Roll a Cigarette
Hans shelters Liesel from Rosa's harsh words and teaches her how to roll cigarettes, enhancing their father-daughter bond. -
Liesel Takes a Bath
Liesel refused to take a bath for almost 3 weeks, once she does, Rosa hugs her, initiating their relationship. -
Liesel Receives Instructions
Once Liesel takes a bath, Rosa instructs her to call them Mama and Papa. This is the point when Liesel starts to think of the Hubermanns and family. -
Liesel Has Nightmares
For months, Liesel has nightmares of her brother every night. During these episodes, Hans would come into her room and comfort her. This enhanced their relationship further as she feels safe with him. -
Liesel Becomes Friends with Rudy Steiner
While playing soccer on Himmel Street, Liesel meets Rudy. They eventually become best friends and they walk to school together every day. -
Liesel's Book is Discovered
After months of having nightmares, Liesel wets the bed. Hans comes to comfort her and while cleaning the bed, he finds the Gravedigger's handbook. -
Hans reads to Liesel
Once having found the book, Hans asks Liesel if she would like to read it, she of course says yes and so the midnight sessions begin. Once Liesel wakes up from a nightmare, Hans comes into her room and reads to her until she falls asleep. -
Liesel fails at Reading
When Liesel's class at school must complete an oral exam, Liesel is skipped over because her teacher knows she cannot read. Liesel volunteers anyways and humiliates herself. She cannot read the passage so instead recites a passage from the Gravedigger's Handbook that she had memorized. This results in a slap to the face. Liesel is now determined to learn how to read. -
The Finishing of the Gravedigger's Handbook
Liesel had another nightmare about her brother around midnight and Hans comes to read to her. He is now teaching her how to read. At around three o'clock in the morning, they finish the book, at this time, Liesel shares with Hans the name of her brother. This is significant because at this time, she realizes that she loves her new foster parents as well as Rudy and feels comfortable enough to share a personal detail with Hans. -
Liesel Receives a Gift From Hans and Rosa
For Christmas, Liesel receives two books from Hans called Faust the Dog and The Lighthouse. Hans bought the books from a Gypsy. It cost eight cigarettes each. This shows his compassion for Liesel because he spends a great amount to buy her two books which he knew are very important to her. -
Liesel is Instructed to Collect the Laundry
Rosa washes clothing for the people that live near them. On January 4th, she is fired from one of her customers as they can no longer afford her services. After this occurs, Rosa tells Liesel that she must collect the laundry herself as they wouldn't fire Rosa if Liesel was the one they saw. -
Liesel's Class Learns to Write a Letter
Her class is instructed to write two letters; one to a friend and one to someone who is not in her class. Liesel chooses to write a letter to Rudy as well as he biological mother. This shows that although Liesel has learned to love her foster parents, she still misses her mother and cares for her deeply. -
Hans Jr. Cuts Ties to His Family
When Hans Jr. and Trudy, Hans and Rosa's biological children, come home to visit, old tensions come to light once more; Hans Jr. was a Nazi, Hans was not. After arguing about this topic, Hans Jr. states that Hans is pathetic for standing against Hitler and that he is a coward. He leaves that day and never returns. This is the first glimpse the reader sees of Hans's good-nature towards the Jewish population. -
Hitler's Birthday
To celebrate Hitler's birthday, there was a bonfire in the town square of Molching. Residents were to burn books, and magazines as well as anything from post WWI and propaganda of German enemies. When the fire was over, Liesel noticed some unburned books and took one called The Shoulder Shrug, this is the second book she stole. On the way home, she reveals the stolen book to Hans. -
Liesel Becomes Afraid to Collect Laundry from the Mayor's House
When Liesel stole The Shoulder Shrug, she thought Ilsa Hermann, the Mayor's wife, saw her take it. She knows she would be in grave trouble for this and is very reluctant to gather the laundry from the Mayor's house so she brings Rudy along. -
Liesel Goes to the Mayor's House Alone
When Liesel collects the laundry without Rudy, Ilsa Hermann invites her inside.Liesel is first reluctant, but once Ilsa comes back with a stack of books, Liesel follows her inside and to the library. This starts the complicated relationship between Liesel and Ilsa Hermann. -
Max leaves for Munich
On this day, Max Vandenburg leaves for Molching, seeking saftety from the Hubermanns. During WWI, Max's father saved Hans's life and so he promised to help the family in what ever way he could, giving Max's mother his address and name. This is the start of one of the most important storylines in the Book Thief. -
Max Arrives at the Hubermanns
When Max arrives at 33 Himmel Street, he contemplates his selfishness of asking the Hubermanns to risk their lives for his. -
Liesel's Birthday
Liesel receives a book from her foster parents and Max apologizes, saying that if he had known it was her birthday, he would have gotten her something. She knew this was untrue; he had nothing to give. Seeing him stand in the corner by himself, Liesel hugs and thanks him for his kindness. This is the start of the very strong relationship that develops between them. -
Max Gives Liesel a Birthday Present
Feeling bad for not giving Liesel a birthday gift on her birhtday, he writes a book for her and gives it to her a week later, calling it The Standover Man. -
Max and Liesel Bond
Liesel and Max share their nightmares with each other, strengthening their friendship. -
Ilsa Hermann gives Liesel a Book
Ilsa Hermann insists Liesel take The Whistler, once Liesel accepts, she gives her a letter, relieving Rosa of her duties. Liesel gets angry and leaves the book -
Liesel steals the Whistler
Liesel steals The Whistler from the mayor's house. This is the third book Liesel has stolen. -
Max and Liesel Build a Snowman
Liesel brings buckets of snow to the basement so she can build a snowman with Max. After this, Max becomes very ill. Liesel visits him very often, showing how their friendship has strengthened. -
Liesel Steals Another Book
Liesel steals her fourth book, The Dream Carrier from the mayor's library. She steals it because it reminds her of the dreams her and Max shared with eachother. -
Max Wakes Up
Rosa comes to the school to get Liesel in trouble which is what she was supposed to do if Max woke up. Liesel rushes home to find Max awake and looking at the thirteen presents she gave him. -
Liesel Steals A Song in the Dark
Liesel steals another book fromt the mayor's library, A Song in the Dark. She steals this one because it is green and she does not have a green book in her collection. -
Liesel Steals the Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus
Liesel steals another book from the mayor's house, the Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus, but finds a note in the cover from Ilsa Hermann who left the book for Liesel to take. -
An Air Raid
When the sirens warn the residents of Himmel street, they find themselevs in an air raid shelter. Liesel, having brough one of her books, reads to the other people in the shelter to keep them calm. This ends up being a success, giving her a newfound confidence in her reading. -
The Parade of Jews
On their way to Dachau, Jewish people parade through Himmel Street. Having seen that one of the men is very weak, Hans gives him a piece of bread. The Jewish man is very grateful, but Hans is whipped for his actions. This event leads Hans to worry that the Gestapo will come and search their house, perhaps finding Max. -
Max Leaves
After Hans's generosity to the Jewish man, nobody could be sure if a Nazi would come. For these reasons, they agreed it would be safest for Max to leave. Hours later, two Nazi members come to Himmel Street, Hans believes they have come for him, but they have come for Rudy who is of the Aryan Race, intellignent and athletic. His father, Alex, refuses and receives a whippping for his refusal. -
Hans go off to War
After the incident with the bread, Hans is accepted into the NSDAP and sent to war as punishment. -
Rudy and Liesel do as Hans did
When another group of Jews are paraded through Himmel Street, Liesel and Rudy bike ahead and leave pieces of bread for the hungry Jews to collect. This shows how Liesel has taken after her foster father; he was kind to the old Jewish man and Liesel and Rudy do the same. -
The World Shaker
Rosa gives Liesel Max's journal for Christmas. This is what Max had told Liesel she would get when she was ready, it was titled The World Shaker. -
Liesel's Nightmares Stop
Liesel had stolen a plate of cookies from the library and when she returned the plate, her nightmares stopped. This is significant because Liesel decided to give back and just this one gesture stopped her nightmares. -
Hans comes Home
After being in an explosion, Hans's leg breaks. After this, he is allowed to come home. -
Liesel Finds Max
Once again, Jews are paraded through Himmel Street and Liesel spots Max in the crowd. She runs to him and they have a very short amount of time to exchange words before Liesel is taken from a soldier and whipped for her actions. This once again shows how strong their relationship is. She knew the repercussions that would accompony her actions but did it anyway. -
Liesel tells Rudy her Secret
Liesel shares with Rudy her deepest secret; Max was living in her basement. This once again expresses her love for Rudy; she shares the most important secret she has with Rudy because she trusts him. -
Ilsa gives Liesel a Journal
One day, Liesel gets very angry and destroys one of the books in the mayor's library, she writes a letter to Ilsa apologizing and tells her that she will not come to the library any more. Ilsa then visits Liesel and gives her a journal telling her that she can write her own story if she won't go to the library anymore. This is a very important point in the story as this is where Liesel writes her life story. -
The End of Himmel Street
This day marks the end of many lives on Himmel Street. To be more specific, everyone but Liesel dies. The sirens rang much to late for anyone to get to the air-raid shelters. Liesel was lucky; she was already in her own basement. Although it was not a designated air-raid shelter, it saved her life. -
Liesel says Goodbye
Since Liesel is the only survivor of the Himmel Street bombing, she says goodbye to all of her dead family and neighbours. She begins with Rudy who finally gets his kiss. Next is Mama for she can't bear look at Papa yet. She tells Mama some of the memories she has of her and finally says goodbye to Papa. She gives him his accordion, and kisses his shoulder, thanking him for all that he did for her. -
Max Returns
When the war was over and Hitler had killed himself, Alex Steiner returned his work at his tailor shop with Liesel often accompanying him. Max finally came looking for Liesel.
