50 Fun Facts About The Book Thief

In The Book Thief, who narrates Liesel Meminger's story and says it saw her only three times?

Death tells the story, a weary and wry guide who distracts himself from his work by studying the sky. He admits that the survivors left behind are what he finds hardest to look at.

In The Book Thief, which stolen book does Hans use for Liesel's first midnight reading lessons?

The Grave Digger's Handbook was dropped by an apprentice at her brother's burial, and Liesel took it though she could not read. Hans, a poor reader himself, is puzzled by her choice.

In The Book Thief, which American athlete does Rudy imitate by rubbing charcoal over his body?

Jesse Owens had just won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Rudy's father drags him home from the track and warns him never to pretend to be black again.

In The Book Thief, the Hubermanns live on poor Himmel Street; what does 'Himmel' mean in English?

Heaven is the meaning, and the narrator makes bitter use of it, asking whether anyone would bomb a place with such a name.

In The Book Thief, the narrator's final line to an elderly Liesel is 'I am haunted by' what?

Humans are what haunt the narrator, who wants to ask Liesel how one species can be "so ugly and so glorious" but never does.

In The Book Thief, in which city far from Germany does Liesel die as an old woman?

Sydney is where she dies, a grandmother with three children of her own. In her last vision she sees Hans, Rosa, her brother and a boy with lemon-colored hair.

In The Book Thief, where is Liesel writing when bombs fall on Himmel Street, sparing only her?

In the basement, working late on her own life story, she is shielded from a raid that arrives before the sirens can wake her sleeping neighbors.

In The Book Thief, what does Hans hand a collapsing Jewish prisoner being marched through town?

A piece of bread earns both men a whipping from the guards. Fear that the Gestapo will now search the house forces Max to leave it that same night.

In The Book Thief, what does Rudy keep asking Liesel for, even waist-deep in an icy river?

A kiss is all he ever asks for, and Liesel refuses every time. She gives him one at last when she finds him lying lifeless on their bombed street.

In The Book Thief, which instrument does Hans play in bars, having learned it as a soldier?

Accordion lessons came from Erik Vandenburg, a Jewish comrade in the First World War. Hans kept the instrument after Erik was killed and went looking for his family.

In The Book Thief's prologue, which color of sky does the narrator say it likes best?

Chocolate is the sky the narrator likes best, though it claims to enjoy every shade. Noticing colors is how it takes its mind off the grieving people left behind.

In The Book Thief, what does Rudy Steiner take from his toolbox and place on a dying enemy pilot?

A teddy bear, packed to calm any child he met while burgling houses, goes onto the pilot's chest instead. The airman thanks him in English and dies.

In The Book Thief, where does Liesel's young brother Werner die on the way to their foster home?

On a train bound for Munich, Liesel watches him die while their mother sleeps. Two days later he is buried in a snowy cemetery near the line.

In The Book Thief, Rosa's favorite insult for Liesel, 'Saumensch', is built on which animal?

A pig is the animal behind it: 'Saumensch' is the form for girls and women, and Rosa keeps a matching 'Saukerl' for men and boys. Liesel and Rudy soon trade both like nicknames.

In The Book Thief, on the back of what does Hans write out Liesel's first alphabet lessons?

Sandpaper from his painting work stands in for writing paper, its smooth side taking the letters and a sketch for each one. The lessons run long into the night.

In The Book Thief, why was Liesel's father taken away by the Nazis before the story begins?

He was a Communist, a label Liesel hears long before she understands it. At the town bonfire she finally connects a speaker's rant to her vanished parents.

In The Book Thief, how does Rosa Hubermann earn extra money from the wealthier households in town?

Washing and ironing brings in the extra money, and Rosa sends Liesel out on the deliveries hoping customers will pity her. As the war bites, they cancel one by one.

In The Book Thief, what does neighbor Frau Holtzapfel keep doing to the Hubermanns' front door?

Spits on it, as part of a long feud with Rosa, and wiping the door clean becomes Liesel's chore. The truce comes years later, when Frau Holtzapfel wants a favor from Liesel.

In The Book Thief, what do Liesel and Rudy steal on their first raid with Arthur Berg's gang?

Apples are the haul, six each, and since they cannot take stolen fruit home they eat the lot in half an hour. Liesel spends the night being sick.

Which author wrote The Book Thief, the 2005 novel about a foster girl growing up in Nazi Germany?

Markus Zusak wrote it after four earlier novels, and it became an international bestseller that reached cinemas in 2013.

In The Book Thief, which book does Liesel pull, still smoking, from the Führer's birthday bonfire?

The Shoulder Shrug survives the flames, and Liesel hides it under her shirt until it scorches her. The Nazis banned it because its hero is Jewish.

In The Book Thief, who sees Liesel steal from the bonfire and later shows her a private library?

Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife, says nothing about the theft and instead lets Liesel loose among her shelves. She has grieved in silence since losing her son in 1918.

In The Book Thief, what does Hans Junior call his father in an argument over the Nazi Party?

A coward is his verdict on a father who still has not joined the Nazi Party. The son stays away that Christmas too, and ends up fighting on the Russian front.

In The Book Thief, what does Hans Hubermann trade away to buy Liesel two books for Christmas?

His cigarettes, hand-rolled and carefully hoarded, pay for Faust the Dog and The Lighthouse. Liesel had expected no present at all.

In The Book Thief, what act of Hans Hubermann's left his Nazi Party application stuck on hold?

Painting over a slur daubed on a Jewish shopkeeper's door was the offense. Without a party card Hans loses customers, a price he goes on paying for years.

In The Book Thief, Hans calls Liesel 'a good girl' to a visitor who has arrived carrying which book?

Mein Kampf is Max's disguise, since a Jew traveling with the Führer's own book draws no second look. Hans supplied the copy, with a house key hidden inside.

In The Book Thief, what does Liesel say Max Vandenburg's hair looks like, a remark he overhears?

Feathers is her comparison, and Max turns it into art: in the story he later paints for her, the hero looks in the mirror and sees a bird.

In The Book Thief, what does Max daydream of doing to the Führer during his months in hiding?

Boxing him in a ring is the fantasy, with a biased referee and a whole nation jeering at Max. He loved to fight as a boy, so he prepares with push-ups.

In The Book Thief, which illustrated story does Max make for Liesel as a late birthday present?

The Standover Man retells Max's life as a line of figures looming over him, the last and kindest of them a girl. Liesel reads it three times, then falls asleep at his side.

In The Book Thief, what does Rosa Hubermann serve Max on the night he arrives, her weekly staple?

Pea soup, which Rosa cooks by the potful every week, is what she puts in front of him. Max is so starved that he cannot keep it down.

In The Book Thief, what does Liesel's manuscript end by saying she has both hated and loved?

Words are what she has hated and loved, and she adds the hope that she has "made them right". The line sums up a novel in which language both wounds and rescues.

In The Book Thief, in the fable Max leaves for Liesel, what grows from a girl's tear of friendship?

A tree grows from the tear, so tall and tough that the Führer's axe cannot dent it while the girl sits in its branches. The girl stands for Liesel herself.

In The Book Thief, which gang leader throws Liesel's copy of The Whistler into the Amper River?

Viktor Chemmel throws it in to settle a score with Rudy, who wades into the December water to fetch it out. Chemmel steals for fun, not hunger.

In The Book Thief, which Hitler Youth leader drills Rudy in the mud and later hacks off his hair?

Franz Deutscher first punishes Rudy for sticking up for a friend who cannot march in step. Rudy answers by skipping meetings and joining a division that builds model planes.

In The Book Thief, how does Rudy Steiner throw away a fourth win at the Hitler Youth carnival?

Two false starts get him disqualified from the last race, and he later admits he did it on purpose. He leaves his three medals with Liesel.

In The Book Thief, the narrator reveals Rudy's fate two years early; which literary device is that?

Foreshadowing is the narrator's habit: it admits that spoiling an ending is rude but says it has no interest in building mystery, only in how the characters get there.

In The Book Thief, what sound on the Hubermanns' new radio warns of a raid before the sirens start?

A cuckoo call on the radio means bombers are coming, so the Hubermanns hurry to a neighbor's deeper cellar and have to leave Max behind alone.

In The Book Thief, how does Liesel calm her neighbors in the Fiedlers' shelter during an air raid?

She reads aloud from The Whistler until the whole cellar goes quiet. When the all-clear comes, they stay put to hear the end of the chapter.

In The Book Thief, at which battle does Frau Holtzapfel's son Robert lose both legs and die?

Stalingrad kills Robert in a field hospital, with his brother Michael watching. Michael comes home with a ruined hand and a guilt he cannot live with.

In The Book Thief, what do Liesel and Rudy buy from Frau Diller, who demands a 'heil Hitler' first?

A single hard candy is all their found pfennig will buy, so they take turns at ten sucks each. Asked for mixed candy, Frau Diller tells Rudy to mix it himself.

In The Book Thief chapter 'Tricksters', how do Liesel and Rudy bring down Otto Sturm's bicycle?

They ice the road by pouring water where Otto rides each Friday, then run off with the basket of food he was taking to the priests. Arthur Berg's gang shares the feast.

In The Book Thief, which of Liesel's gifts for the unconscious Max has to be written down?

A cloud, a giant one she cannot carry indoors, becomes a present when Hans suggests she put it on paper. Her other offerings include a flattened soccer ball and a toy soldier.

In The Book Thief, how does Liesel leave a soccer game to warn Hans about Nazis inspecting cellars?

She rams another player and bloodies her knee, so being helped home looks natural. The inspector spends three minutes in the house and never finds Max.

In The Book Thief, which young soldier takes Hans's seat on the truck and dies in the crash?

Reinhold Zucker, a card-table rival who despises Hans, demands the seat shortly before a tire blows. Hans comes away with an injured leg and a transfer to a desk job.

In The Book Thief, to which concentration camp are Jewish prisoners marched through Liesel's town?

Dachau lies close by, so the columns pass more than once. Liesel searches each one for Max, and the day she finds him she walks beside him until a soldier whips them both.

In The Book Thief, what gift from the mayor's wife leads Liesel to start writing her own story?

A blank notebook comes with a nudge: if Liesel is finished with reading, perhaps she can write. She begins her life story that same night.

In The Book Thief, what skill keeps Hans out of the battle that kills his whole platoon in France?

Neat handwriting gets him sent to write letters for the captain that morning, after Erik Vandenburg puts his name forward. Hans credits Erik with saving his life.

In The Book Thief, where does Max Vandenburg walk in and find Liesel in October 1945?

A tailor's shop, reopened after the war by Rudy's father Alex Steiner, is where Liesel is working when Max asks for her. They hug, cry and fall to the floor.

Which composer earned an Oscar nomination for scoring the 2013 film version of The Book Thief?

John Williams wrote the score, his first in years for a director other than Steven Spielberg. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

In The Book Thief, what do Liesel and the Hubermanns build indoors with Max one Christmas Eve?

A snowman takes shape from pots of snow that Liesel carries in as a present, after a snowball fight. Rosa later blames it when Max falls gravely ill.