The narrator of this book is Death, capital D. A busy figure who takes interest in the main character, Leisel. A small German girl with an alleged communist mother who is sent away to safety as her mother flees capture. This book is themed around the power of words. Written, spoken, whispered or shouted at a crowd. Leisel is taught to read from books she has stolen. A book thief.

She steals a book directly from a burn pile, and totes it away. It’s read in secret

Words hold power, that’s the big takeaway from this book Everywhere we turn, they tear down the persecuted- first by slipping extreme thought into every day language. Creating a multi-generation hatred for a class of people. They allow a small mustachioed man to rise to power, they connect Death to Life.

When we speak hatefully, it will always hold power. When we allow others around us to speak hatred, it builds upon that power. Since the main character is a child, she has a simple understanding of right and wrong- a simplicity many of us lose as we age. Language is a weapon- so what happens when adults engage in the destruction?

People are ostracized from their communities, run out of business, and march from their homes into the hands of Death. 

There are many examples in this book of people who are average citizens just trying to get by in trying times. Don’t make a fuss, don’t speak up, don’t stand for others- you risk your livelihood , your community. Your home, your life even. They are unaffected by what’s happening to their Jewish neighbors, so they do nothing. They do less than a child who steals the words Hilter doesn’t want to be read.

When we look back on history it’s easy to say that we would have been better than the average German citizens under Hitler’s thumb. But what makes you different, if you allow hate speech from friends and family to pass without criticism or complaint? Nazi’s rose to power first with words. 

“I do not carry a sickle or scythe.

I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold.

And I don’t have those skull-like

facial features you seem to enjoy

pinning on me from a distance. You

want to know what I truly look like?

I’ll help you out. Find yourself

a mirror while I continue.”

To look away from wrong, is to look Death in the eye and see the worst of yourself. What would you have done differently?