Words are powerful objects which when harnessed, can give their master immense power and can change the world for the better...or for the worse. This is the overall theme of Markus Zusak's novel, The Book Thief. The novel follows a young woman as she struggles with living in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. Liesel Meminger, loses every single member of her family to Death (who, in fact happens to be the narrator of the story), and becomes a foster child. She is adopted by Hans and Rosa Hubermann, and comes to live in Molching, a small town outside of the German city of Munich. Liesel has difficulty coping with the difficulties of life, love, and loss until she learns to read. She then develops a love for books, and will even steal to get them (hence, the title "The Book Thief"). The novel follows Liesel's footsteps throughout her life of excitement, love, fear, and death, and also includes interesting commentaries by Death along the way. Death too, has his own stories to tell and in many ways Zusak succeeds in an everlasting literary struggle by being able to "fill in the blanks" of the story and therefore make the reader omniscient and all-knowing. Overall, Death and Zusak together help tell the unforgettably heart-wrenching tale of just one German girl during the height of World War II as she learns just how powerful words can be.