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Part 8: The Hidden Sketchbook
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Book Thief, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death
Words and Language
Books
Stealing and Giving
Color, Beauty, and Ugliness
Summary
Analysis
On Christmas Eve Liesel decides to give Rudy a present, so she goes with him and they break into Alex Steiner's shop. She picks out a suit for Rudy and has him try it on, but then trips over a mannequin. Concerned, Liesel bends over him and they almost kiss – Death wants them to kiss - but instead she helps him up and wishes him a Merry Christmas.
Liesel's present involves the part of stealing that Rudy likes – empowering himself – but she also makes it seem like a gift from the absent Alex Steiner, rather than a desecration of his shop. Death reminds the reader again of the tragedy in Rudy and Liesel's childhood romance.
Themes
