Warm streaks cascade from the corners of my eyes over the curves of my cheekbones as they dissipate into salty memories left on my face and the back of my index and middle fingers on my right hand. The same hand picks up a black box with a red circular button larger than all of the others and presses it firmly as an even larger black box goes to sleep for the evening.

I should be sleeping too. I also should have hugged my best friend before she went to bed. Sleep will be slightly unsettling tonight with images of bombs dropping and German soldiers beating upon innocent people imprinting onto my amygdala.

“The Book Thief” tells the story of a German family that is joined by two unexpected people during the Holocaust; a young girl named Liesel whose communist mother was forced to give her up and a Jewish man named Max who left home and went into hiding in Liesel’s house to stay alive. Max and Liesel become close friends and serve large purposes in each other’s lives.

The story offers a unique perspective on Nazi Germany from the eyes of a German child who doesn’t understand why Max should be treated as lesser for being Jewish, why she was taken away from her mother for being communist, and what it was like to grow up as a German student who was being taught to hate Jews and be pro-war.

this scene shows max, laying on his sick bed, as liesel reads to him one of the many books that she “borrowed”.

Check out the 2013 film “The Book Thief” directed by Brian Percival.

I was on edge the entire time. This story is witty, profound and provocative.

Enjoy! <3 V