The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Fictional town of Molching close to Munich.

Liesel is only 9 years old when she is taken to live with a foster family in Himmel Street, Molching, a (fictional) village just outside Munich.

Liesel’s real parents have been taken to a concentration camp – for this is war time in Germany during The Third Reich. Liesel and her brother were supposed to be saved but her brother sadly dies on the journey – it is during this funeral that Liesel steals her first book – a gravediggers’s manual which she uses to teach herself to read.

But reading, and sharing new knowledge can be dangerous in Germany. One day a visitor from the past comes calling… and Liesel’s world changes.