There are two kinds of people, the people who will only see the movie, and those who refuse to watch the movie until they read the book. In the film/book The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger gets taken from her mother and is adopted by a German couple. Throughout this book/movie, there are many differences.

In both the book and the movie, the German couple hides a Jew named Max Vandenburg in their basement, which causes tension and worry. In the book though, Max dreams to be a fighter, but in the movie, they cut his whole dream out.

The German couple that Liesel is living with is named the Hubermanns. In the movie, they do not have kids, and never have had kids, but in the book, they have a son who fights in the army for the Germans. Also, in the book, the Hubermanns have fostered many kids before Liesel.

There is a character named Ilsa Hermann that Liesel meets halfway through the book and movie. In the movie, Ilsa lets Liesel read books in her library while doing her laundry. Her husband (the mayor) finds out, and no longer allows Liesel to do their laundry any longer. In the book, Ilsa told her they are no longer doing washing, so Liesel threw a book at Ilsa, but in the movie it was quite calm.

One last difference is when Liesel’s “papa” gets into a incident with a Nazi officer. In the book and movie, a Jew is being marched through town, and he gives him a piece of bread. Both “papa” and the Jew are whipped by a Nazi officer. In the movie, the scene is not as violent and neither get a whipping, instead, “papa” has to tell the officer his name, which causes fear, causing him to have Max leave.

If anyone were to read or watch this, I would prefer the book. The book has more details, along with things that are not in the film. This is a heart wrenching story that is sure to make the reader/viewer cry. I would recommend this to anyone from the age 12 and up.