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Part 1 is called "the grave digger's handbook" after the first book Liesel steals. In this first chapter nine-year-old Liesel Meminger, known as the book thief, is on a train with her mother and six-year-old brother Werner, heading for the town of Molching, near Munich, to stay with a foster family. As Liesel is dreaming of Adolf Hitler, Werner dies suddenly on the train. The narrator, Death, watches Liesel's reaction to her brother's death. Knowing to stay away from Liesel but interested in her, Death attends the makeshift funeral and burial in the next town. At first Liesel has no reaction, but after the funeral she attempts to dig up the body with her bare hands. When she stops, she notices a book lying in the snow and she takes it, even though she cannot read.

Liesel is placed with a foster family, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, who live on Himmel Street in Molching. Frightened and sad, Liesel refuses to come out of the car, but Hans, gentler than his wife, coaxes her inside. No one knows she has the stolen book, The Grave Digger's Handbook, in her suitcase.