it's not really about thievery actually. It takes place during WWII in Germany. It's about this girl, Leisel, who is being sent to live with foster parents because her mother can't afford to keep her anymore. It's sort of like her life as she grows up on Himmel Street, as her relationships grow with her friend Rudy, and her foster mother and father. it's also written beautifully, and the narrator of the story is Death as if death were a person. read it!!! it's so powerful!