The book takes place during World War 2, the Holocaust. Liesel lives in Molching, a suburb of Munich, Germany. The Holocaust was a crazy time, and to make it worse, Death is narrating the story. Everybody is scared of the Nazis and of Hitler, even the Germans. Nobody feels safe, they only feel scared. This is especially true for families like Liesels. Hiding a Jewish man in their house, while they have Nazis constantly around and coming over. Everyone is constantly on edge. Constantly worried about all the “what-if’s”. Liesel goes through this throughout the entire book, along with everyone else during this time.