her an example of behavior in someone with whom she can identify as he is not much older than herself.

At the same time, he does not feel brave or heroic. Instead, he is very human in suffering guilt over his family's fate. Max and Liesl share survivor guilt, something that brings them together. As Liesl sees that his guilt is something he constantly endures, she gains a sense of how she will manage her conflicted emotions as the years pass.

In The Book Thief, Liesel relates to Max because they are in similar situations. Both have left (or been left by) their families to live with the Hubermanns. Liesel is Max's link to the outside world. He looks forward to their conversations in the basement. After a soccer game in which Liesel beat Rudy's team 6-1, Max asks her to describe the weather, a description "only a child could have given" (249). 

Together, they bond through the creative process when they white out Hitler's Mein Kampfand make into an art project. Max needs these kinds of projects to occupy his time and mind. When Max gets sick, Liesel is always looking for presents to lift his spirits. Just as Max has "projects" to keep him busy, Max is, in a sense, one of Liesel's projects. 

Also, Max was in hiding because he was Jewish. Liesel was hiding with the Hubermanns because her mother was the wife of a communist. They are both allies in the struggle against the Nazis. Shortly before Max leaves, the Nazis comes through town, herding Jews out. Liesel feels helpless as she watches. "She could only hope they could read the depth of sorrow in her face, to recognize that it was true, and not fleeting" (392). When Liesel talked to Max, worked on projects, and cared for him when he was sick, she did not feel powerless. She was doing something, hidden, but in opposition and defiance of the tyranny of the Nazis. 

In the novel, Max Vandenburg is a 22-year-old Jewish man who hides in the Hubermann household. Max is a fighter, through and through, and when we first meet him in the story, he is fighting to survive in hiding. He imagines using his fist fighting skills from childhood to beat down his many oppressors in Nazi Germany. He is also fighting with his own guilt about leaving his family behind and about the danger in which he is putting the people who are hiding him. He even fights Hitler in a way, by painting and writing over the pages of Mein Kampf. Through Max's strength and struggle, Markus Zusak shows the many ways that persecuted people have their lives destroyed and how much they need to fight to keep what little is left to them. He shows that Max retains his fighting spirit even in the face of terrible danger and uncertain odds. 

Max and Liesel's relationship is a critical one in the novel. At first, Max represents a terrifying danger in her life, as Hans explains to her harshly, so she'll understand the magnitude of it, in Chapter 33. On the other hand, Max's presence brings out new sides of the family members, especially Rosa, who Liesel begins to see as caring and even tender. Later, Liesel and Max's relationship begins and develops over their love of books. She sees him with Mein Kampf, a book she has been curious about but never read. When she finally works up the courage to ask him about it, their shared enthusiasm brings them together, as do their recurring nightmares about their family tragedies. Their friendship grows as Max makes Liesel a book for her birthday and she tells him daily about the weather outside. Through these small actions, Liesel and Max help one another survive the horrors of war, using their love and friendship and their appreciation for words and creativity. They develop these traits within one another and come out more resilient for it.