Rudy was a sweet young man who was absolutely in love with a very special girl who couldn't be here today, Liesel Meminger. He truly cared for her and always tried to do the most that he could to protect her and make her happy because that's the type of kid he was. When someone was messing with Liesel and threw her book in the river, Rudy went right in to grab it. And, when a kid in his Nazi youth camp was unable to follow marching orders because of a disorder, Rudy never held back to protect his friend, even from the overpowering Nazi party. Although he acted as such an extraordinary kid, he was also a teenager himself and he loved spending his time playing soccer or winning races. He even became a thief for a minute just because he enjoyed the thrill of it! He was such a youthful young man but was tragically changed when his father got drafted into the war. He never loses Liesel but realizes what awful things the "mighty Hitler" was doing to innocent people. Rudy and Liesel share a tragic moment together when they find a crashed plane with a dead enemy fighter pilot in it. Rudy kneels down and places his stuffed bear next to the dead man.

"The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both." 

Death, our narrator, is sad because he is seeing Rudy at times where he is so sweet and times where he is nothing more than an imbecile. He has sympathy for Rudy but yet doesn't understand how he can change so quickly. Death believes that the human heart is the shape of a heart because it has a start and an end, unlike his own that he compares to a circle, which is a never-ending cycle. He silently warned that someone has a story that would end soon, sadly our young boy Rudy. 

Max Vandenburg, a runaway jew who hid in Liesel's basement, changes Liesel's life because she realizes what she's grateful for. But, she then realizes that it's nothing to be grateful for because you don't choose who you are born as.

"You could argue that Liesel Meminger had it easy. She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenburg. Certainly, her brother had practically died in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a jew." 

Death reveals that Liesel's life was about to change big time. He shares that Liesel has an easy life especially compared to Jewish people and that hints that it's about to change. Liesel has lost a lot, but Germany has lost so much more. She realizes this eventually but doesn't exactly understand.

Death then shared what was really happening across Germany. Death chambers. Gas chambers. Concentration camps everywhere. 

"They were French, they were Jews, and they were you."

Think about that. The people being killed innocently were average people. There isn't anyone better than them. There isn't anyone worse than them. The readers themselves could have been those people is the message Death sends. 

It is so unfair our Rudy had to go, but he is in a better place, hopefully winning all the races possible smiling, running, and jumping up in the sky.