“This time she did not reach out, she stopped. Somewhere inside of her were the souls of words. They climbed out and stood beside her.”

The person mentioned is Liesel as she spots Max in a Jewish caravan passing through Molching heading to Camp Dachau. This is her second attempt of reaching through to Max through the crowd. “she stopped” could mean either she stopped herself from reaching out to him or perhaps she is so torn she literally stopped in her tracks to think. The quote is essentially about Liesel reflecting on the true power of words. This quote personifies words as they “climbed out and stood beside her” and mentions “inside of her were the souls of words. (Note Liesel hasn’t seen Max since she read his “Word Shaker” book.) The Word shaker book also talks about the power of words and their ability to corrupt and force ideas upon people. She also later speaks of the fact that in a world without words, Hitler would have little to no authority and things wouldn’t have to be the way they are. In this very moment, she channels her ability as word shaker and conveys that she read his book and understands him. There is nothing more comforting than knowing your life is a shared experience. This shared experience is a literary one as she quotes from his book, speaking them to Max as she approaches him. Writing is an artistic expression for Max, for things that could not be explained in conversation. In times of grief or distress, they are both trying to rationalize the inequitable nature of the world, by explaining it in the story.