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Why did the coatmen come to take Rudy? Where was he going to go?

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The “Long Walk to Dachau” means the walk to the Dachau concentration camp, a real place during the Holocust

The “parades” that are mentioned throughout the book mean the walks that the Jews took on their way to the concentration camp.

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People that hid the Jews during the Holocust also probably won’t forget that, the same way that Liesel can’t forget Max

Some people that survived world wars lost most or all of their close friends or family

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Did the mayor’s family adopt Liesel when the rest of her family died. Or did they just care for her?

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The Rib-Cage Planes
Liesel spent a lot of time on her book and her hands were already sore by page 3. On page 1, it talks about everything that happened before her new home. Her brother died and she stole the Grave DIggers Handbook on the way to Himmel Street. She sometimes wrote about what she was doing in the basement and on page 42, she writes that papa sat close to where Max used to and played the accordion. She sometimes thinks that Papa is an accordion because the way he looks at Liesel, and smiles and breaths, and she hears the notes. After ten nights of reading, Munich was bombed again and she was up to page 102, asleep. Papa came to wake her up and she still had the book in her hand, they took The Book Thief and went to get Frau Holtzapfel. By the next raid on October 7, she was done with the book. She began to reread it and there were a few dozen empty pages, the book was divided into ten parts with ten titles that described how each affected her life.
***THE BOOK THIEF: LAST LINE***
I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.

The End of the World (part 2)
The first bomb came in Munich came down on Tommy Muller’s house. Death talks about how he kneels at Tommy’s bed and her sister and mother are also there. The sirens began to go off and he whispers, too late now.
***A ROLL CALL OF STREETS***
Munich, Ellenburg, Johansson, Himmel. The Main Street + three more, in the poorer part of town. All of those were gone in a few minutes. At 31 Himmel Street, Frau Holtzapfel was waiting for death in the kitchen. He went to the Stieners and Fielders w and they were all asleep. He combed Barbara’s hair and kissed the little ones good night. Then there was Rudy, he went over and picked up Betina and Rudy with their souls still in the blanket. When he is carrying Rudy down the street, he makes death cry every time. He went to the Hubbemann’s and Han’s soul sat up to meet him. His was light when he picked Hans up because he was ready to go. Then he went to Rosa and he learned from the Book Thief, that Rosa like to call people Saumensch. He picked her up and then came back for a single man named Shultz at the bottom of Himmel. He took him from the collapsed house and carried him up Himmel street where he notice the LSE laughing. Death went over even though he wasn’t supposed to. He saw them pulling out the book thief and she started to call for Hans. She broke free and began to run. She didn’t recognize anything, it was all bombed. She was still at Himmel Street and then a man took her and said that it was bombed but she is ok. She told the LSE man that she has to find her mama and papa. She found the accordion and told the LSE man that it was her papa’s. She picked it up and then saw Frau Holtzapfel’s scissored body. She sees two men carrying a body and follows them. A man told the others that they found a boy in pieces in a maple tree, Liesel saw the hair and said, Rudy? She ran over and told him that he has to wake up, sobbing.  She said, “come on, Jesse Owens.” He did not wake and Liesel laid him down on the street and kissed him.
***THE NEXT DISCOVERY***
The bodies of Mama and Papa, both lying tangles in the gravel bedsheet of Himmel Street.
“That’s my mama. That’s my papa.” Liesel said.  They were not moving. Death noticed that she was not wearing shoes and probably just noticed that so he could avoid Liesel’s face. Liesel didn’t move but when she did, she went to sit down next to Mama. She asked her if she remembered when Liesel first came to her. She came watched her and Mama was so beautiful. Liesel couldn’t look at papa, not yet, not now. Death had to look at Liesel’s face and saw that Papa was the person that she loved the most. Hans Hubberman was home for Liesel Meminger. She then turned to the LSE and pleaded them to get her papa’s accordion. They brought it and she pulled the instrument out and placed it next to Papa. “Keep playing, Papa.” She hugged him and cried over his shoulder, saying that he saved her. They remembered the accordion when trying to put the city back together, but forgot about the book. It was stepped on multiple times and dumped into a garbage truck. The narrorator saved it though and told himself he was lucky he was there. But he was basically everywhere in 1943
Epilogue
***A LAST FACT***
I should tell you that the book thief died only yesterday

Liesel lived to a very old age far away from Molching and Himmel Street. She died in a suburb of Sydney and the house number was 45 like the Fielder’s shelter. She sat with her soul up, like Papa. In her final visions, she saw her three children, her grandchildren, her husband, the long list of lives that merged with hers, and among them were Mama and Papa, Werner, and Rudy. She had some other visions too that death will tell us.

Wood in the Afternoon
When Himmel Street was destroyed, Liesel had nowhere to go. She brought the accordion and was taken to the police. They tried to figure out where to put her and then brought the mayor and his wife in, saying that there was a girl that survived on Himmel. Isla took her home and she sat in her room, eating very little and talking to herself. The funeral came and everyone talked about the girl in the pretty dress and the rumor that she walked fully clothed into the Amper river and said a strange thing. There were many months of war still going on and Liesel walked back to Himmel Street, hoping to find some of her books. There was nothing left. There were 2 funerals for the Stieners and Alex was wishing he would’ve died instead. He sat with Liesel and she told him about the kiss, that day, Alex was sawn in half.

Max
When the war was over, Hitler was brought into the arms of death and Alex started to work in his shop with the help of Liesel. In October of 1945, a man walked into the shop and asked if there was someone names Liesel Meminger there. Liesel came out and they hugged and cried on the floor.

The Handover Man
Death talks about how when he picked Liesel up from Sydney, he did something he’s been waiting to do. He put Liesel down and they walked along Anzac Avenue. He pulled a dusty black book from his pocket and old Liesel said, is it really it? He said yes and Liesel began to flip through the pages. He read it a couple times and a couple of drivers passed by. They were Hitler’s and Hubermanns, and Maxes, killers, Diller’s, and Stieners. Death wanted to tell Liesel many things about beauty and brutality and how the same thing could so ugly and so glorious. All he was able to say was this…
***A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRORATOR***
I am haunted by humans.

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One Toolbox, One Bleeder, One Bear
Rudy’s anger has been growing nicely ever since his father was sent away. After the news of Hans Hubbermann’s return, his decision was to act. He brought a metal case up Himmel Street.
***RUDY”S TOOLBOX***
It was patchy red and the length of an oversized shoe box. It contained the following: rusty pocket knife x1, small flashlight x1, hammer x2 (one medium, one small), hand towel x1, screwdriver x3 (varying in size), ski mask x 1, clean socks x1, teddy bear x1.
Liesel saw him waking with the toolbox and realized he was going stealing, she went over to meet him and he didn’t even say hello. Rudy just started talking about how Liesel isn’t even stealing. The woman just lets her in, what the army is doing is actual stealing. She asked what was in his box and they looked through it. She asked what the teddy bear was for and he said that it’s for if there is a kid, he’ll give it to them to calm them down. As they were walking, Liesel realized he wasn’t stealing anything, he was trying to believe that he was. It was Galb Stasse, Rudy took off his socks and put on new ones, leaving the old ones as a present for Galb Strasse.
***THE SPOKEN TRUTH OF RUDY STIENER***
I guess I’m better at leaving things behind then stealing them. A few weeks later, Rudy decided to put the Stiener’s valuables in the toolbox for the next air raid. On March 9th, Rudy came out of the house and the sirens went off. Micheal Holtzapfel came to the Hubermann’s door and told them that his mother wouldn’t leave the kitchen table and he needed help. Liesel wanted to go in and she didn’t know how to convince her to come out. She yelled, “If you don’t come, I’ll stop coming to read to you, and that means you’ve lost your only friend.”
She didn’t move. They had to leave her and Michael didn’t want to. He followed them after having a second thought, they made it to the Fiedler’s basement and Michael was saying he should’ve stayed with his mother, Suddenly, the door opened and Frau walked in. Liesel started reading 54 pages of her book. Death had just picked up 200 murdered souls and he was on his way over for one more. Bettina Stiener was close to the Amper River bridge and saw a small fire and Rudy noticed it and ran. He ran into the trees ad Liesel tried to catch up to him. There was a smoky plane, the pilot had tried to land. They decided to look in the plane and found everything destroyed, they saw a body. He managed to say a couple words that they couldn’t understand and Rudy knew that he was alive. Liesel came closer and death said that they recognized eachother at that moment. Something told him that she knew he was there and Liesel looked him in the face. Rudy climbed onto the dying man and placed the teddy bear on his shoulder. He breathed it in and said “Thank you.” The narrorator slowly exerted his soul and carried it in his arms. He said that nobody was really as loyal to the Fuher as him.

Homecoming
At the beginning of April, Hans boarded the train to Munich. When he got home, it was his turn to knock on the door, not Michael’s. They were so excited to see him and at dinner, he told them everything that happened with the LSE. At 1 AM, Hans came to Liesel’s room to sit with her. It was a great night and the soft parts would last for three months, but Liesel’s story lasts for six.

The End of the World (Part 1)
The narrarator informs us that it was raining when it was the end for Liesel Meminger. He stood outside of Frau Diller’s and saw the tin-can planes in the sky with bombs spilling out. No one every wanted to bomb Himmel Street, why would they bomb a place named after heaven? Himmel street houses were smashed and Rudy, Mama, Papa, Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller, and Tommy Muler were all sleeping, dying. Only one person survived and it was Liesel. She was sitting in the basement and reading when the LSE heard a girl hammering a paint can with a pencil. They dug through the rubble and found her alive. She was still holding the book when she started screaming, “Papa!” She walked over to her family and their bodies were all laid out.

The Ninety-Eighth Day
For the first ninety-seven days after Han’s return, he was happy. Until the ninety-eighth day. There was an old lady that was complaining about the wretched Jews going through the street. Again, Max wasn’t one of them but he soon would be. He would look for a book-thieving girl. Liesel searched from his when they came through twice in ten days. Soon, the old lady was right, for when Himmel Street woke in late July, a returned soldier was discovered dead, hanging from one of the rafters in a laundry near Frau Diller’s.

***JULY 24, 6:03 AM***
The laundry was warm, the rafters were firm, and Michael Holtzapfel jumped from the chair as if it were a cliff (hung himself)
Michael knew what he was doing, he killed himself for wanting to live. Death had not known of the old man’s voice when he found the hanging body or Frau Holtzapfel laid out on the ground with a screaming face of despair until he read something called The Book Thief. It explained to him that Michael was not worn down by his damaged hand, but by the guilt of living. Michael’s last goodbye was asking his mom if she forgives him. He thought that there must be a place in heaven for people that have been where he has. He told her that she might not think he loves her, but he does. Frau Holtzapfel ran down the street trying to look for him. She found his body and hugged him for at least an hour. Hans sat with her and no matter how many times he thinks of it, it is still snowing in the kitchen of 33 Himmel Street.

The War Maker
***July 27. 1943***
Michael Holtzapfel was buried and the book thief read ti the bereaved. The Allies bombed Hamburg-and on that subject, it’s lucky I’m somewhat miraculous. Mo one else could carry close to forty-five thousand people in such a short amount of time. Not in a million human years.
Fuher still had iron will and many people were made to work and walk in the concentration camps. Max was one of them.

Way of the Words
Jews were being marched throught the outskirts of Munich and Liesel did the unthinkable by walking with them. She was with Rudy and he tried to tell her not to but she needed to find Max. The soldiers found her and threw her to the ground, whipping her once. There were so many and it took her some time to find the Jew who wrote The Standover Man and The Word Shaker. There was somebody looking at Liesel and everyone was wondering what he was looking at. Liesel then stepped into the street and said that he was looking for me. She yelled “I’m here Max!” He listened. He couldn’t believe how much Liesel had grown. Then the soldier found the girl and told her she wasn’t supposed to be there. She ignored him and so the soldier took her and threw her into the wall. Liesel just went back and asked if it was really him. He said, “Yes, Liesel, it’s me.” The soldiers came back and took Max, he got whipped multiple times. While he was, Liesel talked about all the things that they did together. He fell to the ground and then she was whipped, and thrown into the wall. She fell to the ground and Rudy tried to help her get out. They watched the helpless Jews walk off.

Confessions
Liesel did not go home and they walked to the train station, waiting for Papa for hours. Rudy fetched Rosa and when she came to pick Liesel up, she didn’t ask about anything. When Papa found out, he just dropped his bag. The book thief stayed in bed for the next three days and every day, Rudy knocked on the door, asking if the was still sick even though she wasn’t. One day, she asked Rudy if they could go into the trees. They walked on the path toward Dachau and then Liesel thanked Rudy for everything. She asked if she could tell him a secret and made him promise not to tell ANYONE. She explained everything about the Jew and then showed Rudy one of the pages of the Word Shaker. It said, “Hair the color of lemons.” He asked if Liesel told Max about him and she thought about how he was his best friend, death knew that he was a month from coming to him. “Of course I told him about you.” Liesel said.

Isla Hermann’s Little Black Book
In mid-August, Liesel made her way to 8 Grande Strasse thinking it would cheer her up. When she walked past Frau Diller’s, she remembered a quote from page 211 of The Last Human Stranger. It talked about how the sun stirs the earth around and around like stew. She thought that the world was an ugly stew and it didn’t deserve a river such as Amper River. She walked into Isla’s house and sat there. She didn’t care anymore, she had watched so many tragedies happen. The world doesn’t deserve the people that she lost. She ripped a page from the book and tore it in half. Without words, the Fuher would be nothing. Liesel opened one of the desk drawers and sat down to write a letter. It was telling Isla that she shouldn’t have stolen and she’ll stop. She has been a friend to Liesel even though Liesel hurt her, she’ll leave her alone now. She left the letter on her desk and gave the librarie a goodbye. She couldn’t help looking at torn-up paper around a book called The Rules of Tommy Hoffmann.  Three days later, Isla came to her door and pulled out a small black book. There was lined paper and said that she should start writing a story if she’s not going to read anymore books. Liesel started writing…
***THE BOOK THIEF***
A small story by Liesel Meminger.

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The Next Temptation
Rudy and Liesel smelt cookies and knew that the mayor’s wife must’ve made them. They smelt delicious and they couldn’t resist the temptation to go over and get some. They snuck into the window and got the cookies. Liesel saw paper and wrote “thank you” on it. Just as they were about to leave, she saw a book called the Last Human Stranger. Then Isla came out and raised her arm, saying Heil Hitler. When she started to move again, Liesel asked “this is your room, isn’t it?” Isla said that she used to read with her son but then he died. She told Liesel that she probably gets the most use out of it now. Liesel asked if The Last Human Stranger was good. Isla said that it was not bad. They left and ate the cookies on the way home, Liesel brought the book. There was one problem though, they didn’t know what to do with the plate when they had eaten all the cookies and shared some with Tommy Muiller.

The Cardplayer
Around the time that Liesel and Rudy were cookies, the LSE were playing cards not far from Essen. A man named Reinhold Zucker wasn’t very happy and he thought Hans was cheating after winning 3 consecutive hands.
***SOME FACTS ABOUT REINHOLD ZUCKER***
He was twenty-four. When he won a round of cards, he gloated-he would hold the thin cylinders of tobacco to his nose and breathe them in, “The smell of victory,” he would say. Oh, and one more thing. He would die with his mouth open.

Unlike Reinhold, Hans didn’t gloat when he won and was very generous.

The Snows of Stalingrad
In the middle of January 1943, Himmel street turned dark and miserable. Liesel went to Frau Holtzapfel’s door and knocked. A man answered and he said “perhaps you should come back later.”
She looked over the man and was about to yell for her but the man blocked her. He told her to come back later and he can come get her. Later, he came to Liesel’s house and told her that she was ready for her. Before, a bandage had fell from his hand and she couldn’t help asking what happened. He answered, Stalingrad. She didn’t know what that was and he told her that he was shot in the ribs and I had three fingers blown off. They shook hands and exchanged names, Michael Holtzapfel and Liesel Meminger. She was about to go and read and then Rosa came up behind her. “Michael?” She said.
They hadn’t seen eachother in a long time. He came inside and they talked, he said his brother had died and and then Michael asked if she could take the girl to read. They were halfway down the path and then Michael turned and told Rosa that he heard her son was in Russia. He thought that she probably knew that already and then Rosa said no. She said he left one day and never came back, they tried to find him but there was so much happening. Michael didn’t want to hear another sob story so he went back to the gate and then Liesel looked at Rosa and Rosa just told her to go. When they got to Hotzapfel’s house, Liesel was glad to just start reading. The narrorator then talks about how he sees the fate of Frau Hotzapfel’s second son, Robert.
***A SMALL WAR STORY***
His legs were blown off at the shins and he died with his brother watching in a cold, stench-filled hospital.
It was January 5, 1943 in Russia and there were dead Russians and Germans everywhere. Death made his way through the fallen souls and found a soldier with a wounded stomach, Robert. He was covered in blood and his legs were chopped off. The soldier said “It’s me, it’s Pieter.” The voices sounded the same and then Robert colllapsed onto the cold and steamy ground. He expected to see the narrorator but he didn’t take him that afternoon. He walked into the hospital and a man with a bandaged hand was telling a mute soldier that he would survive. In the middle of his brother’s next sentence, he gathered up the soul of Robert.

In the kitchen, Liesel read and the narrorator is seeing the brother shiver and the woman weep.

The Ageless Brother
Liesel was a few weeks short of fourteen and her papa was still away. She did more reading sessions and she would often sit on the accordion and pray. She thought it was time and instead of stealing to cheer herself up, she gave back. She took the plate from under her bed and made her way to 8 Grande Strasse. She placed by the front door, knocked, and left. She knew if she looked back, Werner would be standing there saying “good job.”
She knew her brother would stay 6 forever. She lay on her bed and she is always visited. Her papa stops in and calls her half-woman, Max is writing the Word Shaker in the corner, and Rudy was naked by the door. Sometimes, her mother stood on a train platform and her brother played in the cemetery snow. Liesel remembered a quote from her latest book.
***The Last Human Stranger Page 38***
There were people everywhere on the city street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it were empty.

Morning came and Rosa was sitting with the accordion saying, “Make them come back alive.” “Please, lord, please, all of them.”
Liesel believed that these prayers helped Papa survive the LSE’s accident in Essen.

The Accident
Hans Hubberman and the others boarded the truck. Reinhold Zuker told him to move out of the seat so he could swap with him. Hans asked why but he moved to a vacant seat anyways. Zucker wasn’t being very nice, as always. They made their way to the camp and on the way, the tire was punctured and the driver lost control. The men tumbled and the vehicle rolled multiple times.
***THE DAMAGE, Essen***
Six men burned by cigarettes. Two broken hands. Several broken fingers. A broken leg for Hans Hubberman. A broken neck for Rienhold. Zucker, snapped almost in line with his earlobes. They all got dragged out until there was only the corpse left. The driver, Helmut Brohmann, was sitting in the seat shocked. People were trying to tell him it wasn’t his fault and thinking that their injuries might be severe enough to be relieved of duty. Reinhold Zucker was still dead in the truck and when they arrived, they pulled the corpse out of the truck. Hans tried to walk a couple of steps but then his leg fractured and he collapsed. The doctor examined him and said it was definitely broken. The doctor said he should rest and he would tell them that Hans wasn’t fit for the LSE and he should be send back to Munich to work office or something. Hans liked that idea.

The Bitter Taste of Questions
A week after Liesel’s birthday in mid-Febuary, Rosa and her received a letter from Hans Hubberman. They heard about the broken leg and were so happy that he was coming home! They embraced and a broken leg was definitely now something to celebrate. Barbara Steiner was ecstatic when Liesel showed them the letter. He saw Rudy at least try to smile and he knew he was thinking why it was Hans and not his father, Alex.

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The Hidden Sketchbook
A few days before Christmas, there was another raid and it was in open country. The Hubbermans went to the Fielder shelter again and Liesel heard Papa’s voice in her head. She started to read with the support of Rudy and when they could come out, Rosa brought Liesel over to the living room and took the sheet from her mattress. There was a sewn up slit. She cut it open and pulled out Max Vandenburg’s sketchbook. She gave it to Liesel and told her that Max told her to give it to her when she was ready. She knew that her daughter was meant to have this and they embraced in a hug. The book’s cover was…
***THE WORD SHAKER***
A Small Collection of Thoughts for Liesel Meminger
She came to page 117 and on the previous page was this
***PAGE 16***
Liesel- I almost scribbled this story out. I thought you might be too old for such a tale, but maybe no one is. I thought of you and your books and words, and this strange story came into my head. I hope you can find some good in it.
On page 117, there was a story. There was once a strange, small man who wanted to part his hair different from everyone else, make himself a small mustache, and rule the world. He thought of the perfect plan, when he saw a mother yell at his child he started to cry. She then soothed him and he put a smile on his face. The man then went up to the woman and embraced her, yelling Words! And then he left. The Fuher decided that he would rule the world with words. He would never have to fire a gun because he wouldn’t have to. He watched the words grow and form a nation of formed thoughts in Germany. Everything was ready, he invited people to join him and they came. They were all placed on a conveyer belt and their whole lifetime was taught. They were hypnotized and fitted with symbols, the nazi symbols. Everyone was happy and the demand for words and symbols needed to be maintained. The forests grew and some were employed to climb the trees and throw the words down, they were called Word Shakers. There was a girl that was the best word shaker because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT WORDS. She planted a tree with a seed that  was made of a tear of friendship. She watered it everyday but there was nothing. Until one day, a sprout shot up and then the Fuher ordered it to be cut down. When he got the ax, the word shaker ran and climbed the tree the highest she could go and Naited for it to fall. The tree would not move and the ax wouldn't take a single bit out of the bark. Seasons passed and he girl wouldn't come down from the tree. A new axman came and pulled out a hammer. No one thought that he could chop lown a tree with just a hammer and nails. He climbed as he put n the four nails and got to the top. He and the word shaker talked and when they got down, the bites showed and the tree fell.

_iesel slept with the sketchbook and knew where Max was, in the tree.

The Anarchist’s Suit Collection

On Christmas Eve, Liesel made a decision about Rudy and came to give him a present. She hadn't gotten it thought and she wouldn't be buying it either. Liesel asked for the key and Rudy knew what she was talking about. They went shopping and arrived at the shop window that said Steiner-SCHNEIDERMEISTER

Rudy didn't think that his father would mind if he trespassed into his shop. It was Christmas Eve and he was in Vienna after all. They made it into the shop and a mannequin came down on ver when she tripped on a bump. She looked through a couple suits and asked Rudy to try on a navy blue one. It didn't look bad on him and then he tripped and fell on the mannequin. _iesel rushed over and an instinct was telling her to kiss him.

She asked if he was ok and he said "I miss him." Liesel then said Frohe Winhnachten, Merry Christmas.

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Did Hans want to tell the lady that he saw her son, Rudy and that he was dead?

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The Lutwaffle Sonderenhiet (air rad special unit) was an actual job during WW2 raids.

Non-Jews often watched the parades outside

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Dominós and Darkness
The two coat men came to Rudy’s house and asked for him. His parents said no. Meanwhile, Rudy was playing dominos with his sisters. They loved watch the dominos fall and thought they looked like dead bodies. Rudy heard parts of his parent’s discussion and asked what happened when they shut the door and came into the kitchen. They didn’t reply and Rudy thought in his head about what if he would’ve offered to go with the coat men. He could’ve had a life. But his father could’ve had same punishment and grief that Hans Hubberman had.

The Thought of Rudy Naked
One day, Rudy and 2 other kids were called when they were in school. They went to the doctor’s office and the nurse demanded that they take all of their clothes off. They were all completely naked and then the doctor examined them. He told them to breath in and out and lay out their arms. After they were done, they heard the doctor telling the nurse that the boys were a bit older than usual but they would take at least two of them. The first and the third. The boys talked it out and thought that Olaf Spiegel and Schwarz, the two other boys must’ve been the two. And Rudy wasn’t them. All Liesel can think about is Max, but among all of it, Rudy.

Punishment
One day, Hans looks in his mailbox and found a letter. He knew it must’ve been the bad news that he’s been waiting for. But it wasn’t it was good news. The letter said that he was approved by the Nazi party. Hans was very confused because he was rewarded for something he did wrong. He brought it inside and showed Rosa. She was confused because everyone thought that the party didn’t want Hans. Liesel came in the kitchen and saw the soup burning so she rescued it. Hans is still reading the letter multiple times and Liesel asked what it was. She found out that it meant that Hans was to go and fight in the German army and is sad because he’ll have to leave. Hans really doesn’t want his deportation to be in Russia. The army is losing in Russia, it’s being bombed. Meanwhile, Liesel is still missing Max and he keeps telling him the weather in her head.

The Promise Keeper’s Wife
The day before Han’s training, Hans and Rudy’s dad went to the bar. Hans hadn’t had alcohol for a decade besides the glass of champagne the previous summer, but he couldn’t resist because the drinks were free. Rosa went downstairs and found Hans drunk and lying on Max’s mattress, thinking he didn’t deserve it. Rosa takes a bucket full of water and pours it on him to see if he’s alive. Liesel tried to tell her not to but then Mama got mad because she gave her the orders. Liesel in Hans sit in the kitchen at 1 PM and Liesel is begging him not to leave. She doesn’t want to lose him like she lost Max. Hans just tells her that she is half-woman now and asked her to take care of Mama, she agrees. After, Hans goes to the station accompanied by the whole Steiner and Hubberman families. Everyone said their goodbyes and “I’ll miss you”s. It’s 3 PM at the train station and Hans asks Liesel if she could look after his accordion and keep reading in the shelter if there are any raids. She says yes and asks Papa if he could play something on the accordion when he comes back. He promised. The train left and Himmel Street, Rudy, Mama, and Liesel weren’t the same without him. After awhile, Rudy had had enough. He knocked on Liesel’s door and told her to come with him. They started walking and Rudy told Liesel that he wanted to go and find the Fuher to kill him. Liesel didn’t like the idea and said she was going home. Rudy got mad and told her that she wouldn’t leave if there was a book in front of her, and called her the book thief. She turned back and got mad at Rudy because at first, he wanted to go and look for his father with Liesel but he’s not the only one that lost a father. She lost multiple people and never even had a real one. One night, Liesel heard footsteps and got out of bed, going to Rosa’s bedroom. She saw Rosa standing still and quite with the accordion tied to her chest. She went back to bed and when she woke up and crept to the hallway again, Rosa was still in the same position with the accordion. She came closer and Rosa was just snoring. She couldn’t get the image of Mama with the accordion out of her head.

The Collector
Neither Hans Hubbermann or Alex Steiner was sent to fight. Alex was sent to Austria to mend uniforms because that was his expertise before being sent away and Hans was sent to Stuttgart and then to Essen. He was given the most undesirable job, the Air Raid Special Unit (dead bodies collector is how Hans would put it) The real name was LSE which stood for Luftwaffle Sondereinheit and they called it dead bodies collector because they were to remain above ground during air raids and put out fires, prop up the walls of buildings, rescue anyone who had been trapped, and pick up they bodies with others after the raid. Later, he sent a letter to Rosa and Liesel saying “To my dear Rosa and Liesel, Everything is fine here. I hope you are both doing well. With love, Papa.

In late November, it was his first actual raid. Hans was sent to put out the fires. There was so much noise, with people crying and yelling. Then a building collapsed, Hans gets blamed for it. When they get back, everyone is dirty and covered in dust. They put out the fires for a couple of hours and tried to fix the buildings. There were multiple people hurt and yelling help, trying to find their loved ones. Hans found a old man covered in blood and dust and helped him to safety. He pointed at the blood on his shirt and the guy said, “Get used to it Hubbermann.”
The continued his shift and tried to ignore all of the yelling. Then he noticed a boy laying on the ground. He looked dead, and he was. He speculated that the boy was 11 or 12 years old. After a moment, he noticed a lady calling out the name Rudolph, or Rudy. She asked them if they’ve seen her son and The sergeant asked how old he was. She answered 12. Hans thought in his head, “Oh, Christ,”
They decided not to tell her that they saw him and she continued to yell out. Hans kept wondering if the Rudy he knew was ok back home, if everyone was.

The Bread Eaters
The year of 1942 was coming to an end and it was an eventful one for Liesel. She spent the last few months just thinking about three desperate men, and what they were doing. One time, she took out the accordion and polished it with a rag. Before she put it back in the case, she did something that even Mama couldn’t. She placed her finger slightly on a key and played it. It made the room feel emptier. Between October and December, there had been another parade of Jews. Liesel went to Munich street just to see if Max was there. In mid-December, Rudy came to Liesel with a bag of six stale pieces of bread broken into quarters and asked Liesel if she gamed. They biked toward the parade in Dachau and Rudy insisted on her taking a handful of the bread. She didn’t think it was a very good idea but reached her hand in anyways. They scattered the pieces throughout the road of the Jews and went to hide in a christmas tree. The soldiers then came and more and more Jews saw the bread and picked it up to eat it. They gulped at the same time and then one of the soldiers found the bread. He saw the two kids and they chased after them

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Frau Holtzapfel’s Offer
The bombing damage was being inspected. Nobody died but two apartment blocks were now rubble. Hitler Youth field had a big spoon out of it.

Frau Holtzapfel came to Liesel’s front door and asked if her mother was home. They didn’t like her whatsoever because she always spits on their door. She is also really rude to Mama. She wants Liesel to come and read The Whistler to her on Mondays and Fridays at 4 o’clock since she can’t do it in the shelter anymore. She will stop spitting on their door and she’ll give them her coffee ration and some flour. She also wanted Liesel to come and read at her house at that moment. So she went to her house and started on chapter 2. Holtzapfel was very rude to her and their first session took 45 minutes. Liesel left and said Hiel Hitler on the way out. She said until tomorrow since the next day was Friday and then realized that 4 more reading sessions until the Jews are marched throught Molching. This meant that there was 2 weeks to change the world and 14 days to ruin it.

The Long Walk to Dachau
Death talks about how the soldiers and the Jews take “The Long Walk to Dachau.” One night a sick man dies, he is a Jew. The soldiers decide they they should get some fresh air and then the narrorator’s flashback stops. Death takes away the soul.

One day, Liesel was playing soccer and then there was a noise. Everyone turned around and heard shuffling feet and voices. And old lady by Frau Diller’s said that she saw the Jews through her windo. They marched through the town to the concentration camps. There was a struggling man and every time he tries to walk, he falls down. Hans can’t watch him like this anymore and offers the man a piece of bread. He takes it and stands back up. When he is about to eat the piece of bread, a soldier comes and whips the Jew 6 times. He then takes out the belt and whips Hans 4 times. Liesel watches her Papa get hurt and has a look of horror on her face. Hans is called a “Jew lover” and people spit at his feet, tease him, and call him more names. He tells Liesel “What was I thinking?” “Oh my god, Liesel, what have I done?”
He knows that the soldiers are gonna come for him now and he’ll find Max. In her head, Liesel agrees, what had Papa done?

Peace
They agree to meet up at the Amper River in 4 days and when Hans comes he doesn’t see Max. He does find a note saying, “You’ve done enough.”
Hans blames himself.

The Idiot and the Coat Men
On the night of the parade, he sat in the kitchen, thinking he was an idiot. Hans waited for the gestapo, the police, for anyone, to come and take him away. Nothing came, Liesel wanted to comfort him, but she knew that Max was gone, and it was his fault. He still waited, and Liesel told Hans that it wasn’t his fault, but he didn’t listen. She often caught him at the Amper River, on the bridge. When the soldiers come, Hans waits outside and calls them over, telling them he’s right here and they should take him. They look at a paper and then shake their heads. The coat men say “Unfortunately, you’re a little old for our purposes.”
They then go to the Steiner’s house and they ask for Rudy.

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Champagne and Accordions
It was the summer of 1942 and the hard times were here. Molching was preparing for the inevitable and some people were refusing to believe that the small town could be a target. This situation was promoting Han’s business because people were desperate to pay him to paint their windows and blinds black. It would cost extra because he didn’t have much black paint. One day, Liesel decided to come with Papa to work and they carried the paint through town, with people coming up to them and asking him to paint their blinds. He did what they said but it came with a price. Every day when Liesel came with Hans to work, he would tell her stories about the war he was in, how he met Mama, and who would play the accordion, and how they would eat bread with jam. Liesel became very interested in the mixing of paint to make the color black. Hans started to add coal to other colors to make the color and they would mix it up. Liesel didn’t realize that there would still be lumps in the paint when she rolled it out with an empty champagne bottle. After rolling, she would add water whitening and glue. Liesel knew that this summer was a new beginning, a new end, and it was a pretty good one. One day, a wealthy family came to the Hubberman’s house and asked Papa if he could paint their blinds black in exchange for 2 bottles of champagne. Hans excepted the offer and Liesel tried the champagne. She hated it because it fizzed. In the basement, Liesel wrote about her life and wrote that she would never drink that stuff again. Many times, she wanted to ask Papa if he could teach her how to play the accordion, but something always stopped her. It was the best time of Liesel’s life but it was also bombing carpet. The hard times were coming like a parade.

The Triology
While Liesel worked, Rudy ran. In the middle of August, a Hitler Youth carnival was being held. Rudy was set on winning four events, the 1500, 400, 200, and 100. He liked his new leaders and wanted to please them. He wanted to show Franz Deutscher a thing or two.

He trained for 6 weeks, he often raced the neighbor kids and when the race finally came, he saw Franz. He knew he needed to win, not just for Franz, but for Jesse Owens. He won the first race by a long run. Liesel also ran but didn’t do as good as she would’ve hoped. She got seventh in the 400 and fourth in the 200. She knew that this was Rudy’s day and he won the 400 but only won the 200 narrowly. “You getting tired?” Liesel asked.
“Of course not.” He replied.
He was breathing heavily and was actually really tired. On his last race, the 100, he false-started twice. 1 more time and he would be out, which happened. After the race, Liesel sat with her friend and when they were about to go their separate ways Rudy whispered that he did it on purpose. She asked why and Rudy just stood there. Then he left and never talked about it again. Rudy left his medals at Liesel’s house and when she came to return them, he said that he didn’t forget them and shut the door. She brought the medals back home and told Max all about it. She read the Dream Carrier while Max was busy sketching. When she was nearing the end of her book, she woke up the next day and went to the mayor’s library without Rudy. She took a book called A Song In the Dark. She then left and felt the absence of Rudy, but also felt happier alone. She immediately started reading and read 4 chapters. One day, Rudy came over and asked if he could see her for a moment. They biked to the mayor’s house and looked through the closed window. There was a book leaning against it and they thought it must’ve been a trap. Liesel did anything a book thief would do and reached her hand in and grabbed the book. It was called The Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus. They rode their bikes away and Liesel had the feeling that they were being watched. She rode 2 laps and then looked at the window. Inside, the mayor’s wife was waving at her. On the way home, Rudy opened the book and found a letter from the mayor’s wife.

***THE LETTER***
Dear Liesel, I know you find me pathetic and loathsome (look that word up if you don’t know it) but I must tell you that I am not so stupid is to not see your footprints in the library. When I noticed the first book missing, I thought I had simply misplaced it, but then I saw the outlines of some feet on the floor and certain patches of the light. it made me smile. I was glad that you took what was rightfully yours. I made the mistake of thinking that you would be the end of it when you came back I would’ve been angry, but I wasn’t. I could hear you the last time, but I decided to leave you alone. You only ever took one book and it will take 1000 visits until all of them are gone. My only hope is that one day you will knock on my front door and enter the library in a more civilized manner. Again, I am sorry we can no longer keep your foster mother employed. Lastly, I hope you find this dictionary and thesaurus useful as you read your stolen books.
Yours sincerely
Ilsa Herman.

Liesel wanted to go and knock on the door, but she decided not to and headed home with Rudy.

The Sound of Sirens
Papa was getting more money so he was able to bring home a secondhand radio. It notified them if a raid started and in which regions. It would make a cuckoo sound and they would be the first to know. They tried to get it set up for Max but all there was is static. One night, they didn’t hear the cuckoo sound. They knew that the bombs were coming, the sirens started and Hans went to wake Liesel. Rosa and Max were already awake and they knew that they had to leave. Max wasn’t able to come with them so he stayed. They went to the Fiedler’s home and 22 people were crammed into their basement. All they had left to do was wait, wait for the bombs. All Liesel could think about was Max and it worried her. Sirens went off that signaled everything was safe for now. Everybody got up from the basement and thanked God that they were all still alive and were going to live. When they got home, the Hubberman’s went straight to the basement to search for Max. They couldn’t find him but then they heard his voice and found him camouflaged right in front of them. He said, “I couldn’t help it.”
They asked him what he did and he said that when they left, he went upstairs and peeked out of a crack in the window. He said he hadn’t seen the outdoors for 22 months and just wanted a glimps. He saw starts and they blinded him.

The Sky Stealer
They found out that the first raid wasn't actually a raid. The watch tower person got overexcited and sworn that he heard the noise of the planes.

On September 19, the second raid, was real. The cuckoo sound was heard from the radio. The voice said that Molching was a possible target and they rushed to the shelter. Hans left his accordion and Rosa said that he should bring it because it’s real this time. He said no because last time he didn’t bring it and everyone was okay. They got to the shelter and heard the bombs. Rosa was almost suffocating Liesel’s hand and children were wailing. It was so loud so Liesel decided to pull out a book and read it aloud to calm herself. It was The Whistler, and by page 2 Rudy started listening. Rudy brought his siblings and by page 3, the whole basement was silent. They listened to her voice and it calmed them. She read for 20 minutes and then the sirens went off. A man said that they are safe and it’s all over but then Frau Holtzapfel said that they only have 2 more paragraphs until the end of the chapter and they stayed. After Chapter 1, they went back to Himmel Street and everything looked okay and untouched. There was one cloud of smoke which made them think that a bomb maybe didn’t go off. They went inside and found Max, and then Rosa told him all about Liesel’s distraction

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What does it mean at the end when death said, “They were French, they were Jews, and they were you.”?

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The Nazis often had to inspect people’s houses during WW2

Death talks about how the sky was the color of Jews and they kept feeding him. I think this means that the death of the Jews wouldn’t stop and that’s what happened during Hitler’s rule

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Death’s Diary: Cologne
It’s May 30 and Death talks about how he has to carry away lots of souls after the bombing. 500 were innocent and 50,000 were homeless around the sleep pile of rubble. By the time he was finished, the sky was yellow and he saw headlines across. He had to carry away a teenager, he held her in his arms. He only carry’s children and the others have to swim on his back.

The Visitor
The NSDAP comes around to inspect people’s basements and see if they would be good enough to be used as an Air Raid shelter. They were getting close to Liesel’s house where they were hiding Max, a Jew. This is not good. Liesel is playing soccer in the street and somebody ran into her, making her knee bleed and hurt. Rudy offered for him to take her home but she said no because she didn’t want him to see Max. Hans then came and helped her to the house. He told her that Nazis were coming to inspect the basement and that they can’t find Max. The Nazis then knocked on the door and Hans rushed down the stairs to give a warning. Rosa opened the door and the Nazis came in. Liesel thinks that they might be able to smell if they are hiding a Jew and then one Nazi says, “Aha, the maniacal soccer player!”
He cleaned up Liesel’s scraped up knee and was pretty nice. They went down to the basement with Han’s permission and he didn’t go down with them. They started to measure the area and Rosa was getting pretty stressed out because they were taking longer than they said they would. Hans told Liesel to go read and told Rosa to start cooking so they wouldn’t get suspicious. The Nazis came back upstairs a few minutes later and told them that their basement wasn’t fit to be a shelter. They were pretty happy because it wouldn’t be good if people were in their basement. When they left, Rosa, Hans, and Liesel went downstairs and removed the sheets and paint cans that they covered Max with. Max is holding scissors and says, “I wouldn’t have used them, I swear!”
Papa says, “Your alive, we all are.”

The Schmunzeler
A moment later, there was another knock. Oh no! Were they back already? Mama went to the door and Max went back into hiding. It was just Rudy. He had come to make sure that Liesel was okay from the wound. Max asked Rosa who it was and Hans answered, “It’s her boyfriend.”
Liesel said, “He’s not!” She wasn’t embarrassed by Han’s comment and talked to Rudy. He asked if she was ok and she said that everything was good.
Death’s Diary: The Parsians
Summer came and for the book thief, it was going nicely. For death, the sky was the color of Jews. They just kept crawling in and feeding him. Sometimes he imagined what it looked like above the clouds in the sky. They were French, they were Jews, and they were you.

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Do the random gifts that Liesel gave Max represent something? Like the feather, ribbon, button, ect.

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When the narrator says that they were coming and so were the bombs, it means that bombs were coming and so was death. A lot of innocent Jews died when the Germans bombed the city’s.

The Jews in hiding often had nothing to do so the rescuers would bring them presents or things to do

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Death’s Diary
Death talks about how he had to take the lives of so many humans. Desperate Jews, Russian soldiers, and the soaked bodies of the French coast. He needed a vacation.

The Snowman
It was Christmas Eve and Liesel brought snow from outside downstairs so the whole family, including Max, could have a snowball fight. With the leftover snow, they made a snowman but it melted. All of this fun took their mind off of all the stress. This was until Max’s health took a turn. He was getting really cold and his exercise wasn’t warming him up. He knew this wasn’t good but when Rosa and Hans asked, he said he was fine. The fire wasn’t warming him up either and he could last until January. But in mid February while he was by the fire, he collapsed and almost fell into it, hitting the accordion case with his head. Papa came downstairs and noticed him, he took him to Liesel’s bedroom and they start to throw several blankets on him. That night, he gets visited 7 times. Twice by each Hans and Rosa and 3 times by Liesel. Liesel brought Max his sketchbook but felt guilty from the last time she looked at it, so she left it closed. She talked to Hans and started to blame herself, thinking that the snowman that she made was the cause of all this.

13 Presents
For the first few days that Max was in Liesel’s room, she sat with him and talked. She turned 13 years of age and told him that there was a huge cake waiting for him in the kitchen if he woke up. There was no cake and he did not wake up. On the fifth day, he woke up but only opened his eyes for a few seconds. He woke up a second time about a week after and Liesel begged him to say awake but he had to fall back asleep. Mama told Liesel to go outside and play soccer and she found a broken soccer ball. She brought it inside and decided that it would be one of her gifts for Max.
***Presents 2-5***
One ribbon, one pinecone, one button, and one stone
She put the presents by his bed and explained what they were and what they meant while he was asleep.
***Presents 6-9***
One feather, two newspapers, a candy wrapper, and a cloud
Liesel found the feather in a door frame, the newspapers in a garbage can, and saw a cloud one day so she memorized it and wrote it down.
***Presents 10-13***
One toy soldier, one miraculous leaf, a finished Whistler book, and a slab of grief
She found the soldier buried in the dirt, the maple Leif in the school’s broom closet, and she finished The Whistler and gave it to Max.

Fresh Air, An Old Nightmare, and What To Do With A Jewish Corpse
Liesel is getting bored and wants another book because she finished the Whistler and in its place, read The Standover Man several times by Max. Her and Rudy decide to go back to the mayor’s house and steal again. Rudy wanted to steal but Liesel jumped in the window and did it herself. She found a book called The Dream Carrier and thought of Max. She took it and they got out without almost getting caught this time. One day, Mama and Papa are talking. They are getting stressed out because if Max doesn’t wake up, what if he dies? They don’t know where they will put the body and they can’t just tell the police that they found a dead corpse in their basement. At the time, a Jewish corpse would get them taken away. Liesel had a horrific dream and it was he on a train with Werner. When she looked up and saw Werner’s face, it was Max’s. Every day Liesel visited Max and tried to wake him up, it never worked. Eight days later, she was at school and Rosa knocks on the door. She asks the teacher to see Liesel and the teacher looks frightened, saying yes. She yells at Liesel and asks where she put Rosa’s hair brush. She is very confused becauase she didn’t take it but Rosa doesn’t believe her. Rosa is getting really mad and leans over to tell Liesel Max was awake. She handed her the toy soldier present and said that Max wanted her to give it to Liesel because it was his favorite one. She went back into the classroom and said “stupid cow” under her breath. The teacher heard her and told Liesel that she shouldn’t say things like that about her mother. For the rest of the day, Liesel couldn’t stop thinking about Max. She got home and started to talk to Max about all of the gifts. He tells her that he is frightened to fall asleep again and so Liesel reads to him and if he starts to fall asleep, she just nudges him or shakes him so he wakes up. Max started to get A LOT better and so they are very happy. Death then says that the bombs were coming, and so was I.

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How long did Rudy stay at his new Flieger Division group?

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The Hitler Youth group members often had to do challenging things from the command of their leaders

They were faced with the task of praising Hitler.

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This section focuses mostly on Rudy. In the first half of 1941, while Liesel is concealing Max, Rudy is attending the Hitler Youth. Tommy Muller was mostly by his side the whole time but Rudy’s three problems were
1. Tommy Muller’s ears
2. Fran’s Deutscher-the rude Hitler Youth leader
3. Rudy’s inability to stay out of things
Tommy’s ears had been infected for a couple of years after getting frozen. They kept getting worse and whenever the leader’s goal was to have all of the youth stop at the same time, he would say Halt. The problem was, Tommy’s ear’s got to the point where he couldn’t hear so everyone would stop except for him. Franz catches him marching differently and says, “What’s wrong with you?”
Tommy just twitches and then says Heil but can not get to the Hitler part. Rudy then stepped forward and told Franz that he had a problem. He tried to say it was his ears but the leader just made them run six laps on the grounds. Then they had to do some drills. When they were done, Tommy just closed his eyes and twitched. They returned to Himmel street and told Liesel about the whole episode. She sat down and Tommy says that it’s his fault but Rudy doesn’t wanna hear it. Two years later, Liesel and Rudy are both hungry and they decide to steal something again.
***THE NEW ARTHUR BERG***
He had windy hair and cloudy eyes, and he was the kind of delinquent who had no other reason to steal except that he enjoyed it. His name was Viktor Chemmel.

They go to him and convince the new group to join their next stealing. They both think that he is a bastard. They reached the first apple tree farm and the trees are dead with a small amount of apples hanging miserably from the branches. The other farms were all the same and at the end of the day, Liesel and Rudy are given one apple to share. Rudy gets mad that they only got one apple and mouths off to Viktor. He pins Rudy to the ground and then lets him go after a moment. Before they told them both to leave, Rudy spin saliva and blood at Viktor’s face.
***A SMALL THREAT FROM VIKTOR CHEMMEL TO RUDY STEINER***
“You’ll pay for that at a later date, my friend.”

It’s the summer of 1941 and Max is still turning the Mein Kampf book into new ones. One afternoon, after his push ups and sit ups, Max fell asleep. Liesel comes down and finds the book against him. She picked it up and took a glance at some of the pages. The first illustration was a group of people looking up and saluting Hitler with musical notes. The speech bubble says, “Not the Fuher, the conductor!”
The second illustration is a girl and a man standing on a mountain of dead bodies. The speech bubble says, “Isn’t is a lovely day…” there is also a Nazi symbol in the sun. She is frightened so she puts down the book and leaves. One day, Rudy comes back from Hitler Youth with fertilizer all over him. He said that Fran’s didn’t know that the fields were freshly fertilized but said he grinned so probably knew. They want to get revenge and decide to steal again. Rudy comes up with the idea of the mayor’s house and Liesel says yes. She is planning on stealing “food” and they go try and sneak into the window. Rudy stands guard while Liesel is actually trying to find the Whistler book. Rudy doesn’t know this and the mayor’s wife starts coming down the stairs. She hops out of the window just in time so they wodn’t get caught. They run all the wya back to Himmel Street and Rudy ask why she has a book. He discovers that the heist wasn’t about food, but about a book. Liesel can’t find her shoes and discovers that Rudy accidentally left them at the mayor’s house. He takes responsibility and runs back to retrieve them.
***RUDY’S 3 ACTS OF STUPIDITY***
1. Rudy steals the biggest potato from Mamer’s, the local grocer. He gets caught and almost sent to the police but then him and another man, Herr Link, convinced the grocer that his family was very poor and they don’t have any food. The grocer told him to put back the potato and pushed him out the door, telling him never to come again.
2. Rudy and Tommy were given more drills at the Hitler Youth. They are not quite finished and Franz asks Rudy when Hitler’s birthday is. He knew that it was April 20, 1889 but answers with the birth of Christ and Bethlehem. Franz makes Rudy run laps around the field until he gets it right. One day on Munich Street, he sees Franz with a group walking along the street. He feels the urge to throw a rock at him and he goes through with it. It hit his spine and he spun around and Liesel tells Rudy that they should run. But Rudy says that he is not at Hitler Youth now and she sticks by him with Tommy and Kristina. Franz beats him to the ground but Rudy still tries to punch him. After a moment, Rudy stays on the ground and Franz leans over him with a pocket knife. He asks when the Fuher was born and Rudy says Easter Monday. He starts plucking and cutting Rudy’s hair off, with each hair Franz says April 20, 1889.
3. Rudy starts ti skip the Hitler Youth meetings and starts to get in trouble from his parents and Franz. He doesn’t care and his parents say that they will be punished for his unattendence. Rudy grows out of the Hitler Youth group and is applicable join a new one. He joined the Flieger Division which is a group that specialized in planes, Franz was also not there which made him very happy.

One day, Rudy and LIesel are walking and they run into Victor on a bridge with his friends. He teases Liesel and Rudy and says that he’ll throw the Whistler into the river when he takes it from them. Viktor realizes that Liesel really likes the book and says that he’ll give it back for 50 marks, which they can’t afford. They refuse the offer and then he throws the book into the Amper River, Rudy chases after the floating book and when he sees it, he jumps in. He grabs the book and then asks for a kiss from Liesel and she says no.

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Do the dice numbers represent something?

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Max has to hide in a basement where Jews usually had to hide in and they couldn’t see the outside world

The family that hides them also has to act like nothing is wrong so people don’t get suspicious.

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***STARTING AT Pages from the Basement(p. 223)***
Liesel wasn’t allowed to go vistit Max for the time being because Rosa thought it was a waste of her time. While Max was hanging out in the basement, he painted all of the Mein Kampf pages white and tried to write his own book called The Standover Man. It was a thirteen page book about how his father disappeared and he was always scared of that men would be looking over  him. That he thought his father was his stand over man but he left. Many years later, he needed to hide but couldn’t sleep because he was scared of what would be there when he woke up. It was always his friend though, and when he woke up there was no man standing over him, just a girl who he had thinks in common with and shares dreams with.  This made him realize that the best stand over man is no man at all. In the early hours of the morning, Liesel woke up and saw Max creep over to her bed with a birthday gift. When she woke up, she noticed the pages on the ground and picked them up, reading her gift three times and everytime it seemed different.
***A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT RUDY STIENER***
He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.

There was a book floating down the Amper River. A boy jumped in and caught up to it. Rudy died that very same day due to hypothermia. The narrorator says that Rudy would have cried if he saw the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body. He’d be glad to notice her kissing his lips.
***A SENTENCE FROM THE NARRORATOR (DEATH)
Yes, I know it. In the darkness of my dark-beating heart. I know, he’d have loved it, all right. You see? Even death has a heart. Of course, I’m being rude. I’m spoiling the ending not only of this entire book, but of this particular piece of it. Certainly, there’s a book called The Whistler, which we don’t need to discuss, along with exactly how it came to be floating down the Amper River in the time leading up to Christmas 1941. We I should deal with all of that first, don’t you think? It’s settled, then. We will.

The Haircut: Mid-April 1941
Hans was with Max in the basement and Max asked if Rosa could cut his hair because it’s getting in his eyes. She agreed.

The Newspaper: Early May
Everyday Liesel would see if she could find something for Max to do so he wouldn’t be bored. One day she found a newspaper with a cross word that wasn’t finished. She gave it to Max and he was so excited. He finished in day and Liesel keeps looking for any newspapers, hoping she’ll find more for Max.

The Weatherman: Mid-May
Liesel came into her house and started telling Mama and Papa exitedly about the goal she scored. She then went down to tell Max. He asks if Liesel could do him a favor and asked her if she could go outside and see what the weather looks like because he has no idea what sort of day is even up there. She returned and told him that the sky was blue, there is a big long cloud that is stretched out like a rope and at the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole. Max starts to write pictures and words on the wall.

The Boxer: End of May
Max is getting really bored and needed a series of new projects. He starts to exercise while he get get in 50 push ups at a time when he was 15, he is 24 now and can barely reach ten. Max started to fantasize and and said that in the blue corner, there is the champion of the world, the Fuher. And in the  red corner, there was the rat-faced challenger, Max Vandenburg. The referee introduced them both, giving praise to the Fuher. They started the fight and Max punched the Fuher 7 times but missed the last time. The Fuher took his gloves off, faced his back towards the Jew, and gave up. The audience was shocked. The Fuher started to talk, he said “Can you see that? Can you see that the enemy has found its ways and I can not fight him alone? He will soon own you. Will you simply stand there and let him do this? Will you stand out there, powerless? Or will you climb into this ring with me? Will you climb in here so we can defeat him together?” Millions of people climbed into the ring one by one and beat him, making him bleed. When he had strength to get to his feet, a girl came into the ring and gave him a crossword. She said, “The crossword. It’s empty.”
It went dark and there was nothing but a basement and a Jew.

The New Dream: A few nights later
Liesel came down to the basement and told Max that she had been having a new dream. She says that she dreams it when she is awake, sometimes she turns out the lamp light and waits there in the dark. Max asks what she is waiting for and she says, “Not what. Whom. Who do you wait for?”
Max says that he waits for the Fuher. He trains and every night, he waits in the dark and then the Fuher comes down and they fight for hours. He wins.

The Painters: Early June
Another one of Max’s projects was the remainder of Mein Kampf. When Liesel came downstairs, she saw Rosa, Max, and Hans painting various pages. Many months later, he would also paint over the cover of the book to give it a new title. And then he would write and illustrate on the inside. Hans, Rosa, Max, and Liesel prepared the pages of a book called the Word Shaker. Liesel still continues to read the Whistler on the mayor’s floor. The mayor’s wife offered and pleaded Liesel to take the book and she took it. Liesel was about to ask for the washing, when the mayor’s wife reached into some drawers and got an envelope, saying “I’m sorry. It’s for your mama.”
Liesel stopped breathing and Isla Herman (mayor’s wife) takes her outside and says sorry. She closes the door but Liesel doesn’t leave. She opened the letter and it was Mayor Heinz Herman saying exactly why he had to terminate Rosa’s services. He said it was because he couldn’t maintain small luxuries and services when harder times were coming. Liesel got mad at them because of the fact that they fired Rosa for harder times. She got mad at Isla because she knows that she gave her the Whistler for pity and to make herself feel better about the situation.  She blows up at the mayor’s wife and calls her names and insults her son who died. Liesel’s brother then shows up next to her and she throws the book at the mayor’s wife’s feet. She read the letter one more time and then screwed it up tightly and threw it at the door and left. When she got home, Rosa asked where the washing was and Liesel said that there was no washing today. Liesel sorta lies and tells Mama that it’s her fault that she got fired because she insulted the mayor’s wife and told her to stop crying over her dead son. But Rosa doesn’t believe her because she knows that she wouldn’t say stuff like that

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German Words

Fuhrer- Leader
Schwein- Pig
Schreierei- Screaming
Kommunisten- Communist
Mein Kampf- My fight/struggle

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Max comes in the house and is standing in the kitchen holding the key. Max asks Hans if he has ever played the accordion and he replies “Of course.” It then has a flashback to WW1 when Hans was a soldier.  ***NARRATOR NOTE*** I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me.
Hans ended up in France after fighting for 6 months. He didn’t really like fighting but everyone thinks that he does. He meets a man named Erik Vandenburg who is a German Jew and he taught Hans how to play the accordion. They become really good friends and both didn’t like all the violence of fighting. The narrator says that one day the will find Erik is found in pieces on a grassy hill and his accordion is given to Hans. When all of the soldiers are in their bunks, the sergeant comes in and asks people to volunteer if they have good handwriting and mathematics. Nobody answered because they were all to scared. Then Erik says “Hubberman, sir.” The seargent agrees and then he sends Hans to write letters. He try’s to write them as neatly as possible. Everyone else goes into battle but nobody comes back alive. Hans then realizes that Erik saved his life. Hans then goes to Erik’s house to give them his accordion and his family says that Hans can keep it. Erik’s son is at the door and Hans says to dead Erik, “You never told me you had a son.” The sons name is Max Vandenburg. When Hitler rises to power, Hans decides not to join the NSDAP because a Jew has once saved his life and cannot forget that.  He cannot be part of a group that discriminated those people in such a cruel way. After the murder of a lot of Jews, Hans is starting to loose customers and money. He has to join the NSDAP and one day, he sees a Jewish store in ruins and “filthy Jew” written on the walls. He covers it up but someone sees him and writes it back to the way it was. When Hans and Max are talking in the kitchen that night, Liesel comes out all confused. Hans tells her to go back to bed. She obeys but has a hard time falling asleep, listening to their voices. The books says that when Max was younger he liked to fight. Max was only 2 when his father died. His mom was always heartbroken so Maz was moved to his uncle’s house. He watches his uncle die. One of his favorite fights was with Walter Gruber and since his uncle died, he started to get better and more violent at fighting. Max fights Walter until he is 17 and always wins. Walter always tries to get revenge but gets very beaten in the process. On the night of broken glass, Max escapes and hides with his family in a apartment until a Nazi comes and takes everyone but him. Max is in hiding for the next 2 years and guilty because he didn’t do anything to help save his family. Max’s mom gave him a piece of paper with the Hubberman’s address on it before she sent him away. He went to their house and expected Hans to be a Nazi or something but learned that he wasn’t. Hans told Max that he will help Max as much as he can and gave him a map of Molching and Munich so that Max would know the route to his house. Hans gave him the book Mein Kampf with a key inside but Max was really scared to move again so he stayed in his tiny room. Walter was sent to Poland in order to continue the authority of Jews. This triggered Max and he decided to make his way to Han’s house. He read the book the whole time. Liesel wakes up and finds Mama feeding Max pea soup. She is very scared because there is a Jew in her house and wonders who her foster parents really are. She doesn’t go to school the next day because she is “sick” and Hans told Liesel that she CANNOT tell anyone about Max or he and Mama will be taken away. Liesel started to cry just thinking of all of the terrible things that could happen and promised not to tell. Max slept in the Liesel’s room one time he had a dream and wouldn’t let go of Liesel’s arm after she was looking over him during his slumber. He woke up and let go of the arm but both were frightened. Max felt very bad and told them that he promised to sleep in the basement from now on. The Hubbermans finally decided to get back into the swing of things so that people wouldn’t get suspicious and find out about Max. Liesel continues to read in the mayor’s library and finds an interesting book called The Whistler while Max couldn’t stand how cold the basement was getting. Rosa and Hans went downstairs and realized that it is way too cold for Max so he would spend the day in the basement and at night, he would sleep on the floor of their room. Liesel and Max start to become good friends. They talk about Mein Kampf and Max continues to read it saying the book saved his life. In Febuary 1941 Liesel turned 12 and got a book called the Mud Men. She thanked and embrace Mama and Papa but Max looked alone so she went over and hugged him too. He was confused at first but started to get happy. He felt bad that he didn’t get Liesel anything but she would soon come to find out what the helpless expression on Max’s face was about. Just over a week later, a gift was delivered on paper and Max would bring it to her before going down the steps of what he liked to call his new home.

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Is Liesel going to keep stealing fruit or start stealing books again since she is feeling pretty guilty?

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In the book, Liesel is saying that anything is better than being a Jew which was very true during WW2.

A lot of kids are also very hungry.

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During summer of 1940, Liesel mainly read the Shoulder Shrug, played soccer, reading in the Mayor’s library, and had many different stealing opportunity's. She loved the Shoulder Shurg book and the protagonist was a Jew. One day in June, Rudy and Liesel are taking the washing and ironing to the Mayor’s house and Liesel tells Rudy that he cab’s come with. He gets mad but ends up waving goodbye anyways. They mayor’s wife, Frau Herman, lets her in for the fourth time and she starts reading. She thinks of a name written on the inside of a cover in one of the books and the name is Johann Herman. Liesel asks who that is and Frau explains that he is nothing in this world now and he froze to death. The narrorator tells that in summer of 1940, Liesel can’t see what lies ahead. She is only a witness to a sad woman letting her read books and visit her. A lighthearted part of Liesel’s summer was Himmel street soccer. While she is playing soccer, someone shouts “Here! This way! Scheisse!” The boy who said it is named Tommy Muller apologizes. Tommy is the one who she beat and Liesel sorta hates him. She always try’s to put him at ease when he gets frighted of her. Liesel never steals with Rudy but one time, Rudy is very hungry and it triggers her. She doesn’t get any food yet because Han’s business isn’t doing so well and she would’ve gotten food from her home, but they didn’t have any left over because Mama usually makes pea soup and some bread, potatoes, or meat. She makes the Hubermanns eat it all up and they can’t complain so that isn’t an option. There are some hot days and Rudy convinces Liesel to learn to swim in the Amper River. She fell into the giant swim hole without noticing but dog-paddling saved her from drowning. She gets very mad at Rudy and marches off. Rudy’s hunger is getting stronger and it draws him to a group of fruit stealers who stole from farmers. Rudy and Liesel are walking when they see Fritz Hammer eating a apple. He has multiple and so they walk over and ask Fritz where he got the fruit. He says to keep quiet and just to look at the apple. The next time they see him, they follow him to Amper River and see Fritz with a group of 5 boys. They learned that the leader of the group is named Arthur Berg and they tell him that Rudy is starving. Arthur debates not helping them but then he says “But I like you.” Then they ask Liesel and Rudy if they’ve ever stolen before. Liesel told him she’s stolen 2 books and he said “You can’t eat books, sweetheart.” They then devise a plan to climb over the fence into a apple tree farm and steal a bag full of apples. Rudy is hyped up to steal the apples but Liesel is a bit hesitant. They fill up the bag but don’t know how to get back over the fence and through the wires. Rudy threw the sack over and made Liesel go first and then the sack landed beside her. Arthur is pretty impressed and when they got home they feasted on multiple apples. That night, Liesel vomited a lot and Mama got really mad at her. Soon, Liesel and Rudy are standing outside of Frau Diller’s candy shop. At the end of August, they found a pfennig(coin) on the ground and went into the candy shops to train it in for mixed candy. They go in and say Heil Hitler. They got the candy and were so happy, thinking Nazi Germany is a wonderous place. The narrorator goes to November 3 and talks about a man on the train reading a copy of Mein Kampf (My Struggle: Adolf Hitler). It was Max Vandenburg and his friend Walter Kugler tells Max that he has to leave for the army. Walter says “It could be worse, I could be you.” He got to the station and showed his ticked and identity card but forgot that there would be papers. Fortunately, they only need his ticket and Max continues to read the book on his journey, never looking up. Rudy and Liesel start to watch a kid from school named Otto Sturm. Rudy explains that priests are all too fat and could go without food for a week. Rudy grabs two buckets of cold water and pours it onto the road where Otto would ride his bike and the water would be frozen. Liesel is somewhat guilty but thought the plan was perfect. On Friday, they watch Otto come on in his bike and he loses control and slides across the ice, face planting. Rudy thinks that he is dead for a minute and then crept over and took a bread basket from him. Liesel is guilty and asks Rudy if he is. Rudy says yes but but thinks of it has a win-win situation. He is not hungry anymore and neither is the boy probably. Five days later, the fruit stealing group invites them on a potato place heist. They fill their sack up the day later and makes their getaway. But as they are, the farmer catches them and starts to chase them with an ax. Rudy is the last one running and gets entangled. They get away but the farmer is going to find them at some point. A few weeks later, Arthur moves to Cologne and Rudy and Liesel go door to door selling chestnuts for coins. They end up with 16 and returned to the candy shop. They purchased the mix and felt triumph. Max gets off the train and makes his way to a street and the house number 33. he takes a key from his pocket and the struggler (Max) leans forward and removes the key from his fist.

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Is the book burning Liesel supposed to symbolize a burden for stealing?

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At the end of this part, a Jew is asking for help from a stranger which happened a lot during the Holocaust.

It is also Hitler’s birthday in which they celebrated it as a national holiday and burned all anti-Nazi books.

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Liesel is at the Hitler Youth Bonfire all of the kids are split into groups after marching into the town square. They say Heil Hitler and then she realizes that they are starting the bonfire without her. Liesel try’s to look for Rudy but then a bunch of Nazi flags and uniforms were everywhere. The speech started and the speaker says that communists are darkening. All of the sudden, a cart dumps a pile of burning things onto the ground. She recognizes the word communist and try’s to get out of the crowd. Heat and fire surrounds her and Ludwig Schmeikl runs into her, injured and pleading her to help him. Liesel is then sitting on the porch waiting for Papa with Ludwig and when he gets there and then she discovers that the dead letters, suffering, and death of her family members equals the Fuber, or Hitler. Liesel asks Hans if Hitler took her mother because she was a communist and he says yes. He tells her not to repeat that word in public and can only say it in the house. He tells her to always say Heil Hitler when around people and they practice it. They sit there and then Liesel says that the gates of thievery will open in about 10 minutes. Will they shut behind her or will have the goodness to open back up and let her out? Then the gates open. Liesel and Hans walk home and they run into Wolfgang Edel, a carpenter. He asks Hans why he isn’t in the Nazi party and he says that there probably still considering. Liesel watches as she watches the sky darken but there is one part that is still light. A few mean are loading piles of material off to be burnt. Some material slip beneath the ash, half of a red flag, a advertisement for a Jewish poet, three books, and a sign with something written in Hebrew. The mayor walked passed Liesel and ignored her. As she began walking again, the Shoulder Shrug book began to burn her and a shadow appeared. Liesel realized that the shadow had sawn everything that Liesel had done and the book began to eat her up. A book called Mein Kampf arrived at her door but she didn’t steal it. But after a little bit, she couldn’t stand it and picked up the burned book. Papa asks what the book is and why it looks destroyed. Liesel asks him if he’s going to tell Mama that she’s been stealing books and he says of course not. Papa went to the Nazi party office and asked about his membership application. They said they’ll think about it and Papa gave them the rest of his money and cigarettes. In return, they game him a used copy of Mein Kampf. The party members said that he would never get into the party behind is back and the narrorator then says that they’ll give Hans seven months but then after that, they will come for him. Liesel goes to pick up washing at the Mayors house with Rudy and the mayor’s wife answers the door. She asks Liesel to come inside and she assumes that the mayor’s wife is going to torture her. She still goes inside and finds that there are books everywhere! She asks if she can feel and touch the books and the wife says yes. Liesel leaves and then runs back because she forgot to say thank you. The actual mayor answers the door and then sees the wife through the door and says thank you, smiling. The narrorator travels into a secret storage room and finds a Jew named Max who is starving and tired. He is pleading Hans Hubberman to help him

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Are Trudy and Hans Junior adults? Does Hans Junior ever come back?

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One connection in this part of the book is that children go to the Hitler Youth groups.

They have to wear uniforms and do activities that support Hitler.

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Liesel stole her first book on January 13th, 1939 and stole her second book on April 20th, 1940. She steals a second book called The Shoulder Shrug and she isn’t ashamed of the fact that she stole it. Liesel is settling into Molching a lot better now. She still has nightmares about her brother and mother but is more comfortable. Liesel loves her papa and her mom even with her abusages and verbal assaults. She has a love-hate relationship with Rudy is getting a lot better at reading and writing. Liesel is on the verge of being happy but still has to finish the Grave Digging book, escape Sister Maria’s discipline, and get two books for Christmas. Hans and Liesel finally finish the grave diggers book on the night of December 17. One day at school, she is tempted to steal a book but didn’t. On Christmas Eve, Liesel also recieves two books called Faust The Dog and The Lighthouse which she really liked. Hans tells Liesel that he traded in all of his cigarettes for the books because they didn’t have enough money. While Liesel was accompanying Rosa with her washing and ironing deliveries, a costumer calls Ernst Vogel told her that he can no longer afford to have the laundry done and said she should be getting an  allowance for keeping Liesel. The week after, Mama tells Liesel since she spends most of her time playing soccer on the streets, she is going to be making the deliveries from now on because the rich people will be less likely to fire Rosa if a little one is there. She tells her that she should take the bags straight to the homes and bring back the money to her right away. Sometimes Rudy comes along and tries to get some of the money. One day, Liesel decides to ask Papa if she can right a letter to her other mom and tells her everything, then sending it to Frau Diller to bring it to her. Frau Diller is the one who brought Liesel to the foster home. She then overhears Rosa and Hans arguing about the letter and Rosa says “She should just forget her. Who knows where she is? Who knows what they’ve done to her?”  Liesel is now 14 and it is September 1943. She hasn’t gotten a reply from her mother yet and checked the mailbox several times from January to Febuary 1940. Her birthday comes around and she doesn’t have any presents because they don’t have any money, she doesn’t care though. She decided to take some of the washing money has a little gift and 3 days later, Rosa asks where some of the money is and she lies. She then tells Mama that she actually stole it and Rosa starts to beat her with a wooden spoon. Liesel stays on the ground getting hit multiple times and soon enough she realizes that she’s never going to see her mom again. She lays there for a while and then starts to understand how everything is now. It comes Hitler’s birthday on April 20, 1940 and she is praising him. Everyone in Molching decorates their window with the Nazi flag for his birthday and this time, they can’t find it. They worry that they’ll be taken away but Rosa finds it behind Han’s accordion. Hans Junior and Trudy, the Hubbermans kids come over to eat. Tension rises up and Hans Junior starts to ask if Hans had been accepted into the Nazi party yet. He hasn’t but he doesn’t care because they still have his application so they won’t do anything to him. Hans Junior then tells him that he never cared about his country and gets very mad. Hans Junior then tells him that he is a coward and is against Hitler. Hans Junior leaves and vanishes from Himmel street in the name of Fubrer. Liesel then gets ready to go to a Hitler Youth bonfire at the BDM headquarters and from there, they would be taken to the town square. Speeches would be made, a fire would be lit, and a book would be stolen.

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Do Rudy and Liesel like each other? Does she have any other friends?

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One connection within this part of the book is when the narrator is talking about the Stars of David on abandoned shops that were Jews.

It also talks about how Poland has just been invaded by the Germans.

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Liesel is having a lot of trouble getting used to her new home. She has nightmares every night but when she is screaming, Hans comes in to comfort her every time. One night, she wets the bed because she had such a bad nightmare and when her dad comes in, he finds the Digging Graves book. He learns that Liesel is interested and wants to read the book but can’t. So he starts to read it to her and teach her how to pronounce and read words and letters. One day, Hans even takes her to the Amperupstream to teach her where he learned the accordion. Liesel also finds an interest in soccer but has to be the goalie everytime. She meets a boy named Rudy and becomes very close friends with him. Liesel and Hans tour the town one day. Liesel learns that Rudy really liked Jesse Owens and one time, he had an incident where he covered himself in charcoal black and runs a 400 meter race at night. Rudy tells Liesel that other students were cheering him on but his dad then caught him and taught him that he shouldn’t try to be anyone but himself. He also teaches Rudy about Jews. Liesel also helps Rosa everyday by taking the ironing to neighbors. Rosa thinks that one neighbor in particular is very annoying because he spits one her door every time he walks past. Liesel gets moved from the kindergarten class to a older class because even though she still couldn’t read or write, she was being very distracting and disruptive. In class, all students are put to the test to determine their reading and writing skills. They all have to go up front and read a paragraph. All of the student’s names are called and Rudy does very good, Liesel’s name is the only one not called so Rudy tells  Sister Maria that she is ready and Liesel agrees. Sister Maria says that she is not and starts to get very mad. After class, all of the other students besides Rudy are laughing at her because she couldn’t read and Liesel gets so mad at this one kid, that she beats him until he almost dies. Then Sister Maria comes and hits Liesel for her behavior.

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Is whoever that owned The Grave Digger’s Handbook trying to look for it?

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One connection that this has with WW2 is the bombing on German occupied city’s. Another connection is that a lot of parents were forced to send their kids to foster homes with complete strangers so they would be safer.

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A girl named Leisel’s mother is planning on sending her and her brother, Werner to a foster home to be safer because their city is getting bombed. Liesel, her mom, and her brother are on the train and Werner is very sick and started to cough multiple times. The narrorator then puts his hand over his mouth and takes his breath and soul, leaving him dead. The narrator is death. Liesel follows her mom and goes  to Werner’s burial in Munich and then she found a book about Life on Grave digging and she stole it. She then goes to her foster home in Molching where she would live with Rosa and Hans Hubberman. Liesel has a lot of trouble getting comfortable in her new home.