The Book Thief by Jalena Chen

Book Cover

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Setting

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Nazi Germany 1939
World War II

Book Synopsis

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“Liesel Meminger finds her life changed when she unearths a single object from the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left there by accident at her brother's funeral, and it is her first act of book thievery.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish man in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.

In superbly crafted prose that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.”

Author

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Markus Zusak

Recognition

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-Winner of the Book Sense Book of
the Year Award

-Winner of the Michael L. Printz
Honor Book Award for Excellence
in Young Adult Literature

-Winner of the National Jewish
Book Award

-Winner of the Association of
Jewish Libraries Teen Book Award

-A Quill Award Nominee

-A Publishers Weekly Best Book of
the Year

-A Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice

-A Horn Book Fanfare

-A School Library Journal Best
Book of the Year

-A Booklist Editors’ Choice

-A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book

-An ALA Notable Book

-An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book
for Young Adults

Liesel Meminger

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“With one eye open, one still in a dream, the book thief—also known as Liesel Meminger...” (Page 16)

Story Narrated By Death

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In the introduction, Death begins with the colors he sees in someone’s life right before their death and he describes it in terms of taste. Death views the world in colors and he sees a person’s soul in terms of the color(s) in the sky. (Page 7)

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Colors & Humans
"First the colors. Then the humans. That's how I see things. Or at least how I try." (Page 7)

Death With The Book Thief

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Soul
"Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will gently carry you away." (Page 7)

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Colors During Your Final Moments
"The question is, what color will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying?" (Page 7)

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A Chocolate Covered Sky
“Personally, I like a chocolate-covered sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see - the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.” (Page 7)

Book PDF

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A Multitude Of Shades
“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.” (Pages 7-8)

Red, White, & Black

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The colors red, white, and black are the colors that most resonates the book thief according to Death. The colors symbolize the Nazi flag. (Page 14)

The Book Thief From Death's POV

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“The dynamic train guard duo made their way back to the mother, the girl, and the small male corpse. I clearly remember that my breath was loud that day. I’m surprised the guards didn’t notice me as they walked by. The world was sagging now, under the weight of all that snow. Perhaps ten meters to my left, the pale, empty-stomached girl was standing, frost-stricken. Her mouth jittered. Her cold arms were folded. Tears were frozen to the book thief’s face.” (Page 10)

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“She was clutching at a book. Apart from everything else, the book thief wanted desperately to go back to the basement, to write, or to read through her story one last time. In hindsight, I see it so obviously on her face. She was dying for it— the safety of it, the home of it—but she could not move.” (Page 13)

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“When I recollect her, I see a long list of colors, but it’s the three in which I saw her in the flesh that resonate the most. Sometimes I manage to float far above those three moments. I hang suspended, until a septic truth bleeds toward clarity.” (Page 14)

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“They fall on top of each other. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red. Yes, often, I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt— an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” (Page 14)

Liesel's Foster Family

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"Regardless, Liesel’s foster parents were waiting. The Hubermanns." (Page 20)

Hans Hubermann

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Foster Father
"After a few minutes, a very tall man came out. Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father. On one side of him was the medium-height Frau Heinrich. On the other was the squat shape of Rosa Hubermann, who looked like a small wardrobe with a coat thrown over it. There was a distinct waddle to her walk. Almost cute, if it wasn’t for her face, which was like creased-up cardboard and annoyed, as if she was merely tolerating all of it. Her husband walked straight, with a cigarette smoldering between his fingers. He rolled his own." (Page 21)

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Extra Facts
"SOME FACTS ABOUT HANS HUBERMANN
He loved to smoke.
The main thing he enjoyed about smoking was the rolling.
He was a painter by trade and played the piano accordion.
This came in handy, especially in winter, when he could make a little money playing in the pubs of Molching, like the Knoller.
He had already cheated me in one world war but would later be put into another (as a perverse kind of reward), where he would somehow manage to avoid me again." (Page 24)

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Invisible
"To most people, Hans Hubermann was barely visible. An un-special person. Certainly, his painting skills were excellent. His musical ability was better than average. Somehow, though, and I’m sure you’ve met people like this, he was able to appear as merely part of the background, even if he was standing at the front of a line. He was always just there. Not noticeable. Not important or particularly valuable." (Page 25)

Rosa Hubermann

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Extra Facts
"SOME FACTS ABOUT ROSA HUBERMANN
She was five feet, one inch tall and wore her browny gray strands of elastic hair in a bun.
To supplement the Hubermann income, she did the washing and ironing for five of the wealthier households in Molching.
Her cooking was atrocious.
She possessed the unique ability to aggravate almost anyone she ever met.
But she did love Liesel Meminger.
Her way of showing it just happened to be strange.
It involved bashing her with wooden spoon and words at various intervals." (Page 25)

Liesel's Brother

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Deceased
“A train was moving quickly. It was packed with humans. A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage. The book thief and her brother were traveling down toward Munich, where they would soon be given over to foster parents. We now know, of course, that the boy didn’t make it.” (Page 16)

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Blue Eyes
“His blue eyes stared at the floor.” (Page 16)

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Name
Werner Meminger (Page 16)

Liesel's Mother

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Liesel's Father

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Foster Home
"I think her mother knew this quite well. She wasn’t delivering her children to the higher echelons of Munich, but a foster home had apparently been found, and if nothing else, the new family could at least feed the girl and the boy a little better, and educate them properly." (Page 19)

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Communist
"Her hair was a close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes. Dark brown. You didn’t really want brown eyes in Germany around that time. Perhaps she received them from her father, but she had no way of knowing, as she couldn’t remember him. There was really only one thing she knew about her father. It was a label she did not understand.
A STRANGE WORD
Kommunist
She’d heard it several times in the past few years. “Communist.” There were boardinghouses crammed with people, rooms filled with questions. And that word. That strange word was always there somewhere, standing in the corner, watching from the dark. It wore suits, uniforms. No matter where they went, there it was, each time her father was mentioned. She could smell it and taste it. She just couldn’t spell or understand it. When she asked her mother what it meant, she was told that it wasn’t important, that she shouldn’t worry about such things. At one boardinghouse, there was a healthier woman who tried to teach the children to write, using charcoal on the wall. Liesel was tempted to ask her the meaning, but it never eventuated. One day, that woman was taken away for questioning. She didn’t come back." (Page 23)

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Abandonment
"When Liesel arrived in Molching, she had at least some inkling that she was being saved, but that was not a comfort. If her mother loved her, why leave her on someone else’s doorstep? Why? Why? Why? The fact that she knew the answer—if only at the most basic level—seemed beside the point. Her mother was constantly sick and there was never any money to fix her. Liesel knew that. But that didn’t mean she had to accept it. No matter how many times she was told that she was loved, there was no recognition that the proof was in the abandonment. Nothing changed the fact that she was a lost, skinny child in another foreign place, with more foreign people. Alone." (Pages 23-24)

Looks

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"Her hair was a close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes. Dark brown. You didn’t really want brown eyes in Germany around that time." (Page 23)

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Fury
"She was good at being furious. In fact, you could say that Rosa Hubermann had a face decorated with constant fury. That was how the creases were made in the cardboard texture of her complexion." (Page 24)

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Worth A Lot To Liesel
"The frustration of that appearance, as you can imagine, was its complete misleadence, let’s say. There most definitely was value in him, and it did not go unnoticed by Liesel Meminger. (The human child—so much cannier at times than the stupefyingly ponderous adult.) She saw it immediately. His manner. The quiet air around him. When he turned the light on in the small, callous washroom that night, Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father’s eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver, melting. Liesel, upon seeing those eyes, understood that Hans Hubermann was worth a lot." (Page 25)

Clinging To The Car

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"The fact was this:
Liesel would not get out of the car.
“Was ist los mit dem Kind?” Rosa Hubermann inquired. She said it again. “What’s wrong with this child?” She stuck her face inside the car and said, “Na, komm. Komm.”
The seat in front was flung forward. A corridor of cold light invited her out. She would not move.
Outside, through the circle she’d made, Liesel could see the tall man’s fingers, still holding the cigarette. Ash stumbled from its edge and lunged and lifted several times until it hit the ground. It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car. It was the tall man who did it.
Quietly.
There was the gate next, which she clung to.
A gang of tears trudged from her eyes as she held on and refused to go inside. People started to gather on the street until Rosa Hubermann swore at them, after which they reversed back, whence they came." (Page 21)

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Good Record With Foster Kids
"They’d been expecting a girl and a boy and would be paid a small allowance for having them. Nobody wanted to be the one to tell Rosa Hubermann that the boy didn’t survive the trip. In fact, no one ever really wanted to tell her anything. As far as dispositions go, hers wasn’t really enviable, although she had a good record with foster kids in the past. Apparently, she’d straightened a few out." (Page 20)

Himmel Street House 33

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"The buildings appear to be glued together, mostly small houses and apartment blocks that look nervous. There is murky snow spread out like carpet. There is concrete, empty hat-stand trees, and gray air." (Page 21)

Bath Refusal

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"'Saumensch, du dreckiges!' Liesel’s foster mother shouted that first evening when she refused to have a bath. 'You filthy pig! Why won’t you get undressed?' She was good at being furious. In fact, you could say that Rosa Hubermann had a face decorated with constant fury. That was how the creases were made in the cardboard texture of her complexion. Liesel, naturally, was bathed in anxiety. There was no way she was getting into any bath, or into bed for that matter. She was twisted into one corner of the closetlike washroom, clutching for the nonexistent arms of the wall for some level of support. There was nothing but dry paint, difficult breath, and the deluge of abuse from Rosa." (Page 24)

Mama & Papa Stage

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"After a few months, they were no longer Mr. and Mrs. Hubermann. With a typical fistful of words, Rosa said, 'Now listen, Liesel—from now on you call me Mama.' She thought a moment. 'What did you call your real mother?'
Liesel answered quietly. 'Auch Mama—also Mama.' '
Well, I’m Mama Number Two, then.' She looked over at her husband. 'And him over there.' She seemed to collect the words in her hand, pat them together, and hurl them across the table. 'That Saukerl, that filthy pig— you call him Papa, verstehst? Understand?'
'Yes,' Liesel promptly agreed. Quick answers were appreciated in this household.
'Yes, Mama,' Mama corrected her. 'Saumensch. Call me Mama when you talk to me.'
At that moment, Hans Hubermann had just completed rolling a cigarette, having licked the paper and joined it all up. He looked over at Liesel and winked. She would have no trouble calling him Papa." (Pages 25-26)

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Foster Mother

Goal

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Adolf Hitler's goal was to rebuild Germany's economic and military power, and to make Germany the world's most powerful nation.

Genocide

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He killed people of his own nation because he believed that white, blond Germans or Aryans were genetically superior to everyone else, and that the best way for Aryans to reclaim their rightful authority was to murder anyone who looked or thought differently (particularly Jews). He sent Jews to concentration camps and treated them so terribly that some of the most horrendous human rights violations in history were committed by Hitler against his own citizens. He had approximately six million Jews executed during the Holocaust and it became one of the deadliest Genocides in history therefore creating his violent legacy.

Image

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Chancellor

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Adolf Hitler ran for German president in 1932 but lost the election. He was however appointed Chancellor in 1933 and lead Germany before and during World War II.

Background

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Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Austria-Hungary. He moved to Germany at the age of three. He didn't have a good relationship with his father because both of them were stubborn and strong-willed. After high school, he moved to Vienna and worked odd jobs and lived in homeless shelters. He applied to a school for art to pursue painting but was rejected the two times he applied. He still sold watercolor paintings of famous Vienna sights.

Enlisting In The Army

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When World War I broke out in 1914, Adolf Hitler moved to Munich and enrolled in the German army. He mainly served in administrative roles, but he was injured in 1917 and received an award for his courage.

Unjust

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After WWI, representatives from a variety of countries gathered in France to discuss how to avoid future wars. They eventually came up with a treaty that blamed Germany for practically everything that had transpired and imposed severe economic burdens as a punishment; Hitler thought this was utterly unfair.

"Mein Kampf"

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Hitler was jailed in 1923 for launching a coup with the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). He published his famous book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") while imprisoned for a year, which explained his radical political beliefs and visions for Germany's future as a unified, single-race nation. He attempted to reestablish the NSDAP as a powerful political party after his release from prison.

End

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In 1942, the German army began to lose ground. When the United States entered the war in 1941, it brought enormous might to bear against Germany. Hitler also committed a number of critical tactical errors. His troops was soon overworked and running short of supplies. By 1945, the German capital of Berlin had been surrounded by enemy forces, and complete defeat was a certain. On April 30, 1945, Hitler died in an underground bunker in Berlin. According to reports, he committed suicide. Germany surrendered two days later, ending the war.

Liesel's Dream

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"Prior to waking up, the book thief was dreaming about the Führer, Adolf Hitler. In the dream, she was attending a rally at which he spoke, looking at the skull-colored part in his hair and the perfect square of his mustache. She was listening contentedly to the torrent of words spilling from his mouth. His sentences glowed in the light. In a quieter moment, he actually crouched down and smiled at her. She returned the smile and said, “Guten Tag, Herr Führer. Wie geht’s dir heut?” She hadn’t learned to speak too well, or even to read, as she had rarely frequented school. The reason for that she would find out in due course. Just as the Führer was about to reply, she woke up." (Page 17)

Nightmares

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"Those first few months were definitely the hardest. Every night, Liesel would nightmare. Her brother’s face. Staring at the floor. She would wake up swimming in her bed, screaming, and drowning in the flood of sheets. On the other side of the room, the bed that was meant for her brother floated boatlike in the darkness. Slowly, with the arrival of consciousness, it sank, seemingly into the floor. This vision didn’t help matters, and it would usually be quite a while before the screaming stopped. Possibly the only good to come out of these nightmares was that it brought Hans Hubermann, her new papa, into the room, to soothe her, to love her. He came in every night and sat with her. The first couple of times, he simply stayed—a stranger to kill the aloneness. A few nights after that, he whispered, “Shhh, I’m here, it’s all right.” After three weeks, he held her. Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness, his thereness. The girl knew from the outset that Hans Hubermann would always appear midscream, and he would not leave." (Page 27)

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"On her first night with the Hubermanns, she had hidden her last link to him— The Grave Digger’s Handbook—under her mattress, and occasionally she would pull it out and hold it. Staring at the letters on the cover and touching the print inside, she had no idea what any of it was saying. The point is, it didn’t really matter what that book was about. It was what it meant that was more important.
THE BOOK’S MEANING
1. The last time she saw her brother.
2. The last time she saw her mother." (Page 28)

jalena — 2021-07-07 00:54:08 UTC

"I’m sure he would never have suspected the girl, and yet, there it was—a black book with silver words written against the ceiling of her clothes:
THE GRAVE DIGGER’S HANDBOOK
A Twelve-Step Guide to
Grave-Digging Success
Published by the Bayern Cemetery Association
The book thief had struck for the first time—the beginning of an illustrious career." (Pages 21-22)

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"For now, Rudy and Liesel made their way onto Himmel Street in the rain. He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world. She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain." (Page 54)

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Hans Hubermann Jr. & Trudy Hubermann
"The Hubermanns had two of their own, but they were older and had moved out. Hans Junior worked in the center of Munich, and Trudy held a job as a housemaid and child minder. Soon, they would both be in the war. One would be making bullets. The other would be shooting them." (Page 28)

The Hubermanns' Offspring

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Learning The Alphabet With Hans Hubermann

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Hans Hubermann took a stack of sandpaper and a thick painter's pencil. He wrote the letters of the alphabet down and drew sketches of whatever word Liesel used to represent that letter. (Pages 44-46) (Pages 47-49)

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School Experience
Left school in fourth grade. (Page 28)

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School Experience
Left school in third grade. (Page 28)

Liesel's 10th Birthday

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"In mid-February, when she turned ten, Liesel was given a used doll that had a missing leg and yellow hair." (Page 29)

School

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"School, as you might imagine, was a terrific failure. Although it was state-run, there was a heavy Catholic influence, and Liesel was Lutheran. Not the most auspicious start. Then they discovered she couldn’t read or write. Humiliatingly, she was cast down with the younger kids, who were only just learning the alphabet. Even though she was thin-boned and pale, she felt gigantic among the midget children, and she often wished she was pale enough to disappear altogether." (Page 28)

Reciting The Alphabet

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"There were no books in the house (apart from the one she had secreted under her mattress), and the best Liesel could do was speak the alphabet under her breath before she was told in no uncertain terms to keep quiet." (Page 28)

The Midnight Class

jalena — 2021-07-07 01:24:39 UTC

"It wasn’t until later, when there was a bed-wetting incident midnightmare, that an extra reading education began. Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it usually commenced at around two in the morning." (Page 29)

The Hitler Youth

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"Ten years old meant Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth meant a small brown uniform. Being female, Liesel was enrolled into what was called the BDM.
EXPLANATION OF THE ABBREVIATION
It stood for Bund Deutscher Mädchen—
Band of German Girls.
The first thing they did there was make sure your 'heil Hitler' was working properly. Then you were taught to march straight, roll bandages, and sew up clothes. You were also taken hiking and on other such activities. Wednesday and Saturday were the designated meeting days, from three in the afternoon until five." (Page 29)

Delivering Laundry

jalena — 2021-07-07 01:41:22 UTC

"A few times a week, Liesel would come home from school and walk the streets of Molching with her mama, picking up and delivering washing and ironing from the wealthier parts of town. Knaupt Strasse, Heide Strasse. A few others. Mama would deliver the ironing or pick up the washing with a dutiful smile, but as soon as the door was shut and she walked away, she would curse these rich people, with all their money and laziness." (Page 29)

Rivalry

jalena — 2021-07-07 01:45:35 UTC

"It was a tradition for Frau Holtzapfel, one of their neighbors, to spit on the Hubermanns’ door every time she walked past. The front door was only meters from the gate, and let’s just say that Frau Holtzapfel had the distance—and the accuracy. The spitting was due to the fact that she and Rosa Hubermann were engaged in some kind of decade-long verbal war. No one knew the origin of this hostility. They’d probably forgotten it themselves. Frau Holtzapfel was a wiry woman and quite obviously spiteful. She’d never married but had two sons, a few years older than the Hubermann offspring." (Page 31)

Star Gazing

jalena — 2021-07-07 01:46:48 UTC

"Each night, Liesel would step outside, wipe the door, and watch the sky. Usually it was like spillage—cold and heavy, slippery and gray—but once in a while some stars had the nerve to rise and float, if only for a few minutes. On those nights, she would stay a little longer and wait. “Hello, stars.” Waiting. For the voice from the kitchen. Or till the stars were dragged down again, into the waters of the German sky." (Page 32)

The Hubermanns' Neighbors

jalena — 2021-07-07 01:49:38 UTC

"As mentioned already, the house next door to the Hubermanns was rented by a family called Steiner. The Steiners had six children." (Page 33)

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Rudy Steiner

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The Boy Next Door
"Rudy Steiner—the boy next door who was obsessed with the black American athlete Jesse Owens." (Page 33)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:05:08 UTC

Liesel's Best Friend
"One of them, the infamous Rudy, would soon become Liesel’s best friend, and later, her partner and sometime catalyst in crime. She met him on the street." (Page 33)
"Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel’s best friend. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship." (Page 34)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:06:42 UTC

Meeting Liesel
"A penalty was awarded by everyone on Rudy’s team, and now it was Rudy Steiner against the new kid, Liesel Meminger. He placed the ball on a grubby mound of snow, confident of the usual outcome. After all, Rudy hadn’t missed a penalty in eighteen shots, even when the opposition made a point of booting Tommy Müller out of goal. No matter whom they replaced him with, Rudy would score. On this occasion, they tried to force Liesel out. As you might imagine, she protested, and Rudy agreed.
“No, no.” He smiled. “Let her stay.” He was rubbing his hands together.
Snow had stopped falling on the filthy street now, and the muddy footprints were gathered between them. Rudy shuffled in, fired the shot, and Liesel dived and somehow deflected it with her elbow. She stood up grinning, but the first thing she saw was a snowball smashing into her face. Half of it was mud. It stung like crazy.
“How do you like that?” The boy grinned, and he ran off in pursuit of the ball." (Pages 33-34)

Soccer & Friendships

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:11:58 UTC

"A few days after Liesel’s first bath, Mama allowed her out, to play with the other kids. On Himmel Street, friendships were made outside, no matter the weather. The children rarely visited each other’s homes, for they were small and there was usually very little in them. Also, they conducted their favorite pastime, like professionals, on the street. Soccer. Teams were well set. Garbage cans were used to mark out the goals." (Page 33)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:13:51 UTC

Extra Facts
"SOME FACTS ABOUT RUDY STEINER
He was eight months older than Liesel and had bony legs, sharp teeth, gangly blue eyes, and hair the color of a lemon.
One of six Steiner children, he was
permanently hungry." (Page 34)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:16:11 UTC

Crazy
"On Himmel Street, he was considered a little crazy. This was on account of an event that was rarely spoken about but widely regarded as “The Jesse Owens Incident,” in which he painted himself charcoal black and ran the 100 meters at the local playing field one night." (Page 34)

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Barbara Steiner

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:19:29 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:21:00 UTC

Mother Of The Steiner Children
"A few days after Liesel started school, she went along with the Steiners. Rudy’s mother, Barbara, made him promise to walk with the new girl, mainly because she’d heard about the snowball." (Page 34)

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jalena — 2021-07-07 02:22:34 UTC

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jalena — 2021-07-07 02:22:36 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:22:54 UTC

Likes Girls
"He was not the junior misogynistic type of boy at all. He liked girls a lot, and he liked Liesel (hence, the snowball). In fact, Rudy Steiner was one of those audacious little bastards who actually fancied himself with the ladies. Every childhood seems to have exactly such a juvenile in its midst and mists. He’s the boy who refuses to fear the opposite sex, purely because everyone else embraces that particular fear, and he’s the type who is unafraid to make a decision. In this case, Rudy had already made up his mind about Liesel Meminger." (Page 34)

Alex Steiner

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:27:03 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:28:06 UTC

Tailor Shop
"At one stage, Rudy rushed ahead, dragging Liesel with him. He knocked on the window of a tailor’s shop. Had she been able to read the sign, she would have noticed that it belonged to Rudy’s father. The shop was not yet open, but inside, a man was preparing articles of clothing behind the counter. He looked up and waved." (Page 35)

Illiterate

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:41:07 UTC

"She hadn’t learned to speak too well, or even to read, as she had rarely frequented school. The reason for that she would find out in due course." (Page 17)
"The book thief looked down again, at the words. Come on. Rudy mouthed it this time. Come on, Liesel. Her blood loudened. The sentences blurred. The white page was suddenly written in another tongue, and it didn’t help that tears were now forming in her eyes. She couldn’t even see the words anymore. And the sun. That awful sun. It burst through the window—the glass was everywhere—and shone directly onto the useless girl. It shouted in her face. 'You can steal a book, but you can’t read one!'" (Page 52)

Kurt Steiner

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:51:38 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:52:49 UTC

The Oldest Of The Steiner Children
"'Come on, you two,' Kurt (the oldest of the Steiner children) called back, and Rudy and Liesel walked quickly toward him." (Page 36)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:53:03 UTC

Father Of The Steiner Children
"'My papa,' Rudy informed her, and they were soon among a crowd of various-sized Steiners, each waving or blowing kisses at their father or simply standing and nodding hello (in the case of the oldest ones), then moving on, toward the final landmark before school." (Page 35)

jalena — 2021-07-07 02:59:09 UTC

There For Liesel
"At school, Rudy made a special point of seeking Liesel out during the breaks. He didn’t care that others made noises about the new girl’s stupidity. He was there for her at the beginning, and he would be there later on, when Liesel’s frustration boiled over." (Page 36)

jalena — 2021-07-07 03:02:07 UTC

Loves Liesel
"THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN A BOY WHO HATES YOU
A boy who loves you." (Page 36)

jalena — 2021-07-07 03:04:51 UTC

The Bet
Liesel and Rudy made a bet at Hubert Oval. Whoever ran one hundred meters the fastest would win. If Liesel won, she would get out of being goalie at soccer. If Rudy won, he would get to kiss Liesel. The track was muddy and slippery from the rain so they called it a draw and neither of them got their prize. (Pages 37-38)

jalena — 2021-07-07 03:11:03 UTC

The Jesse Owens Incident
Rudy painted himself charcoal black and ran the one hundred meters at the local playing field because he wanted to be as fast as Jesse Owens was during the 1936 Olympics and Hitler's games. Jesse Owens completed the 4×100m relay and won his fourth gold medal. After that, Rudy's father lectured him about painting himself black because he could get taken away for being different than Hitler's vision of having only Aryans in Germany. (Pages 39-41)

jalena — 2021-07-07 03:54:54 UTC

Contradictory Politics
"THE CONTRADICTORY POLITICS OF ALEX STEINER
Point One: He was a member of the Nazi Party, but he did not hate the Jews, or anyone else for that matter.
Point Two: Secretly, though, he couldn’t help feeling a percentage of relief (or worse—gladness!) when Jewish shop owners were put out of business— propaganda informed him that it was only a matter of time before a plague of Jewish tailors showed up and stole his customers.
Point Three: But did that mean they should be driven out completely?
Point Four: His family. Surely, he had to do whatever he could to support them. If that meant being in the party, it meant being in the party.
Point Five: Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out." (Page 40-41)

jalena — 2021-07-07 03:57:42 UTC

Well Kept
"Among the crowd, his father was standing at the finish line like the bogeyman. Or at least, the bogeyman in a suit. (As previously mentioned, Rudy’s father was a tailor. He was rarely seen on the street without a suit and tie. On this occasion, it was only the suit and a disheveled shirt.)" (Page 40)

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:00:09 UTC

Usually Polite
"Mr. Steiner was a remarkably polite man under normal circumstances. Discovering one of his children smeared charcoal black on a summer evening was not what he considered normal circumstances." (Page 40)

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:05:46 UTC

Didn't Support Hitler
"SOME CRUNCHED NUMBERS
In 1933, 90 percent of Germans showed unflinching support for Adolf Hitler.
That leaves 10 percent who didn’t.
Hans Hubermann belonged to the 10 percent.
There was a reason for that." (Page 42)

Book Out Of Hiding

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:08:18 UTC

"He lifted her gently from the bed and carried her into the washroom. The moment came a few minutes later. 'We take the sheets off,' Papa said, and when he reached under and pulled at the fabric, something loosened and landed with a thud. A black book with silver writing on it came hurtling out and landed on the floor, between the tall man’s feet. He looked down at it. He looked at the girl, who timidly shrugged. Then he read the title, with concentration, aloud: 'The Grave Digger’s Handbook.' So that’s what it’s called, Liesel thought. A patch of silence stood among them now. The man, the girl, the book." (Pages 42-43)

Hans Hubermann's Discovery

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:11:20 UTC

Reading & Writing

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:15:33 UTC

"Second, she was clearly proud of Hans Hubermann’s part in her education. You wouldn’t think it, she wrote, but it was not so much the school who helped me to read. It was Papa. People think he’s not so smart, and it’s true that he doesn’t read too fast, but I would soon learn that words and writing actually saved his life once. Or at least, words and a man who taught him the accordion..." (Page 43)

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:18:25 UTC

Not A Very Good Reader
"'To tell you the truth,' Papa explained upfront, 'I am not such a good reader myself.' But it didn’t matter that he read slowly. If anything, it might have helped that his own reading pace was slower than average. Perhaps it would cause less frustration in coping with the girl’s lack of ability." (Page 43)
"Looking back, Liesel could tell exactly what her papa was thinking when he scanned the first page of The Grave Digger’s Handbook. As he realized the difficulty of the text, he was clearly aware that such a book was hardly ideal. There were words in there that he’d have trouble with himself. Not to mention the morbidity of the subject." (Page 44)

Intense Urge To Read

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:23:40 UTC

"As for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn’t even attempt to understand. On some level, perhaps she wanted to make sure her brother was buried right. Whatever the reason, her hunger to read that book was as intense as any ten-year-old human could experience." (Page 44)

Learning The Alphabet With Hans Hubermann

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:28:30 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:35:19 UTC

The Accordion Story
"There had been a change in him. A slight shift. She saw it but didn’t realize until later, when all the stories came together. She didn’t see him watching as he played, having no idea that Hans Hubermann’s accordion was a story. In the times ahead, that story would arrive at 33 Himmel Street in the early hours of morning, wearing ruffled shoulders and a shivering jacket. It would carry a suitcase, a book, and two questions. A story. Story after story. Story within story." (Page 48)

Summer Of 1939

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:39:52 UTC

"The summer of ’39 was in a hurry, or perhaps Liesel was. She spent her time playing soccer with Rudy and the other kids on Himmel Street (a year-round pastime), taking ironing around town with Mama, and learning words. It felt like it was over a few days after it began. In the latter part of the year, two things happened.
SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 1939
1. World War Two begins.
2. Liesel Meminger becomes the heavyweight champion of the school yard." (Page 50)

News On The Beginning Of WWII

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:45:33 UTC

"Newspaper headlines reveled in it. The Führer’s voice roared from German radios. We will not give up. We will not rest. We will be victorious. Our time has come. The German invasion of Poland had begun and people were gathered everywhere, listening to the news of it. Munich Street, like every other main street in Germany, was alive with war. The smell, the voice. Rationing had begun a few days earlier—the writing on the wall—and now it was official. England and France had made their declaration on Germany. To steal a phrase from Hans Hubermann: The fun begins. The day of the announcement, Papa was lucky enough to have some work. On his way home, he picked up a discarded newspaper, and rather than stopping to shove it between paint cans in his cart, he folded it up and slipped it beneath his shirt. By the time he made it home and removed it, his sweat had drawn the ink onto his skin. The paper landed on the table, but the news was stapled to his chest. A tattoo. Holding the shirt open, he looked down in the unsure kitchen light." (Page 50)

Moving Up To Rightful Year

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:49:03 UTC

"Nearly a month after school resumed, she was moved up to her rightful year level. You might think this was due to her improved reading, but it wasn’t. Despite the advancement, she still read with great difficulty. Sentences were strewn everywhere. Words fooled her. The reason she was elevated had more to do with the fact that she became disruptive in the younger class. She answered questions directed to other children and called out." (Page 51)

Reading In Front Of The Class

jalena — 2021-07-07 04:50:55 UTC

There was a progress test at school around the month of November and one of them required the students to read a passage aloud. Liesel waited anxiously for her name to be called but it wasn't. Rudy pointed out to Sister Maria, their teacher who was also a nun, that she had forgotten Liesel but she said that Liesel was incapable of doing it and would read for her later. Liesel protested and insisted she could read. Without permission, she picked up a book and flipped it to a random page. She began to tear up since she couldn't make out the words and instead cited a verse from The Grave Digger's Handbook that she had memorized in order to save herself from embarrassment. Sister Maria quickly grabbed the book from Liesel knowing she wasn't reading the passage and her peers began laughing and teasing her. This resulted in Liesel getting into a physical fight with two of her classmates and getting in trouble because of it. (Pages 51-54)

jalena — 2021-07-07 20:35:33 UTC

Name
Paula Meminger (Page 69)

Statistical Information

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:40:46 UTC

"SOME STATISTICAL INFORMATION
First stolen book: January 13, 1939
Second stolen book: April 20, 1940
Duration between said stolen books: 463 days" (Page 56)

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:45:58 UTC

"If you were being flippant about it, you’d say that all it took was a little bit of fire, really, and some human shouting to go with it. You’d say that was all Liesel Meminger needed to apprehend her second stolen book, even if it smoked in her hands. Even if it lit her ribs." (Page 56)

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:47:34 UTC

"It’s no time to be half watching, turning around, or checking the stove—because when the book thief stole her second book, not only were there many factors involved in her hunger to do so, but the act of stealing it triggered the crux of what was to come. It would provide her with a venue for continued book thievery." (Page 56)

Events Leading To Events

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:50:16 UTC

"And it would show me, once again, that one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death." (Page 56)

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:53:33 UTC

Believes White Is A Color
"Some of you are most likely thinking that white is not really a color and all of that tired sort of nonsense. Well, I’m here to tell you that it is. White is without question a color, and personally, I don’t think you want to argue with me." (Page 9)

jalena — 2021-07-07 22:56:56 UTC

"As for me, I had already made the most elementary of mistakes. I studied the blinding, white-snow sky who stood at the window of the moving train. I practically inhaled it, but still, I wavered. I buckled—I became interested. In the girl. Curiosity got the better of me, and I resigned myself to stay as long as my schedule allowed, and I watched. Twenty-three minutes later, when the train was stopped, I climbed out with them. A small soul was in my arms. I stood a little to the right. The dynamic train guard duo made their way back to the mother, the girl, and the small male corpse. I clearly remember that my breath was loud that day. I’m surprised the guards didn’t notice me as they walked by. The world was sagging now, under the weight of all that snow. Perhaps ten meters to my left, the pale, empty-stomached girl was standing, frost-stricken. Her mouth jittered. Her cold arms were folded. Tears were frozen to the book thief’s face.” (Pages 9-10)

jalena — 2021-07-07 23:01:57 UTC

"Please, again, I ask you to believe me. I wanted to stop. To crouch down. I wanted to say: 'I’m sorry, child.' But that is not allowed. I did not crouch down. I did not speak. Instead, I watched her awhile. When she was able to move, I followed her. She dropped the book. She knelt. The book thief howled. Her book was stepped on several times as the cleanup began, and although orders were given only to clear the mess of concrete, the girl’s most precious item was thrown aboard a garbage truck, at which point I was compelled. I climbed aboard and took it in my hand, not realizing that I would keep it and view it several thousand times over the years. I would watch the places where we intersect, and marvel at what the girl saw and how she survived. That is the best I can do— watch it fall into line with everything else I spectated during that time. When I recollect her, I see a long list of colors, but it’s the three in which I saw her in the flesh that resonate the most. Sometimes I manage to float far above those three moments. I hang suspended, until a septic truth bleeds toward clarity." (Pages 13-14)

Death & Colors

jalena — 2021-07-07 23:08:13 UTC

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jalena — 2021-07-07 23:14:12 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-07 23:24:25 UTC

"Yes, the sky was now a devastating, home-cooked red. The small German town had been flung apart one more time. Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth. Clearly, I see it. I was just about to leave when I found her kneeling there. A mountain range of rubble was written, designed, erected around her. She was clutching at a book. Apart from everything else, the book thief wanted desperately to go back to the basement, to write, or to read through her story one last time. In hindsight, I see it so obviously on her face. She was dying for it— the safety of it, the home of it—but she could not move. Also, the basement didn’t even exist anymore. It was part of the mangled landscape.” (Page 13)

jalena — 2021-07-07 23:32:58 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-08 04:41:51 UTC

"For two days, I went about my business. I traveled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity. I watched them trundle passively on. Several times, I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger’s brother. I did not heed my advice." (Page 18)

Christmas Present

jalena — 2021-07-08 04:55:51 UTC

"Knowing that the Hubermanns were essentially broke, still paying off debts and paying rent quicker than the money could come in, she was not expecting a gift of any sort. Perhaps only some better food. To her surprise, on Christmas Eve, after sitting in church at midnight with Mama, Papa, Hans Junior, and Trudy, she came home to find something wrapped in newspaper under the Christmas tree. 'From Saint Niklaus,' Papa said, but the girl was not fooled. She hugged both her foster parents, with snow still laid across her shoulders. Unfurling the paper, she unwrapped two small books. The first one, Faust the Dog, was written by a man named Mattheus Ottleberg. All told, she would read that book thirteen times. On Christmas Eve, she read the first twenty pages at the kitchen table while Papa and Hans Junior argued about a thing she did not understand. Something called politics. Later, they read some more in bed, adhering to the tradition of circling the words she didn’t know and writing them down. Faust the Dog also had pictures—lovely curves and ears and caricatures of a German Shepherd with an obscene drooling problem and the ability to talk. The second book was called The Lighthouse and was written by a woman, Ingrid Rippinstein. That particular book was a little longer, so Liesel was able to get through it only nine times, her pace increasing ever so slightly by the end of such prolific readings." (Pages 59-60)

Finishing The Grave Digger's Handbook

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:00:39 UTC

"'Are you awake, Papa?'
'Ja.'
Up on one elbow. 'Can we finish the book, please?'
There was a long breath, the scratchery of hand on whiskers, and then the light. He opened the book and began. '"Chapter Twelve: Respecting the Graveyard."'
They read through the early hours of morning, circling and writing the words she did not comprehend and turning the pages toward daylight. A few times, Papa nearly slept, succumbing to the itchy fatigue in his eyes and the wilting of his head. Liesel caught him out on each occasion, but she had neither the selflessness to allow him to sleep nor the hide to be offended. She was a girl with a mountain to climb. Eventually, as the darkness outside began to break up a little, they finished. The last passage looked like this:
We at the Bayern Cemetery Association hope that we have informed and entertained you in the workings, safety measures, and duties of grave digging. We wish you every success with your career in the funerary arts and hope this book has helped in some way.
When the book closed, they shared a sideways glance. Papa spoke. 'We made it, huh?' Liesel, half-wrapped in blanket, studied the black book in her hand and its silver lettering. She nodded, dry-mouthed and early-morning hungry. It was one of those moments of perfect tiredness, of having conquered not only the work at hand, but the night who had blocked the way." (Pages 58-59)

Letters

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:23:01 UTC

Schoolwork shifted its focus to letter writing in the middle of January. After learning the basics, each student was assigned to write two letters, one to a friend and the other to a student in a different class. At home while completing the letters for homework, Liesel decided that she wanted to write a letter to her biological mother. She sent it to Frau Heinrich one of the foster people to deliver to her mom. She never got a letter back. She wrote some more letters and used some money to mail them without permission which made Rosa Hubermann furious. Unfortunately the foster people didn't have contact with her biological mother anymore and Hans Hubermann thought that she may have been taken away by Hitler. (Pages 64-69) (Page 77)

Letters To Liesel's Biological Mother

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:36:15 UTC

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:41:45 UTC

Hans Junior
"Hans Junior had the eyes of his father and the height. The silver in his eyes, however, wasn’t warm, like Papa’s —they’d been Führered. There was more flesh on his bones, too, and he had prickly blond hair and skin like off-white paint." (Page 70)

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:43:51 UTC

Trudel
"Trudy, or Trudel, as she was often known, was only a few inches taller than Mama. She had cloned Rosa Hubermann’s unfortunate, waddlesome walking style, but the rest of her was much milder. Being a live-in housemaid in a wealthy part of Munich, she was most likely bored of children, but she was always capable of at least a few smiled words in Liesel’s direction. She had soft lips. A quiet voice." (Page 70)

The Ongoing Arguments Between Hans & Hans

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:45:01 UTC

"A SHORT HISTORY OF HANS HUBERMANN VS. HIS SON
The young man was a Nazi; his father was not. In the opinion of Hans Junior, his father was part of an old, decrepit Germany— one that allowed everyone else to take it for the proverbial ride while its own people suffered. As a teenager, he was aware that his father had been called 'Der Fuden Maler'—the Jew painter—for painting Jewish houses. Then came an incident I’ll fully present to you soon enough—the day Hans blew it, on the verge of joining the party. Everyone knew you weren’t supposed to paint over slurs written on a Jewish shop front. Such behavior was bad for Germany, and it was bad for the transgressor." (Page 70)
(Page 70-72)

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:50:25 UTC

"The book thief went and changed into her Hitler Youth uniform, and half an hour later, they left, walking to the BDM headquarters. From there, the children would be taken to the town square in their groups. Speeches would be made. A fire would be lit. A book would be stolen." (Page 72)

Hitler's Birthday

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:52:07 UTC

"Nazi Party members were accumulating fuel. A couple of times, Liesel was a witness to men and women knocking on doors, asking people if they had any material that they felt should be done away with or destroyed. Papa’s copy of the Molching Express announced that there would be a celebratory fire in the town square, which would be attended by all local Hitler Youth divisions. It would commemorate not only the Führer’s birthday, but the victory over his enemies and over the restraints that had held Germany back since the end of World War I. 'Any materials,' it requested, 'from such times—newspapers, posters, books, flags—and any found propaganda of our enemies should be brought forward to the Nazi Party office on Munich Street.' Even Schiller Strasse—the road of yellow stars—which was still awaiting its renovation, was ransacked one last time, to find something, anything, to burn in the name of the Führer’s glory. It would have come as no surprise if certain members of the party had gone away and published a thousand or so books or posters of poisonous moral matter simply to incinerate them. Everything was in place to make April 20 magnificent. It would be a day full of burning and cheering." (Page 69) (Pages 73-76)

Putting The Pieces Together

jalena — 2021-07-08 05:59:14 UTC

"For a while, she said nothing. She was making calculations, despite already knowing. An eleven-year-old girl is many things, but she is not stupid.
A SMALL ADDITION
The word communist + a large bonfire + a collection of dead letters + the suffering of her mother + the death of her brother = the Führer
The Führer. He was the they that Hans and Rosa Hubermann were talking about that evening when she first wrote to her mother. She knew it, but she had to ask." (Page 77)

"I hate the Führer"

jalena — 2021-07-08 06:03:32 UTC

After Liesel figured out that the Führer was the reason for all the bad happening to her, she told Hans Hubermann that she hated him. Hans immediately slapped her and lectured her about how saying such things were not okay since he knew that it would put her life in danger. (Pages 77-78)

Being A Good Thief

jalena — 2021-07-08 06:07:23 UTC

"As Liesel would discover, a good thief requires many things. Stealth. Nerve. Speed. More important than any of those things, however, was one final requirement. Luck." (Page 79)

jalena — 2021-07-08 06:10:40 UTC

"Faust The Dog" & "The Lighthouse"
"Unfurling the paper, she unwrapped two small books. The first one, Faust the Dog, was written by a man named Mattheus Ottleberg. All told, she would read that book thirteen times. On Christmas Eve, she read the first twenty pages at the kitchen table while Papa and Hans Junior argued about a thing she did not understand. Something called politics. Later, they read some more in bed, adhering to the tradition of circling the words she didn’t know and writing them down. Faust the Dog also had pictures—lovely curves and ears and caricatures of a German Shepherd with an obscene drooling problem and the ability to talk. The second book was called The Lighthouse and was written by a woman, Ingrid Rippinstein. That particular book was a little longer, so Liesel was able to get through it only nine times, her pace increasing ever so slightly by the end of such prolific readings." (Page 60)

jalena — 2021-07-08 06:12:48 UTC

"The Shoulder Shrug"
"Closer to the town hall, under a light, some shadows stood and talked, most likely exulting in the success of the fire. From Liesel’s position, their voices were only sounds. Not words at all. For a few minutes, she watched the men shoveling up the pile, at first making it smaller at the sides to allow more of it to collapse. They came back and forth from a truck, and after three return trips, when the heap was reduced near the bottom, a small section of living material slipped from inside the ash.
THE MATERIAL
Half a red flag, two posters advertising a Jewish poet, three books, and a wooden sign with something written on it in Hebrew Perhaps they were damp.
Perhaps the fire didn’t burn long enough to fully reach the depth where they sat. Whatever the reason, they were huddled among the ashes, shaken. Survivors. 'Three books.' Liesel spoke softly and she looked at the backs of the men.
'Come on,' said one of them. 'Hurry up, will you, I’m starving.' They moved toward the truck. The threesome of books poked their noses out. Liesel moved in. The heat was still strong enough to warm her when she stood at the foot of the ash heap. When she reached her hand in, she was bitten, but on the second attempt, she made sure she was fast enough. She latched onto the closest of the books. It was hot, but it was also wet, burned only at the edges, but otherwise unhurt. It was blue. The cover felt like it was woven with hundreds of tightly drawn strings and clamped down. Red letters were pressed into those fibers. The only word Liesel had time to read was Shoulder. There wasn’t enough time for the rest, and there was a problem. The smoke. Smoke lifted from the cover as she juggled it and hurried away. Her head was pulled down, and the sick beauty of nerves proved more ghastly with each stride." (Pages 80-81)

Burning Book

jalena — 2021-07-08 06:19:04 UTC

"The book felt cool enough now to slip inside her uniform. At first, it was nice and warm against her chest. As she began walking, though, it began to heat up again. By the time she made it back to Papa and Wolfgang Edel, the book was starting to burn her. It seemed to be igniting. Both men looked at her. She smiled. Immediately, when the smile shrank from her lips, she could feel something else. Or more to the point, someone else. There was no mistaking the watched feeling. It was all over her, and it was confirmed when she dared to face the shadows over at the town hall." (Page 82)
"They began to leave the scene of the crime, and the book was well and truly burning her now. The Shoulder Shrug had applied itself to her rib cage. As they walked past the precarious town hall shadows, the book thief winced. 'What’s wrong?' Papa asked.
'Nothing.' Quite a few things, however, were most definitely wrong: Smoke was rising out of Liesel’s collar. A necklace of sweat had formed around her throat. Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up." (Page 82-83)

Liesel's 14th Birthday

jalena — 2021-07-10 04:48:47 UTC

"When her birthday came around, there was no gift. There was no gift because there was no money, and at the time, Papa was out of tobacco.
'I told you.' Mama pointed a finger at him. 'I told you not to give her both books at Christmas. But no. Did you listen? Of course not!'
'I know!' He turned quietly to the girl. 'I’m sorry, Liesel. We just can’t afford it.' Liesel didn’t mind. She didn’t whine or moan or stamp her feet. She simply swallowed the disappointment and decided on one calculated risk—a present from herself. She would gather all of the accrued letters to her mother, stuff them into one envelope, and use just a tiny portion of the washing and ironing money to mail it. Then, of course, she would take the Watschen, most likely in the kitchen, and she would not make a sound." (Page 66)

The Mayor's Library

jalena — 2021-07-10 05:00:13 UTC

When Liesel stole her second book after a celebratory fire for Hitler's birthday, she noticed that Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife, had seen her steal the book from the remains of the firepit. After that she would avoid going to her house to deliver/pick up the laundry and would make excuses. After a little while she of course had to visit her house. When she did, Isela Hermann did not ask or question Liesel about the fact that she saw her steal a book so Liesel assumed that maybe she had not seen her steal a book and that when she had caught her staring, she must've just been looking at something else or daydreaming but that was not the case. The next time she returned, the mayor's wife invited her into the house and lead her to a room filled with many books that were stacked on shelves. The mayor's wife would let Liesel stay and read in their library whenever she stopped by for laundry. (Pages 88-93)

Storage Room

jalena — 2021-07-10 05:22:47 UTC

Max, a hungry Jewish man from the town of Stuttgart, is hiding in a secret storage area, sitting on his luggage in the dark. After some time a man enters and gives him a copy of Mein Kampf with an identity card, map, and key inside as well as carrots, stale bread, and a chunk of fat to ration. Max consumes a part of the food and resumes his wait after the man leaves. The man is revealed to be Walter Kugler, Max's friend, who is helping him to hide. (Pages 94-96)

jalena — 2021-07-10 06:02:51 UTC

Stealing Apples
Due to rationing during WWII, Rudy and Liesel barely have enough to eat and are constantly hungry. They become involved with a gang of kids who steal apples from a nearby orchard. Liesel and Rudy were given a dozen apples between them. They each ate six apples in a row causing Liesel to become sick as a result but she found the upset stomach worth it. (Pages 101-104)

jalena — 2021-07-10 06:11:19 UTC

Coins For Candy
Liesel and Rudy picked up a pfennig or coin from the ground that was in some dirt and brought it to Frau Diller's corner shop. They asked for mixed candy and Frau Diller handed them a piece of candy which they divide outside the shop alternating after ten licks each because it was too hard to bite in half. (Pages 105-106)

jalena — 2021-08-08 20:19:11 UTC

Rudy's Icy Plan
Liesel and Rudy come up with a plan to steal from a boy from school named Otto Sturm, who would deliver food to the priests every Friday. The plan was that Rudy would bring two buckets of water and dump them onto the road Otto biked on and the cold water would freeze into ice which would cause Otto's bike to lose control. The plan was a success and once they managed to steal the basket of food, they share these goods with Arthur's gang. (Pages 110-112)

jalena — 2021-08-09 05:44:12 UTC

Caught On A Wired Fence
Liesel, Rudy, and Arthur's gang steals from a potato farmer who catches them and chases them down with an ax. Arthur and Liesel come to Rudy's rescue after his pants were caught on a wire from climbing over a fence to get away. They all successfully make it out which of course lead to the farmer threatening to find them. A few weeks later Arthur moves away to Cologne, and as a parting gift, they were given a present of chestnuts. Liesel and Rudy each eat one chestnut before selling the rest for some money to use at Frau Diller's shop. (Pages 112-114)

Train Ride

jalena — 2021-08-09 05:55:42 UTC

Max and Walter met once more and a final package was left. This time there was a train ticket. Max took out Mein Kampf from his suitcase and put the ticket in the book together with the other items his friend left inside. Max emerges from hiding after some time and boards a train, clutching the book that he was handed. He boards the train from Stuttgart to Munich, sweating and anxious the entire way, terrified of getting caught. To avoid arousing suspicion on the train, he pretends to read the book. (Pages 107-109)

Himmel Street House 33

jalena — 2021-08-09 06:09:29 UTC

Max counts his steps in thirteens for luck as he gets closer and closer to the Hubermanns and Liesel. He walked to Himmel Street, number 33, after memorizing the map he was given. He then took the key out from his pocket and struggled to open the door once he arrived at his destination. The year was November 1940. Max Vandenburg, 24, approached Hans Hubermann in the kitchen, asking whether he still played the accordion which was code for if he would help him. (Pages 115-116) (Page 125)

jalena — 2021-08-09 06:33:49 UTC

An Old Promise
Hans encounters a Jew name Erik Vandenburg during World War I, who teaches him how to play the accordion. Erik unintentionally saves Hans's life by nominating him as the best handwriting soldier, allowing him to assist in the writing of letters whilst the rest of the men battled and unfortunately all ended up perishing. Hans keeps Erik's accordion after his death and delivered it to his wife once the war ended. However, she let Hans keep the accordion because they had many accordions at their house and that one in particular was a painful reminder of him. Hans informed her that her husband had taught him how to play and she requested that he play for her. Hans played “Blue Danube Waltz" which was Erik's favorite. A kid later approaches Vandenberg's wife and Hans discovered that they had a son. He then informs the mother that she can call him if she ever needs anything. After Hans returns to Molching, he hesitates to join the Nazi Party, but his business suffered as a result of his non-affiliation, so he filled out an application. Meanwhile, he assists Joel Kleinmann, a Jewish shopkeeper, in painting up his vandalized door. As a result, he is denied for membership in the Nazi Party, but he is placed on a waiting list. Hans' residence is investigated after Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. There had been two days of violent attacks against Jews in November 1939. The Nazis let him and his family stay in Molching after finding nothing suspicious. His application on the waiting list, as well as the fact that the people of Molching like his accordion playing, most likely was what saved him. Walter Kugler contacts Hans six months after Liesel arrives, asking if Hans is willing to uphold the promise he made to Erik Vandenburg's wife. (Pages 118-124)

Passion For Fighting

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:10:42 UTC

moved in with his uncle and six cousins after his father died and his mother lost all of her money. This is when he began to fight. Max loved to fight and he recalled watching his uncle die at the age of thirteen and thinking to himself, "That man didn't put up a fight." He pledged at that moment that when death came for him, he would "feel his fist on his face." In the evenings, he and a gang of guys would get together to fight. He develops a close bond with Walter Kugler through fighting and in the future, Walter shelters him from the Nazis. The Nuremberg Laws impose additional hardships on Jews, and Max is having difficulty finding work. On Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," November 9, 1938, Max and his family hide in their apartment when they hear a knock. Outside, Walter is dressed in a Nazi uniform, and he takes Max with him. Max feels bad for abandoning his family while yet feeling relieved. Max's mother gives him Hans Hubermann's name and address before he leaves. Before Walter ships out to Poland, Walter hides Max for two years, contacts Hans, and gives Max the things he needs to get to Molching. (Pages 126-132)

Pea Soup

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:32:50 UTC

Rosa hands some of her pea soup to Max and stands behind him, triumphant. This look, Liesel feels, has less to do with saving another person's life and more to do with the pride in her soup, which Liesel and Hans frequently scoff about. Max then throws up in the sink, claiming that his stomach wasn't ready for the meal. (Page 133)

Liesel's Lecture

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:41:28 UTC

Max sleeps in Liesel's room that night. Hans tells Liesel the next morning that she won't be going to school that day because she's "sick." He leads her down to the basement and warns her that she must not tell anybody about Max, and that if she does, he will take all of her books away and burn them. He also informs her that he, Rosa, and Max would be taken from her if she did and that she would never see them again. Liesel sobs as she nods in understanding. (Pages 134-137)

Max's Nightmares

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:48:37 UTC

Max sleeps for three days while Liesel observes him and notices that he, too, has nightmares. One day when Liesel hears Max waking up from his nightmares, she tells him about her own. She makes the decision that she can now cope with her nightmares on her own. (Pages 138-139) (Page 148)

Guilt

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:55:55 UTC

Max relocates to the basement, feeling guilty for abandoning his family and endangering Hans, Rosa, and Liesel. His remorse stems from his want to live. (Pages 140-141) (Page 147)

Argument About Max

jalena — 2021-08-09 07:59:00 UTC

"Each night, before the descent into sleep, she would hear Mama and Papa in the kitchen, discussing what had been done, what they were doing now, and what needed to happen next. All the while, an image of Max hovered next to her. It was always the injured, thankful expression on his face and the swamp-filled eyes. Only once was there an outburst in the kitchen. Papa. 'I know!' His voice was abrasive, but he brought it back to a muffled whisper in a hurry. 'I have to keep going, though, at least a few times a week. I can’t be here all the time. We need the money, and if I quit playing there, they’ll get suspicious. They might wonder why I’ve stopped. I told them you were sick last week, but now we have to do everything like we always have.' Therein lay the problem. Life had altered in the wildest possible way, but it was imperative that they act as if nothing at all had happened. Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day. That was the business of hiding a Jew." (Page 142)

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:06:45 UTC

Good For A Crisis
"What shocked Liesel most was the change in her mama. Whether it was the calculated way in which she divided the food, or the considerable muzzling of her notorious mouth, or even the gentler expression on her cardboard face, one thing was becoming clear." (Page 143)

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:12:06 UTC

"The Whistler"
"Also, there was the mayor’s wife, and reading in her husband’s library. It was cold in there now, colder with every visit, but still Liesel could not stay away. She would choose a handful of books and read small segments of each, until one afternoon, she found one she could not put down. It was called The Whistler. She was originally drawn to it because of her sporadic sightings of the whistler of Himmel Street— Pfiffikus. There was the memory of him bent over in his coat and his appearance at the bonfire on the Führer’s birthday. The first event in the book was a murder. A stabbing. A Vienna street. Not far from the Stephansdom—the cathedral in the main square." (Page 143)

Resumed Lessons

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:21:46 UTC

Liesel is forced to deliver meals to Max in the basement by Rosa and Hans. She notices him reading Mein Kampf and wants to ask about it, but she can't think of the right words. Hans takes her downstairs one night to continue their reading sessions. He orders her to bring The Shoulder Shrug, to read so she isn't slacking off. (Page 144)

Fireplace

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:22:31 UTC

Hans notices how cold it is for Max in the basement so they let him start coming upstairs at night to stay by the fire in Rosa and Hans' room, reading and sleeping, before returning to the cellar in the morning. Max tells them stories about his life, his family, and his escape while sitting by the fire. (Pages 144-145)

Bath

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:31:53 UTC

"For the first few weeks in front of the fire, Max remained wordless. Now that he was having a proper bath once a week, Liesel noticed that his hair was no longer a nest of twigs, but rather a collection of feathers, flopping about on his head. Still shy of the stranger, she whispered it to her papa." (Page 146)

"Bathroom"

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:36:56 UTC

"It was they who took the food down and organized an empty paint can for Max’s excrement. The contents would be disposed of by Hans as prudently as possible. Rosa also took him some buckets of hot water to wash himself. The Jew was filthy." (Page 141)

Crossword Puzzles

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:47:01 UTC

"In the outside world, Liesel was learning to find some more of its uses. One afternoon, when she was walking home with an empty washing bag, she noticed a newspaper poking out of a garbage can. The weekly edition of the Molching Express. She lifted it out and took it home, presenting it to Max. 'I thought,' she told him, 'you might like to do the crossword to pass the time.' Max appreciated the gesture, and to justify her bringing it home, he read the paper from cover to cover and showed her the puzzle a few hours later, completed but for one word." (Page 149)
"Thursday was the only delivery day left for Liesel Meminger now, and it was usually able to provide some sort of dividend. She could never dampen the feeling of victory each time she found a Molching Express or any other publication. Finding a newspaper was a good day. If it was a paper in which the crossword wasn’t done, it was a great day. She would make her way home, shut the door behind her, and take it down to Max Vandenburg." (Page 170)

Liesel's 12th Birthday

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:52:57 UTC

"In February 1941, for her twelfth birthday, Liesel received another used book, and she was grateful. It was called The Mud Men and was about a very strange father and son. She hugged her mama and papa, while Max stood uncomfortably in the corner. 'Alles Gute zum Geburtstag.' He smiled weakly. 'All the best for your birthday.' His hands were in his pockets. 'I didn’t know, or else I could have given you something.' A blatant lie—he had nothing to give, except maybe Mein Kampf, and there was no way he’d give such propaganda to a young German girl. That would be like the lamb handing a knife to the butcher. There was an uncomfortable silence. She had embraced Mama and Papa. Max looked so alone. Liesel swallowed. And she walked over and hugged him for the first time.
'Thanks, Max.' At first, he merely stood there, but as she held on to him, gradually his hands rose up and gently pressed into her shoulder blades. Only later would she find out about the helpless expression on Max Vandenburg’s face. She would also discover that he resolved at that moment to give her something back. I often imagine him lying awake all that night, pondering what he could possibly offer. As it turned out, the gift was delivered on paper, just over a week later. He would bring it to her in the early hours of morning, before retreating down the concrete steps to what he now liked to call home." (Page 149)

jalena — 2021-08-09 08:56:13 UTC

"The Mud Men"
"In February 1941, for her twelfth birthday, Liesel received another used book, and she was grateful. It was called The Mud Men and was about a very strange father and son. She hugged her mama and papa, while Max stood uncomfortably in the corner." (Page 149)

"The Standover Man"

jalena — 2021-08-09 09:06:59 UTC

Hans and Rosa keep Liesel out of the basement for a week since they know Max is working on a book for her as a late birthday gift. In the basement Max paints white over the pages of Mein Kampf and hangs them to dry. Then he paints a thirteen page tale with text and illustrations in black paint. He imagines himself as a bird because Liesel once told him that his hair looked like feathers. The Standover Man is the story of his friendship with Liesel, and the pages of the book are used in the novel. When Max finally finished, he placed it in Liesel's bedroom for her to read the next morning. Liesel sees the story and illustrations of Max's trip to Himmel Street, his fear on the way, his horrible nightmares, and how he and Liesel shared many things in common, including their bad dreams. They help one other by talking about their nightmare, and Max writes about Liesel's birthday present to him which was a hug. (Pages 150-165)

jalena — 2021-08-09 09:09:34 UTC

"The Standover Man"
The Standover Man is a story Max Vandenburg wrote of his friendship with Liesel, and the pages of Mein Kampf are used in the novel but were painted over in white. When Max finally finished, he placed it in Liesel's bedroom for her to read the next morning. Liesel sees the story and illustrations of Max's trip to Himmel Street, his fear on the way, his horrible nightmares, and how he and Liesel shared many things in common, including their bad dreams. (Pages 150-165)

jalena — 2021-08-09 23:53:51 UTC

Amper River
Rudy plunged into the freezing Amper River in order to help Liesel in retrieving the floating book "The Whistler." He then asks for a kiss after catching up to and getting the book out, but of course, Liesel refused. (Page 167)
In order to avoid running into Franz and one of his friends while heading home one day in December, Liesel and Rudy took a different route. Liesel held "The Whistler" because she liked the feel of it in her hands. Even though they dodged Franz, they ran into someone just as unpleasant. Viktor Chemmel and his gang were near the Amper River. Viktor made good on his promise to make Rudy pay but snatched Liesel's book from her hands and threw it into the river. Rudy chased it down, obtained it, and sought a kiss from Liesel who once again declined. (Pages 207-209)

Rudy With Liesel

jalena — 2021-08-09 23:57:59 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-10 00:08:37 UTC

Rudy's Death
"Recollections like those merely remind me that he was not deserving of the fate that met him a little under two years later. On many counts, taking a boy like Rudy was robbery—so much life, so much to live for—yet somehow, I’m certain he would have loved to see the frightening rubble and the swelling of the sky on the night he passed away. He’d have cried and turned and smiled if only he could have seen the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body. He’d have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips. 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." (Page 167)

Haircut

jalena — 2021-08-10 05:44:59 UTC

In mid-April 1941, Max wanted a haircut and asked Liesel to give him one saying that she could make "as many mistakes" as she wanted. (Pages 168-169)

Quizzes With Max

jalena — 2021-08-10 05:55:12 UTC

"Increasingly, Liesel would close her eyes and ask Max to quiz her on the words she was continually getting wrong, and she would swear if they still escaped her. She would then stand and paint those words to the wall, anywhere up to a dozen times. Together, Max Vandenburg and Liesel Meminger would take in the odor of paint fumes and cement." (Page 171)

The Weather

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:04:32 UTC

Max was curious about the weather because he couldn't go outdoors to observe for himself so he asked Liesel to describe it to him. Liesel said that the clouds were "stretched out like ropes" and the "sun was like a yellow hole." Max knew that only a child would describe the weather like that. He painted a picture of her description on the basement wall and drew a picture of him and Liesel walking the rope of clouds. (Page 172)

Boxing The Fuhrer

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:13:56 UTC

Max had the overwhelming feeling of vanishing. As a result, he decided to start exercising and started doing push-ups and sit-ups. He fantasized about being in a boxing ring with the Fuhrer, surrounded by a vast and noisy audience. Despite his efforts to fight back, the match would be set up for him to lose, and Hitler would then use his remarks to turn the crowd against him. (Pages 172-175)

Boxing The Führer

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:16:40 UTC

Max had the overwhelming feeling of vanishing. As a result, he decided to start exercising and started doing push-ups and sit-ups. He fantasized about being in a boxing ring with the Führer, surrounded by a vast and noisy audience. Despite his efforts to fight back, the match would be set up for him to lose, and Hitler would then use his remarks to turn the crowd against him. (Pages 172-175)

"The Word Shaker"

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:21:24 UTC

"Another of Max’s projects was the remainder of Mein Kampf. Each page was gently stripped from the book and laid out on the floor to receive a coat of paint. It was then hung up to dry and replaced between the front and back covers. When Liesel came down one day after school, she found Max, Rosa, and her papa all painting the various pages. Many of them were already hanging from a drawn-out string with pegs, just as they must have done for The Standover Man." (Page 176)
"Many months later, he would also paint over the cover of that book and give it a new title, after one of the stories he would write and illustrate inside it. That afternoon, in the secret ground below 33 Himmel Street, the Hubermanns, Liesel Meminger, and Max Vandenburg prepared the pages of The Word Shaker." (Page 177)

Painting Pages

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:24:53 UTC

Hans, Rosa, Max, and Liesel continue to paint over the remaining pages of "Mein Kampf" in white so that they Max can create another book called "The Work Shaker." (Page 177)

Fired & Betrayed

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:51:19 UTC

Liesel delivered the washing to 8 Grande Strasse once more and she read in the library again. For the second time, Frau Hermann insisted that Liesel take "The Whistler home" with her. This time, Liesel accepted. Then, Frau Hermann handed Liesel a letter in which she apologized and told her to apologize to her mother, too. Even though Frau Hermann had not told Liesel what she was apologizing about, she knew that Rosa had been fired from her job. According to Frau Hermann, Liesel was welcome to come by and read anytime. Liesel walked away and sat on the stairs at the front door as she read the mayor's note explaining why the Hermanns were canceling their laundry service. She became increasingly enraged with the mayor and his wife as she made her way back home, especially with the gift of The Whistler because it had been given to her out of pity. She then returned to the mayor's residence and knocked on Frau Hermann's door scolding her and telling her that she didn't want her useless book and that she wouldn't accept her pity gift. She adds angrily that Frau Hermann and her husband should start doing their own laundry while sitting in their mansion. Liesel then brought up Frau Hermann's deceased son, saying that she needed to accept the fact that he was dead and that she was pathetic. She tossed "The Whistler" at Frau Hermann's feet and noticed the pained expression she had on her face because of her words. (Pages 178-181)

jalena — 2021-08-10 06:57:54 UTC

Laps
After Tommy made a mistake while marching, Franz Deutscher, the commander of Rudy's Hitler Youth squad, made Rudy and Tommy Müller run laps. Tommy's hearing loss prevented him from knowing when to stop during the marches, and Rudy tried to inform Franz Deutscher resulting in him getting in trouble as well. Tommy and Rudy returned home angry and muddy after their run. Rudy tries to win Liesel's pity and a kiss, but he fails. (Pages 183-186)
In the month of October 1941, Rudy returned home covered in cow manure from Hitler Youth. Their running field had just been fertilized, and Franz Deutscher forced him to run. (Page 194)

Hell

jalena — 2021-08-10 07:03:19 UTC

"Papa hadn’t shaved for a few days and he rubbed the scratchy whiskers every two or three minutes. His silver eyes were flat and calm, slightly warm, as they always were when it came to Liesel. When the reading petered out, Papa fell asleep. It was then that Liesel spoke what she’d wanted to say all along. 'Papa,' she whispered, 'I think I’m going to hell.' Her legs were warm. Her knees were cold. She remembered the nights when she’d wet the bed and Papa had washed the sheets and taught her the letters of the alphabet. Now his breathing blew across the blanket and she kissed his scratchy cheek. 'You need a shave,' she said.
'You’re not going to hell,' Papa replied. For a few moments, she watched his face. Then she lay back down, leaned on him, and together, they slept, very much in Munich, but somewhere on the seventh side of Germany’s die." (Page 182)

jalena — 2021-08-10 07:21:27 UTC

New Leader
Liesel and Rudy were prepared to steal once more. Andy Schmeikl, an old friend, invited them to a gang gathering where they would meet Viktor Chemmel, the new leader, who steals not because he has to, but because he simply wants to. Chemmel claims that there's nothing wrong with wanting more especially since the Führer himself stated as much. Both Rudy and Liesel think that he's disdainful. They accompanied him on his thievery, and they noticed that the apple trees were in a terrible condition. After they were done collecting apples, Chemmel only let Rudy and Liesel have an apple between them. Rudy protested so Chemmel pinned him to the ground. He spat at Chemmel's feet as he stood up and walked away, Chemmel vowed that he'd make Rudy pay for that later. (Pages 187-189)

"You scared me, Max."

jalena — 2021-08-10 07:33:41 UTC

Max writes a book on his life. While he slept, Liesel noticed it beside him and opened it. She observed the drawings of Hitler ordering a crowd, as well as a man and woman standing atop a heap of bodies beneath a swastika sun. As Liesel looked through the book, she was startled as Max awoke from his slumber. (Pages 190-193)

jalena — 2021-08-10 07:54:08 UTC

Breaking Into The Mayor's Library
Rudy told Liesel that he wanted to steal something but this time without Chemmel and the group. Liesel made the decision to steal from the mayor's residence. Every day, they would look for the open window into the library, and it was finally open one evening. Liesel broke into the house through the window and took The Whistler. She had not wanted the book out of pity but she had no problem with stealing it. The plan was for her to grab food because Rudy was hungry, but he quickly grasped Liesel's true intentions. She had only intended on retrieving the book. As the Hermanns began to descend the steps Liesel jumped back out the window where Rudy had been waiting outside, and they both made a run for it. Rudy accidentally left behind her shoes so he went back to retrieve them and returned them to her. That night, Rudy gave Liesel the title of "the book thief." (Pages 195-201)

Official Title

jalena — 2021-08-10 07:57:04 UTC

"He laughed. 'Good night, book thief.' It was the first time Liesel had been branded with her title, and she couldn’t hide the fact that she liked it very much. As we’re both aware, she’d stolen books previously, but in late October 1941, it became official. That night, Liesel Meminger truly became the book thief." (Page 201)

jalena — 2021-08-10 08:06:35 UTC

Large Potato
At Mamer's, the neighborhood grocery store, Rudy attempted to steal one of the largest potatoes. Thomas Mamer grabbed him by the scruff of his neck when a group of women pointed him out. Mamer advised his wife to contact the cops but Rudy begged him not to because his family was poor and hungry. In line at the store, Rudy recognized Herr Link, a schoolteacher, and pleaded for him to enlighten Mamer about his poor family. Herr Link completed the task at hand, even exaggerating some details. Mamer decided to let Rudy go, but he was banished from the store. (Pages 202-203)

jalena — 2021-08-10 08:19:00 UTC

The Flieger Division
Even though he knew the answer, Rudy refused to answer correctly when asked the date of Hitler's birth at the Hitler Youth sessions. He continued to be disciplined by Franz Deutscher as a result of this. Rudy spotted Franz and some of his friends walking down the sidewalk a few days later. Rudy hurled a rock at him while he was with Liesel, Tommy, and Tommy's sister, Kristina. As a result, Franz assaulted Rudy and sliced his hair off with his knife. Rudy stopped attending his Hitler Youth meetings after he attended a few more times after the beating to show Franz Deutscher he wasn't afraid of him. His parents began to receive letters that asked him to return or else the Steiners would be fined. Eventually, Rudy, along with Tommy, were given the opportunity to join a different division, the Flieger Division, where they could learn about aircraft and flying. In his new division, Rudy always gave the correct answer to Hitler's birth date. (Pages 203-206)

1942

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:29:23 UTC

"There were certainly some rounds to be made that year, from Poland to Russia to Africa and back again. You might argue that I make the rounds no matter what year it is, but sometimes the human race likes to crank things up a little. They increase the production of bodies and their escaping souls. A few bombs usually do the trick. Or some gas chambers, or the chitchat of faraway guns. If none of that finishes proceedings, it at least strips people of their living arrangements, and I witness the homeless everywhere. They often come after me as I wander through the streets of molested cities. They beg me to take them with me, not realizing I’m too busy as it is. 'Your time will come,' I convince them, and I try not to look back. At times, I wish I could say something like, 'Don’t you see I’ve already got enough on my plate?' but I never do. I complain internally as I go about my work, and some years, the souls and bodies don’t add up; they multiply." (Page 211)

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:38:50 UTC

Humans, Colors, & Death
"So many humans. So many colors. They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. I see them tall in their heaps, all mounted on top of each other. There is air like plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are skies manufactured by people, punctured and leaking, and there are soft, coal-colored clouds, beating like black hearts. And then. There is death. Making his way through all of it. On the surface: unflappable, unwavering. Below: unnerved, untied, and undone." (Page 211-212)

Death's Viewpoint On War

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:40:50 UTC

"They say that war is death’s best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one. To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly: 'Get it done, get it done.' So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more." (Page 212)

Death's Image

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:44:08 UTC

"I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I’ll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue." (Page 211)

Library Of Stories

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:46:44 UTC

"Often, I try to remember the strewn pieces of beauty I saw in that time as well. I plow through my library of stories. In fact, I reach for one now. I believe you know half of it already, and if you come with me, I’ll show you the rest. I’ll show you the second half of a book thief." (Page 212)

Snowman

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:57:39 UTC

Liesel had carried pots and pans filled with snow to the basement for Max on Christmas Eve. With Hans and even Rosa, they had a snowball fight. Following that, they made a snowman and kept it in the basement to melt. Max's health began to decline that night and throughout January. He fainted in February, shortly before Liesel's thirteenth birthday, and was then placed in Liesel's room. Liesel overheard Rosa and Hans discussing how the snow was most likely the cause of Max's illness, and Liesel had placed the blame on herself. (Pages 213-216)

Snow Sickness

jalena — 2021-08-11 05:59:32 UTC

Max's Fight With Death

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:04:06 UTC

"I realized much later that I actually visited 33 Himmel Street in that period of time. It must have been one of the few moments when the girl was not there with him, for all I saw was a man in bed. I knelt. I readied myself to insert my hands through the blankets. Then there was a resurgence—an immense struggle against my weight. I withdrew, and with so much work ahead of me, it was nice to be fought off in that dark little room. I even managed a short, closed-eyed pause of serenity before I made my way out." (Page 217)

Conscious For A Short Period Of Time

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:11:38 UTC

"On the fifth day, there was much excitement when Max opened his eyes, if only for a few moments. What he predominantly saw (and what a frightening version it must have been close-up) was Rosa Hubermann, practically slinging an armful of soup into his mouth. 'Swallow,' she advised him. 'Don’t think. Just swallow.' As soon as Mama handed back the bowl, Liesel tried to see his face again, but there was a soup-feeder’s backside in the way.
'Is he still awake?' When she turned, Rosa did not have to answer. After close to a week, Max woke up a second time, on this occasion with Liesel and Papa in the room. They were both watching the body in the bed when there was a small groan. If it’s possible, Papa fell upward, out of the chair.
'Look,' Liesel gasped. 'Stay awake, Max, stay awake.' He looked at her briefly, but there was no recognition. The eyes studied her as if she were a riddle. Then gone again." (Page 217)

13 Presents

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:21:47 UTC

Liesel began gathering gifts to show that she cared about Max and so that they could have something to talk about when he was conscious again. These gifts consisted of thirteen things total: a ribbon, a pinecone, a button, a stone, a feather, two newspapers, a candy wrapper, a cloud description, a toy soldier, a "miraculous" leaf, reading the rest of "The Whistler" to Max, and finally, "a stab of grief." (Pages 217-221)

"The Dream Carrier"

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:35:52 UTC

Liesel and Rudy made their way back to the mayor's residence. Liesel was insistent about not leaving without a book. She snatched "The Dream Carrier" after climbing through the window. Death implied that Frau Hermann might have intentionally left the window open, or at least that's what he wanted to believe. Liesel read the new stolen book to Max and she hoped that the words would nourish him. (Pages 222-224)

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:36:28 UTC

"The Dream Carrier"
Liesel and Rudy made their way back to the mayor's residence. Liesel was insistent about not leaving without a book. She snatched "The Dream Carrier" after climbing through the window. (Page 222)

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:39:01 UTC

Dead Jew

jalena — 2021-08-11 06:57:02 UTC

Liesel overheard Rosa and Hans discussing what should be done if Max died after nearly a month had gone without him waking up. Liesel had a dream that she was back on the train with her brother, only this time her brother's features had been replaced by Max's. (Pages 224-225)

Liesel's New Nightmares

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:03:05 UTC

"But the very moment she’d finished the sentence, she saw exactly what had happened in her dream.
ONE SMALL IMAGE
For the most part, all is identical. The train moves at the same speed. Copiously, her brother coughs. This time, however, Liesel cannot see his face watching the floor. Slowly, she leans over. Her hand lifts him gently, from his chin, and there in front of her is the wide-eyed face of Max Vandenburg. He stares at her. A feather drops to the floor. The body is bigger now, matching the size of the face. The train screams." (Page 225)
“Stupid with fear, she walked through the hallway to Max. After many minutes at his side, when everything slowed, she attempted to interpret the dream. Was it a premonition of Max’s death? Or was it merely a reaction to the afternoon conversation in the kitchen? Had Max now replaced her brother? And if so, how could she discard her own flesh and blood in such a way? Perhaps it was even a deep-seated wish for Max to die. After all, if it was good enough for Werner, her brother, it was good enough for this Jew. 'Is that what you think?' she whispered, standing above the bed. 'No.' She could not believe it. Her answer was sustained as the numbness of the dark waned and outlined the various shapes, big and small, on the bedside table. The presents." (Page 225)

Max Awakes

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:18:28 UTC

Soon another eight days have passed. Rosa then appeared in Liesel's classroom and dragged her out into the hallway while she was at school. She pretended to be enraged at Liesel for losing her hairbrush before whispering to her that Max was awake. Liesel continued to read to Max later that afternoon. He was terrified of falling asleep and not waking up again so she promised that she would not allow him to do so. (Pages 226-228)

Finally Awake

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:20:53 UTC

Soon another eight days have passed and Max was finally awake. He looked at the thirteen gifts Liesel had left him and said that the toy soldier was his favorite. Liesel continued to read to Max later that afternoon. He was terrified of falling asleep and not waking up again so she promised that she would not allow him to do so. He awoke every morning in Liesel's bed for the next four days, then next to the fireplace, and finally in the basement by mid-April. His health had improved, his beard had vanished, and he had regained a few pounds. (Pages 226-228)

Cologne Bombs

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:26:16 UTC

"The fallen hours of May 30. I’m sure Liesel Meminger was fast asleep when more than a thousand bomber planes flew toward a place known as Köln. For me, the result was five hundred people or thereabouts. Fifty thousand others ambled homelessly around the ghostly piles of rubble, trying to work out which way was which, and which slabs of broken home belonged to whom. Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms. By the time I was finished, the sky was yellow, like burning newspaper. If I looked closely, I could see the words, reporting headlines, commentating on the progress of the war and so forth. How I’d have loved to pull it all down, to screw up the newspaper sky and toss it away. My arms ached and I couldn’t afford to burn my fingers. There was still so much work to be done." (Page 229)

Basement Assessment

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:48:29 UTC

The NSDAP assessed the basements of Molching homes in May 1942 to see if they could be used as air-raid shelters. While Liesel played soccer outdoors, they walked up and down Himmel Street. She realized she needed to inform Rosa and Hans about the inspections, so she devised a scheme to slip away from the game and depart early without arousing suspicion. She intentionally crashed hard with another soccer player, injuring her knee, in order to be sent home. Before the Nazi party arrived at their house, Liesel informed Hans of what was about to happen. Hans instructed everyone to do nothing and to act as though everything was normal. The man who completed the inspection recognized Liesel as the crazy soccer player and teased her. He then proceeded to the basement. Max hid under the drop cloths beneath the stairwell. When the Nazi returned after three minutes, he advised them that the basement was not suitable for a shelter. He then departed, completely unaware that there had been a Jew in the basement. (Pages 231-235)

jalena — 2021-08-11 07:58:51 UTC

Checking On Liesel
Rudy walked over to the Hubermann's house so he could check if Liesel was all right. Hans had referred to Rudy as Liesel's boyfriend which she quickly denied. When she refused to steal cigarettes from Hans after Rudy asked her to, he laughed at her and told her that she smelled like a criminal or a thief in particular. (Pages 236-237)

The Parisians

jalena — 2021-08-11 08:06:38 UTC

Death claimed that the sky was the color of Jews in June 1942. He recalled the desperate individuals he had to transport, including those from Auschwitz and Mauthausen, as well as a group of French Jews he remembered being held in a German prison. He looked for God and answers, but not even God would answer him. Death did his best to warm the souls he took, kissing a few of them on their cheeks. (Pages 238-239)

Summer Of 1942

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:14:32 UTC

"In the summer of 1942, the town of Molching was preparing for the inevitable. There were still people who refused to believe that this small town on Munich’s outskirts could be a target, but the majority of the population was well aware that it was not a question of if, but when. Shelters were more clearly marked, windows were in the process of being blackened for the nights, and everyone knew where the closest basement or cellar was. For Hans Hubermann, this uneasy development was actually a slight reprieve. At an unfortunate time, good luck had somehow found its way into his painting business. People with blinds were desperate enough to enlist his services to paint them. His problem was that black paint was normally used more as a mixer, to darken other colors, and it was soon depleted and hard to find. What he did have was the knack of being a good tradesman, and a good tradesman has many tricks. He took coal dust and stirred it through, and he worked cheap. There were many houses in all parts of Molching in which he confiscated the window light from enemy eyes. On some of his workdays, Liesel went with him. They carted his paint through town, smelling the hunger on some of the streets and shaking their heads at the wealth on others. Many times, on the way home, women with nothing but kids and poverty would come running out and plead with him to paint their blinds." (Page 241)

Champagne

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:20:08 UTC

"Tall glasses stood on the table. They were filled with crackling liquid. 'Well,' said the man, 'here we go.' He took up his glass and urged the others to do the same. The afternoon had been warm. Liesel was slightly put off by the coolness of her glass. She looked at Papa for approval. He grinned and said, 'Prost, Mädel—cheers, girl.' Their glasses chimed together and the moment Liesel raised it to her mouth, she was bitten by the fizzy, sickly sweet taste of champagne. Her reflexes forced her to spit straight onto her papa’s overalls, watching it foam and dribble. A shot of laughter followed from all of them, and Hans encouraged her to give it another try. On the second attempt she was able to swallow it, and enjoy the taste of a glorious broken rule. It felt great. The bubbles ate her tongue. They prickled her stomach. Even as they walked to the next job, she could feel the warmth of pins and needles inside her." (Page 242)
"In the basement, when she wrote about her life, Liesel vowed that she would never drink champagne again, for it would never taste as good as it did on that warm afternoon in July." (Page 243)

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:26:07 UTC

Hitler Youth Carnival
"In the middle of August, a Hitler Youth carnival was being held, and Rudy was intent on winning four events: the 1500, 400, 200, and of course, the 100. He liked his new Hitler Youth leaders and wanted to please them, and he wanted to show his old friend Franz Deutscher a thing or two." (Page 244)
"Rudy ran. He did not look back at any stage. Like an elastic rope, he lengthened his lead until any thought of someone else winning snapped altogether. He took himself around the track as the three runners behind him fought each other for the scraps. In the homestretch, there was nothing but blond hair and space, and when he crossed the line, he didn’t stop. He didn’t raise his arm. There wasn’t even a bent-over relief. He simply walked another twenty meters and eventually looked over his shoulder to watch the others cross the line." (Page 245)
"Not only was Rudy recognized now as a good school student. He was a gifted athlete, too." (Page 246)
"In the 400 final, he led from the backstretch to the end, and he won the 200 only narrowly." (Page 246)
"Set for the second time, Liesel watched with concentration, and for the first few seconds, she could not believe what she was seeing. Another false start was recorded and it was the same athlete who had done it. In front of her, she created a perfect race, in which Rudy trailed but came home to win in the last ten meters. What she actually saw, however, was Rudy’s disqualification. He was escorted to the side of the track and was made to stand there, alone, as the remainder of boys stepped forward." (Page 247)
"'I did it on purpose.' When the confession registered, Liesel asked the only question available.
'But why, Rudy? Why did you do it?' He was standing with a hand on his hip, and he did not answer. There was nothing but a knowing smile and a slow walk that lolled him home. They never talked about it again. For Liesel’s part, she often wondered what Rudy’s answer might have been had she pushed him. Perhaps three medals had shown what he’d wanted to show, or he was afraid to lose that final race. In the end, the only explanation she allowed herself to hear was an inner teenage voice. 'Because he isn’t Jesse Owens.'" (Page 247)

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jalena — 2021-08-14 05:28:53 UTC

Bettina Steiner

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:29:25 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:31:11 UTC

The Youngest Of The Steiner Children
"'Where?' said one of the girls. Probably Bettina, the youngest. 'I can’t see him at all.'" (Page 245)

Hitler Youth Carnival

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:35:53 UTC

"For Liesel, there was the 400. She finished seventh, then fourth in her heat of the 200. All she could see up ahead were the hamstrings and bobbing ponytails of the girls in front. In the long jump, she enjoyed the sand packed around her feet more than any distance, and the shot put wasn’t her greatest moment, either. This day, she realized, was Rudy’s." (Page 246)

jalena — 2021-08-14 05:53:58 UTC

"A Song in the Dark"
"This is the part where Liesel finishes The Dream Carrier and steals a story called A Song in the Dark. As always, it was taken from the mayor’s house. The only difference was that she made her way to the upper part of town alone. There was no Rudy that day." (Page 248)
"Typically, many of the titles tempted her, but after a good minute or two in the room, she settled for A Song in the Dark, most likely because the book was green, and she did not yet own a book of that color. The engraved writing on the cover was white, and there was a small insignia of a flute between the title and the name of the author." (Page 248)

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:02:52 UTC

"The Complete Duden Dictionary And Thesaurus"
Rudy came to get Liesel on another day to show her what was in the window of 8 Grande Strasse. There was a book. Liesel and Rudy weren't sure whether it was a set-up, but she stole it nonetheless. When she inspected the book, she noticed it was a dictionary and thesaurus. While pedaling away, she saw Ilsa Hermann at the window who waved to Liesel, as she waved back in shock. When she opened the book, she discovered a note from Ilsa Hermann, in which she apologized for firing Rosa and admitted that she knew Liesel had been taking the books. She said she wouldn't stop Liesel from stealing the books because she would only take one at a time and it would take numerous visits to empty the library. The last thing she added in her letter was that one day she hoped Liesel would stop sneaking in through the window and start coming in through the front door again. (Pages 248-251)

Happiness

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:09:24 UTC

"Liesel Meminger was a criminal. But not because she’d stolen a handful of books through an open window. You should have knocked, she thought, and although there was a good portion of guilt, there was also the juvenile trace of laughter. As she rode, she tried to tell herself something. You don’t deserve to be this happy, Liesel. You really don’t. Can a person steal happiness? Or is it just another internal, infernal human trick? Liesel shrugged away from her thoughts. She crossed the bridge and told Rudy to hurry up and not to forget the book." (Page 251)

Books Obtained

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:09:34 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:15:48 UTC

"The Grave Digger's Handbook"
"When the dragging was done, the mother and the girl stood and breathed. There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers. The book had silver writing on it." (Page 19)

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jalena — 2021-08-14 06:16:08 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-14 06:18:07 UTC

Air Raid False Alarm

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:37:21 UTC

Liesel is awakened in the middle of the night by Hans. The air raid sirens had begun to sound. They bid Max farewell and hid him in their basement. Outside, people rushed to the designated shelters, clutching their belongings. Liesel and her family joined the Fiedlers in their basement along with some others since their own was not fit to be used as a shelter. Unfortunately, Max could not come with them and had to stay in their basement for obvious reasons. Liesel brought her books with her and Hans forgot his accordion. After hearing the three sirens that signaled the raid was over, they all exited the basement and went back to their own respective households. Liesel and the Hubermanns went back to find out that Max was alright and nothing had happened to him. He did however confess to going up and looking out the window and seeing the stars. They later all found out that the raid had actually been a false alarm. (Pages 252-257)

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jalena — 2021-08-14 06:38:56 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-14 06:39:00 UTC

Emma Steiner

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:39:21 UTC

Karin Steiner

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:39:58 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-14 06:40:07 UTC

Anna-Marie Steiner

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:40:48 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:41:35 UTC

One Of The Younger Steiner Children
"To their left, Alex and Barbara Steiner stood with the younger of their children, Emma and Bettina. The two girls were attached to their mother’s right leg." (Page 254)

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:43:37 UTC

One Of The Steiner Children
"The oldest boy, Kurt, stared ahead in a perfect Hitler Youth stance, holding the hand of Karin, who was tiny, even for her seven years." (Page 254)

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:44:54 UTC

One Of The Steiner Children
"The ten-year-old, Anna-Marie, played with the pulpy surface of the cement wall." (Page 254)

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:48:34 UTC

"The cold hands melted into the warm ones, and in some cases, the feeling of another human pulse was transported. It came through the layers of pale, stiffened skin. Some of them closed their eyes, waiting for their final demise, or hoping for a sign that the raid was finally over. Did they deserve any better, these people? How many had actively persecuted others, high on the scent of Hitler’s gaze, repeating his sentences, his paragraphs, his opus? Was Rosa Hubermann responsible? The hider of a Jew? Or Hans? Did they all deserve to die? The children? The answer to each of these questions interests me very much, though I cannot allow them to seduce me. I only know that all of those people would have sensed me that night, excluding the youngest of the children. I was the suggestion. I was the advice, my imagined feet walking into the kitchen and down the corridor. As is often the case with humans, when I read about them in the book thief’s words, I pitied them, though not as much as I felt for the ones I scooped up from various camps in that time. The Germans in basements were pitiable, surely, but at least they had a chance. That basement was not a washroom. They were not sent there for a shower. For those people, life was still achievable." (Pages 254-255)

Alone During The Air Raid

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:51:32 UTC

"Weeks earlier, they’d discussed whether they should all stay together in their own basement or if the three of them should go down the road, to a family by the name of Fiedler. It was Max who convinced them. 'They said it’s not deep enough here. I’ve already put you in enough danger.'
Hans had nodded. 'It’s a shame we can’t take you with us. It’s a disgrace.'" (Page 252)

Stars

jalena — 2021-08-14 06:54:42 UTC

"They originally thought the words had come from behind the drop sheets and paint cans, but Liesel was first to see him, in front of them. His jaded face was camouflaged among the painting materials and fabric. He was sitting there with stunned eyes and lips. When they walked across, he spoke again. 'I couldn’t help it,' he said. It was Rosa who replied. She crouched down to face him.
'What are you talking about, Max?'
'I...' He struggled to answer. 'When everything was quiet, I went up to the corridor and the curtain in the living room was open just a crack....I could see outside. I watched, only for a few seconds.' He had not seen the outside world for twenty-two months. There was no anger or reproach. It was Papa who spoke.
'How did it look?' Max lifted his head, with great sorrow and great astonishment.
'There were stars,' he said. 'They burned my eyes.'" (Pages 255-256)

Second Air Raid; Real Alarm

jalena — 2021-08-14 07:17:27 UTC

On the night of September nineteenth, another air raid sounded. This time it was real and people were even more terrified than the last time. Liesel took her books again, and Hans refused to take his accordion due to superstition. Liesel and her family gathered in the basement of the Fiedlers, leaving Max behind once more. They could hear bombs going off in the distance. The room was filled with the sound of crying children. Liesel began reading aloud from "The Whistler." As everyone gathered around her to listen to her read, the noise in the shelter gradually died away. She recognized that reading was to her what the accordion was to Hans. When the three sirens sounded once again, signifying the end of the raid, everyone remained in the basement until Liesel finished the chapter. They observed smoke in the sky out in the distance as they returned to their homes, but Himmel Street had remained unscathed. Rosa was proud of Liesel for reading to everyone during the air raid and told Max the story. When Liesel asked if he had gone up to see the stars again that night, he told her that he had not. Instead, he said that he stared at the painting of the sun and ropey clouds that he had painted almost a year ago from Liesel's description, which made her sad because she knew that Max would die alone if the bombs made it to their neighborhood. (Pages 257-259)

Frau Holtzapfel's Offer

jalena — 2021-08-14 07:26:13 UTC

Frau Holtzapfel came to the Hubermann's household and requested if Liesel would read the rest of "The Whistler" to her a few times a week. She promised Rosa that she would stop spitting on her door and that she would give her coffee ration to them. Rosa consented without consulting Liesel, and Liesel believed that this was her punishment for stealing. (Pages 260-262)

Helping A Jew

jalena — 2021-08-14 07:39:23 UTC

On their journey to Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp, a parade of Jews marched through Molching. The malnourished and sick Jews walked down the street while Liesel stood with Hans and Rudy. Liesel desperately wanted to tell them she was assisting one of them and that he was living in her basement, but she couldn't. Instead, she sought to express to them how heartbroken she felt about what they were going through. Hans approached one of the fallen Jews and handed the old man some bread. When a Nazi soldier saw the Jew and Hans, he whipped them. The Jew proceeded on, leaving the bread behind. Rudy and Liesel helped Hans in getting up from the ground. Some branded him a Jew lover and toppled his paint cart, while others assisted him to safety. Hans remembered Max in the basement and realized the severity of his actions, realizing that the Gestapo would soon be knocking on his door. (Pages 263-267)

Max Leaves 33 Himmel Street

jalena — 2021-08-14 07:49:27 UTC

After the incident where Hans assisted a Jew, Max fled 33 Himmel Street. He said his goodbyes and informed Liesel that he would be leaving something behind for her when she was ready. The house became pretty silent after that. Max was supposed to go to a bridge beside the Amper River and wait for Hans for four days. Instead, when Hans arrived for Max, he discovered a message from him hidden under a rock. The letter told Hans that he had already done enough for him. When Liesel looked up the definition of silence in her dictionary, she realized the silence in their home was not one of peace or calm, as the dictionary suggested. (Pages 268-269)

The Gestapo

jalena — 2021-08-14 08:05:26 UTC

Hans sat at the kitchen table the entire night after Max had left, grieving over his stupidity and waiting for the Gestapo to arrive. Liesel prayed and hoped that Max would survive out there all alone. She saw her Papa sleeping in the kitchen with his head on the table the next morning. When she awoke him, he asked if the Gestapo had arrived for him. When he discovered they hadn't shown, he indicated that they should have done so by now. He was puzzled about their whereabouts and hoped that he hadn't sent Max away for no reason. After four days, Hans went to the Amper River bridge and discovered a note from Max hidden under a rock. Max had written that Hans had already done enough for him. Then, three weeks later, on her way home, Liesel noticed coated guys on their street. She hurried inside the house and alerted her father that the Gestapo were here. Hans then went outside to meet the men, and as they passed by, he shouted that he was the one they were looking for. They simply stated that he was too old for their purposes and moved to the Steiners' residence. Turns out they were after Rudy. (Pages 270-273)

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jalena — 2021-08-15 05:38:44 UTC

Dominoes & Discussions

jalena — 2021-08-15 05:57:13 UTC

The Gestapo stopped by at the Steiners' place seeking Rudy. While the men conversed with Alex and Barbara, Rudy and his siblings played dominoes on the other side of the kitchen door. The men were referred to as the "two monsters" by Rudy's younger sisters. They asked if they could knock down the standing dominoes and he said that they would all knock them down together. Rudy's sisters wanted him to light a candle for them, like their father had done many times before, so they could watch the dominoes fall by the candlelight. Rudy approached the door and listened intently. Rudy's outstanding grades in class and athletic abilities were discussed by the two men. Rudy was irritated with himself for showcasing his skill at the carnival. The men striked an offer with Rudy's parents and guaranteed that Rudy would be granted certain privileges but Alex and Barbara objected their offer. Alex had heard reports about how terrible the school where Rudy would be sent was and the men denied the accusations saying that those were all just rumors. Rudy then shut the door behind him and returned to his sisters. Each of them knocked down a domino and watched it hit the one in front of them as they all collapsed. Kurt entered the room and said the dominoes looked like dead bodies. Rudy and his siblings entered the kitchen after the Gestapo men left wanting to know if Rudy would be taken away. Rudy would end up staying, but Death revealed that if he had gone, Alex Steiner wouldn't have had to suffer the same punishment as Hans Hubermann, and maybe Rudy would have still been alive. (Pages 275-277)

Examination

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:10:29 UTC

Rudy's school had been visited by a doctor and a nurse. In a small office, they had evaluated him and two other boys. They told them to strip and stand naked in the freezing room. The boys were then examined and when they left, they overheard the doctor and nurse state that they would take two of them, the first and third. Rudy hoped he wasn't one of them, but when the coated guys came knocking at his house, he knew that he was. (Pages 278-279)

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:14:24 UTC

Examination
Rudy told Liesel about the school examination and how the Gestapo showed up at his house after he kept it from her for a little while. She wondered about Max hoping he was still alive. Among this were thoughts of Rudy standing naked as he glowed in the dark. (Page 279-280)

Drafted For War

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:22:50 UTC

In the month of November 1942. Hans received paperwork stating that he has been admitted into the Nazi Party, the NSDAP. Hans is drafted into the German army a few days later. The letter indicated that he should be happy to contribute to the war effort as a member of the party, and that if he failed to do so, he would face penalties. Alex Steiner was drafted as well because these were the consequences of their actions. For Hans Hubermann, it had been helping out a Jew. For Alex Steiner, it had been the refusal of letting Rudy go with the Gestapo. Liesel read through Han's letter and noticed how the words were punched into the paper with such force. (Pages 416-419)

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:26:40 UTC

Punishment By Conscience
"You do not help Jews on the street. Your basement should not be hiding one. At first, his punishment was conscience. His oblivious unearthing of Max Vandenburg plagued him. Liesel could see it sitting next to his plate as he ignored his dinner, or standing with him at the bridge over the Amper. He no longer played the accordion. His silver-eyed optimism was wounded and motionless. That was bad enough, but it was only the beginning." (Page 281)

Drunk Goodbyes

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:45:43 UTC

Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner had headed to the Knoller the night before the would depart for training. The owner let them drink for free and they both got drunk. Hans returned home wasted and unable to get his key into the door lock. He called out to Rosa only to find out he was at Frau Holtzapfel's house. He continued off until he made it back to his place. He entered to Liesel's room after he got inside and observed as her slept. For a brief moment, she believed it was Max but then she realized it was Hans. Rosa found Hans sleeping on drop sheets in the basement the next morning and poured a bucket of iced water on his head. The Steiners came over that afternoon to say their goodbyes to Hans. Alex would also be leaving in four days. Liesel and Rosa accompanied Hans to the railway station as they said their farewells. He instructed Liesel to look after his accordion while he was away and to keep reading during the air raids. (Pages 284-287)

Half A Woman

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:53:16 UTC

"THE KITCHEN: 1 P.M.
Two hours till goodbye: 'Don’t go, Papa. Please.' Her spoon-holding hand is shaking. 'First we lost Max. I can’t lose you now, too.' In response, the hungover man digs his elbow into the table and covers his right eye.
'You’re half a woman now, Liesel.' He wants to break down but wards it off. He rides through it. 'Look after Mama, will you?' The girl can make only half a nod to agree.
'Yes, Papa.'" (Page 286)

Not The Same

jalena — 2021-08-15 06:55:26 UTC

"For the next few weeks, while Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner were at their various fast-tracked training camps, Himmel Street was swollen. Rudy was not the same—he didn’t talk. Mama was not the same—she didn’t berate. Liesel, too, was feeling the effects. There was no desire to steal a book, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that it would cheer her up." (Page 287)

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:10:58 UTC

Killing The Führer
Himmel Street wasn't the same as it had used to be. Everyone had a heavy heart. After a few weeks, Rudy came over to Liesel's house and asked if she would accompany him. She had no idea where they were headed, but she followed him. She finally asked where they were headed to after some time and Rudy claimed that he was planning to assassinate the Führer. Liesel pointed out that it would become dark soon. Rudy didn't care and was upset when Liesel began to head back home. For fifteen minutes she walked home alone until Rudy came running back to her side. The two of them continued their walk home together and even stopped to reminisce some of their old memories when they spotted the Hubert Oval along the way. When they arrived home, Rosa and Barbara Steiner had been there waiting for them, worried and furious. (Pages 288-289)

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:14:26 UTC

Losses
"Rudy stopped and watched her now as if she were betraying him. 'That’s right, book thief. Leave me now. I bet if there was a lousy book at the end of this road, you’d keep walking. Wouldn’t you?' For a while, neither of them spoke, but Liesel soon found the will.
'You think you’re the only one, Saukerl?' She turned away. 'And you only lost your father....'
'What does that mean?' Liesel took a moment to count. Her mother. Her brother. Max Vandenburg. Hans Hubermann. All of them gone. And she’d never even had a real father." (Page 288)

Rosa & The Accordion

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:17:11 UTC

"She walked through the corridor darkness in the direction of silence that had once been noisy, toward the thread of moonlight standing in the living room. She stopped, feeling the bareness of her ankles and toes. She watched. It took longer than she expected for her eyes to adjust, and when they did, there was no denying the fact that Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband’s accordion tied to her chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys. She did not move. She didn’t even appear to be breathing. The sight of it propelled itself to the girl in the hallway." (Page 290)
"Many minutes dripped past. The book thief’s desire to hear a note was exhausting, and still, it would not come. The keys were not struck. The bellows didn’t breathe. There was only the moonlight, like a long strand of hair in the curtain, and there was Rosa. The accordion remained strapped to her chest. When she bowed her head, it sank to her lap. Liesel watched. She knew that for the next few days, Mama would be walking around with the imprint of an accordion on her body. There was also an acknowledgment that there was great beauty in what she was currently witnessing, and she chose not to disturb it. She returned to bed and fell asleep to the vision of Mama and the silent music. Later, when she woke up from her usual dream and crept again to the hallway, Rosa was still there, as was the accordion. Like an anchor, it pulled her forward. Her body was sinking. She appeared dead. She can’t possibly be breathing in that position, Liesel thought, but when she made her way closer, she could hear it. Mama was snoring again. Who needs bellows, she thought, when you’ve got a pair of lungs like that?" (Page 290)

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:22:54 UTC

The LSE
"Neither Hans Hubermann nor Alex Steiner was sent to fight." (Page 291)
"Hans was sent first, quite ironically, to Stuttgart, and later, to Essen. He was given one of the most undesirable positions on the home front. The LSE." (Page 291)
"The job of the LSE was to remain aboveground during air raids and put out fires, prop up the walls of buildings, and rescue anyone who had been trapped during the raid. As Hans soon discovered, there was also an alternative definition for the acronym. The men in the unit would explain to him on his first day that it really stood for Leichensammler Einheit—Dead Body Collectors." (Page 291)
The saddest aspect of his job was dealing with the survivors, who cried out names and wept over lifeless bodies as they emerged from the wreckage. There were many bodies, and one person even died in Hans' arms. An eleven or twelve year old boy was another body found and Hans and the other air raid officers stumbled upon a mother looking for her twelve year old son. The woman shouted the name Rudy which then reminded Hans of Rudy and the others on Himmel Street. When he could, he would write He wrote short letters to his family to let them know he was okay. (Pages 292-295)

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:24:12 UTC

Austria
"Neither Hans Hubermann nor Alex Steiner was sent to fight. Alex was sent to Austria, to an army hospital outside Vienna. Given his expertise in tailoring, he was given a job that at least resembled his profession. Cartloads of uniforms and socks and shirts would come in every week and he would mend what needed mending, even if they could only be used as underclothes for the suffering soldiers in Russia." (Page 291)

jalena — 2021-08-15 07:51:59 UTC

Bread For Jews
Two more Jewish parades passed through Molching, and Liesel searched for Max both times, hoping he wasn't one of them. Liesel and Rudy rode ahead of the parade into a pine forest on one of those occasions. They threw stale pieces of bread along the roadway for the Jews like Hans had done though they had planned to do it more discreetly. They hid and watched as the Jews instantly spotted the bread and consumed it with insatiable hunger. It took the soldiers some time to comprehend what was going on. They told their captives to stop and one of the soldiers noticed Liesel. He rushed after her as her and Rudy ran in different directions. The officer managed to catch up to Liesel and she was booted in the back and yelled at, but she managed to flee and reunite with Rudy. (Pages 296-298)

Christmas Gift

jalena — 2021-08-15 08:03:29 UTC

A few days before Christmas, another air raid hit Molching, and Liesel remembered Hans's instructions to her in the shelter. Everyone was eagerly waiting for her to read to them. After the air raid was over and they returned home, Rosa tore off a slit sewn into her mattress and pulled out a book. The book had been from Max titled "The Word Shaker." Rosa had been told to give it to Liesel when she was ready and had thought about giving it to her on her birthday but brought the date back to Christmas instead. Rosa expressed that she thought Liesel had always been ready for this book the moment she arrived to their house clinging onto the gate. (Pages 299-308)

jalena — 2021-08-15 08:03:59 UTC

"The Word Shaker"
Rosa tore off a slit sewn into her mattress and pulled out a book. The book had been from Max titled "The Word Shaker." Rosa had been told to give it to Liesel when she was ready and had thought about giving it to her on her birthday but brought the date back to Christmas instead. Rosa expressed that she thought Liesel had always been ready for this book the moment she arrived to their house clinging onto the gate. Captions and narratives about Rudy with his medals, the snowman, the thirteen presents, nights of reading by the fire, and even Max's family, were included in the book. There was also a fable about the Führer who planted words like seeds over the country, creating forests of his ideas and brainwashing people all throughout Germany. There were also people who were called word shakers who climbed trees and sent messages down to the people below. The best word shakers were sent out to manage the woodlands because they understood the power of words. However, there was this skinny girl who was a word shaker and able to climb higher than the rest because she knew how powerless a person could be without words and because she was hungry for words. She encountered and became friends with a man who was condemned by her country. When he became sick, she mourned for him and planted a tree seed formed by one of her tears. It soon grew to be the tallest tree in the forest. The Führer was enraged by this. He wanted to cut down the tree, but the girl begged him to leave it alone. She climbed and positioned herself in the tree as it go hit by an ax. But neither the Führer nor any of his soldiers were able to cut down the tree. The girl remained in the tree over the seasons, and when the last ax man gave up, he called up to her and told her she could come down. She understood, however, that she was the one keeping the tree upright and hence could not come down. Then another ax man came looking for the tree. He hammered nails into the tree trunk and climbed the tree to reach the girl. It was her friend who she had cried over. They both climbed down and the tree collapsed as a result dragging down some of the forest with it in the process. On the horizontal trunk, the girl and her friend walk out. Liesel thought of Max when she finished the story and wondered about his whereabouts. She had a dream about the tree that night. (Pages 299-308)

jalena — 2021-08-15 08:43:55 UTC

Rudy's Christmas Gift
Since both fathers were away, Liesel, Rosa, and Trudy spent Christmas Eve with the Steiners. Rudy acquired the key to his father's shop after Liesel told him she has a special surprise for him. They walked in and she picked out a suit for him. Rudy put the suit on and Liesel said that it was not bad for which he claimed it was better than just not bad. They both kept on bumping into things and tripping over objects because it was dark inside since the electricity had been cut off. Rudy fell and Liesel crouched above him. She contemplated kissing him but decided against it. He expressed his longing for his father, and Liesel wished him a merry Christmas. (Pages 309-311)

jalena — 2021-08-15 23:41:43 UTC

The Last Human Stranger
"To her right, a book protruded like a bone. Its paleness was almost scarred by the dark lettering of the title. Die Letzte Menschliche Fremde—The Last Human Stranger. It whispered softly as she removed it from the shelf. Some dust showered down." (Page 313)

Not A Fan Of Mystery

jalena — 2021-08-18 04:23:02 UTC

"Of course, I’m being rude. I’m spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don’t have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It’s the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me." (Page 168)

jalena — 2021-08-20 06:08:07 UTC

Christmas Cookies
Liesel and Rudy returned to the mayor's library window. Liesel saw a platter of Christmas cookies that had been sitting out for two weeks and thought it was meant for her and Rudy. She walked inside to retrieve the cookies before looking for a book. She selected "The Last Human Stranger" and wrote a letter of thanks to Ilsa Hermann. As Liesel was about to leave, Ilsa Hermann entered the library room. Liesel then realized that the library belonged not to the mayor, but to her because the cookies had been sitting there for weeks and the mayor would've noticed them and would've asked about them. Frau Hermann confirmed Liesel's thought and told her that she and her son used to read together in the library. (Pages 313-314)

How People Die

jalena — 2021-08-20 06:13:45 UTC

"It kills me sometimes, how people die." (Page 316)

jalena — 2021-08-20 06:21:41 UTC

Avoiding Death For The Second Time
Hans and the LSE men would often gamble for cigarettes. Reinhold Zucker was bitter because Hans had won his third game in a row. When Hans would win, unlike Reinhold, he wouldn't brag about it and instead would offer to share the cigarettes he won. Reinhold, on the other hand, would refuse the offered cigarette and developed a hatred that lead him to take Hans' seat and die a few weeks later, saving Hans indirectly. (Page 316)
Hans was forced to give up his seat on the LSE truck by Reinhold Zucker. Because Hans wasn't in the mood to be petty and because his seat at the back was the coldest anyways, he got up and let him have the seat. The truck's left front tire ended up blowing out while they were travelling. The driver lost control, and the truck rolled and flipped. Most of the men had suffered from minor injuries, but Zucker had broken his neck and died. Hans believed he was the one who should have died because it was his original seat Zucker had been sitting in after all. Hans later learned that his leg had been broken during the accident. His sergeant told him that he was lucky he liked him and that because he had been gracious with the cigarettes, he'd talk to someone about how he was no longer fit for the job and that he should be sent back to Munich to work in the office. (Pages 323-324)

January 1943

jalena — 2021-08-20 06:41:49 UTC

In January 1943, Liesel went to see Frau Holtzapfel to read to her. As she knocked on her door, a man with a bandaged and bleeding hand opened it. He ordered Liesel to go and told her that he'd come back for her at a later time. After three hours, the man knocked on her door to retrieve her to read for Frau Holtzapfel. When Liesel questioned what happened to his hand, he said that Stalingrad had happened. Rosa soon approached the front door as well and recognized the man as one of Frau Holtzapfel's son, Michael. He informed them that his brother, Robert, was killed in Stalingrad and that the Hubermanns' son as far as he knew, was still alive in Russia. Death described Robert's death, including how his legs were blasted off below the shins and how he died three days later in the hospital with Michael by his side. Death recalled Russia and how no matter where he went, he would see snow falling anytime he thought of it. (Pages 317-320)

Cookie Platter

jalena — 2021-08-20 06:57:23 UTC

Liesel decided to wash Frau Hermann's cookie plate and return it to her. She placed it near the front door, knocked, and then hid around the corner. She imagined her younger brother standing beside her, reassuring her that she was doing much better now. Then she realised that her younger brother would remain at the age of six forever. But he was no longer a recurring figure in her dreams. Instead, she saw the ghosts of her brother, mother, Max, and Hans in her room before going to bed, and she'd listen to the sound of Rosa snore. In the mornings, Liesel heard Rosa praying for Hans and for "all of them" to come back alive. (Pages 321-322)

Coming Home

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:20:37 UTC

Liesel and Rosa received a letter informing them of Hans' broken leg and announcing that he would be returning home shortly. They celebrated his broken limb and informed the Steiners, who joined them in their joy. Even though Rudy was happy for Liesel, she knew that deep down he was asking why it had been Hans who got to return and not his father. (Page 325)

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:32:33 UTC

Teddy Bear
Rudy packed a toolbox and walked to Molching to steal from the rich Nazis who "stole" their fathers. A teddy bear was an unusual item that he had put in the toolbox, which he intended to offer to a kid if he or she entered the room while he was stealing. Liesel noticed him from her window and went out to follow him. After fifteen minutes Rudy's determination began to fade. When he finally arrived at Gelb Strasse, the place he planned to rob, he placed the toolbox in the center of the street and sat on it with Liesel realizing that he was "better at leaving things behind than stealing them." (Pages 326-328)

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:42:43 UTC

Reasoning With Frau Holtzapfel
A few weeks later, another air raid occurred. Frau Holtzapfel was still mourning her deceased son, Robert, and refused to leave her kitchen table this time. Michael sought assistance from Rosa and Liesel. Liesel went inside to converse and reason with her, but she wouldn't respond. Not being able to convince her to leave, they were forced to leave her as they headed to the air raid shelter. Frau Holtzapfel eventually joined them later and Michael apologized to her because he was disappointed in himself for abandoning his mother. (Pages 328-330)

Serving The Führer

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:45:53 UTC

"It’s probably fair to say that in all the years of Hitler’s reign, no person was able to serve the Führer as loyally as me. A human doesn’t have a heart like mine. The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die." (Page 332)

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:53:27 UTC

"Despite Rudy’s advice, Liesel came even closer, and I can promise you that we recognized each other at that exact moment. I know you, I thought. There was a train and a coughing boy. There was snow and a distraught girl. You’ve grown, I thought, but I recognize you. She did not back away or try to fight me, but I know that something told the girl I was there. Could she smell my breath? Could she hear my cursed circular heartbeat, revolving like the crime it is in my deathly chest? I don’t know, but she knew me and she looked me in my face and she did not look away." (Page 331)

jalena — 2021-08-20 07:59:37 UTC

The Pilot
As the clearing signal was given, everyone exited the basements and noticed fire and smoke down by the Amper River. Liesel and Rudy ran into the woods in search of a plane. Death was present, and the pilot inside the plan was still alive but barely. Death saw Liesel and remembered her from the day her brother died on the train and noticed that she had grown significantly in the past four years. He sensed that she was aware of his presence, that she saw him in the pilot and didn't avert her gaze. Rudy placed the teddy bear from his tool box on the pilot's shoulder and he thanked him in english to which Rudy didn't understand. As the pilot finally died, Death took his soul as he observed what appeared to be a black swastika in the sky. (Pages 330-332)

Death On Himmel Street

jalena — 2021-08-23 05:55:49 UTC

"The bombs came down, and soon, the clouds would bake and the cold raindrops would turn to ash. Hot snowflakes would shower to the ground. In short, Himmel Street was flattened. Houses were splashed from one side of the street to the other. A framed photo of a very serious-looking Führer was bashed and beaten on the shattered floor. Yet he smiled, in that serious way of his. He knew something we all didn’t know. But I knew something he didn’t know. All while people slept. Rudy Steiner slept. Mama and Papa slept. Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller. Tommy Müller. All sleeping. All dying. Only one person survived. She survived because she was sitting in a basement reading through the story of her own life, checking for mistakes. Previously, the room had been declared too shallow, but on that night, October 7, it was enough. The shells of wreckage cantered down, and hours later, when the strange, unkempt silence settled itself in Molching, the local LSE could hear something. An echo. Down there, somewhere, a girl was hammering a paint can with a pencil." (Page 335)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:02:10 UTC

"The rescuing hands pulled Liesel out and brushed the crumbs of rubble from her clothes. 'Young girl,' they said, 'the sirens were too late. What were you doing in the basement? How did you know?' What they didn’t notice was that the girl was still holding the book. She screamed her reply. A stunning scream of the living.
'Papa!' A second time. Her face creased as she reached a higher, more panic-stricken pitch. 'Papa, Papa!' They passed her up as she shouted, wailed, and cried. If she was injured, she did not yet know it, for she struggled free and searched and called and wailed some more. She was still clutching the book. She was holding desperately on to the words who had saved her life." (Page 336)

The 98th Day Of Hans Hubermann's Return

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:13:42 UTC

On Himmel Street, everything was fine for the first 97 days after Hans's return in April 1943. On the 98th day, however, the Jews were marched through Molching yet again, this time to the neighboring town of Nebling to do clean up work that the army refused to do themselves. After, they marched back to camp. Liesel searched the group once again keeping an eye out for Max. He wasn't amongst the group. (Page 337)

Losses

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:17:14 UTC

"Rudy stopped and watched her now as if she were betraying him. 'That’s right, book thief. Leave me now. I bet if there was a lousy book at the end of this road, you’d keep walking. Wouldn’t you?' For a while, neither of them spoke, but Liesel soon found the will.
'You think you’re the only one, Saukerl?' She turned away. 'And you only lost your father....'
'What does that mean?' Liesel took a moment to count. Her mother. Her brother. Max Vandenburg. Hans Hubermann. All of them gone. And she’d never even had a real father." (Page 288)

Pain

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:19:45 UTC

"On this occasion, in July, on what Liesel later calculated as the ninety-eighth day of her papa’s return, she stood and studied the moving pile of mournful Jews—looking for Max. If nothing else, it alleviated the pain of simply watching. That’s a horrible thought, she would write in her Himmel Street basement, but she knew it to be true. The pain of watching them. What about their pain? The pain of stumbling shoes and torment and the closing gates of the camp?" (Page 338)

The Hubermanns' Neighbors

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:23:26 UTC

"It was a tradition for Frau Holtzapfel, one of their neighbors, to spit on the Hubermanns’ door every time she walked past." (Page 31)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:24:22 UTC

Rivalry
"It was a tradition for Frau Holtzapfel, one of their neighbors, to spit on the Hubermanns’ door every time she walked past. The front door was only meters from the gate, and let’s just say that Frau Holtzapfel had the distance—and the accuracy. The spitting was due to the fact that she and Rosa Hubermann were engaged in some kind of decade-long verbal war. No one knew the origin of this hostility. They’d probably forgotten it themselves. Frau Holtzapfel was a wiry woman and quite obviously spiteful. She’d never married but had two sons, a few years older than the Hubermann offspring." (Page 31)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:25:20 UTC

Frau Holtzapfel's Offer
Frau Holtzapfel came to the Hubermann's household and requested if Liesel would read the rest of "The Whistler" to her a few times a week. She promised Rosa that she would stop spitting on her door and that she would give her coffee ration to them. Rosa consented without consulting Liesel, and Liesel believed that this was her punishment for stealing. (Pages 260-262)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:26:50 UTC

Robert Holtzapfel's Death
Robert Holtzapfel was killed in Stalingrad. Death described Robert's death, including how his legs were blasted off below the shins and how he died three days later in the hospital with Michael by his side. Death recalled Russia and how no matter where he went, he would see snow falling anytime he thought of it. (Pages 317-320)
Frau Holtzapfel sat with wet streams of wire on her face.
Her son was dead. But that was only the half of it. She would never really know how it occurred, but I can tell you without question that one of us here knows. I always seem to know what happened when there was snow and guns and the various confusions of human language. When I imagine Frau Holtzapfel’s kitchen from the book thief’s words, I don’t see the stove or the wooden spoons or the water pump, or anything of the sort. Not to begin with, anyway. What I see is the Russian winter and the snow falling from the ceiling, and the fate of Frau Holtzapfel’s second son. His name was Robert, and what happened to him was this.
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 Russia, January 5, 1943, and just another icy day. Out among the city and snow, there were dead Russians and Germans everywhere. Those who remained were firing into the blank pages in front of them. Three languages interwove. The Russian, the bullets, the German." (Page 319)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:28:16 UTC

Michael Holtzapfel's Suicide
"Suffering had most definitely come, and if they could blame the Jews as a warning or prologue, they should have blamed the Führer and his quest for Russia as the actual cause—for when Himmel Street woke later in July, a returned soldier was discovered to be dead. He was hanging from one of the rafters in a laundry up near Frau Diller’s. Another human pendulum. Another clock, stopped. The careless owner had left the door open.
JULY 24, 6:03 A.M. The laundry was warm, the rafters were firm, and Michael Holtzapfel jumped from the chair as if it were a cliff.
So many people chased after me in that time, calling my name, asking me to take them with me. Then there was the small percentage who called me casually over and whispered with their tightened voices. 'Have me,' they said, and there was no stopping them. They were frightened, no question, but they were not afraid of me. It was a fear of messing up and having to face themselves again, and facing the world, and the likes of you. There was nothing I could do. They had too many ways, they were too resourceful—and when they did it too well, whatever their chosen method, I was in no position to refuse. Michael Holtzapfel knew what he was doing. He killed himself for wanting to live." (Page 338)

Michael Holtzapfel

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:30:36 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:32:08 UTC

Stalingrad Incident
"Outside, in the fuzzy gray light, Liesel couldn’t help asking the man what had happened to his hand. He blew some air from his nostrils— a single syllable—before his reply. 'Stalingrad.'

'Sorry?' He had looked into the wind when he spoke. 'I couldn’t hear you.' He answered again, only louder, and now, he answered the question fully. 'Stalingrad happened to my hand. I was shot in the ribs and I had three of my fingers blown off. Does that answer your question?' He placed his uninjured hand in his pocket and shivered with contempt for the German wind." (Page 317)

Frau Holtzapfel

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:33:13 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-23 06:33:52 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-23 06:34:05 UTC

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jalena — 2021-08-23 06:34:16 UTC

Robert Holtzapfel

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:34:31 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:42:33 UTC

Frau Holtzapfel's Son
"What I see is the Russian winter and the snow falling from the ceiling, and the fate of Frau Holtzapfel’s second son. His name was Robert, and what happened to him was this." (Page 319)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:44:47 UTC

Frau Holtzapfel's Son
"Her first thought was that the man must have been one of her sons, but he did not look like either of the brothers in the framed photos by the door. He seemed far too old, although it was difficult to tell. His face was dotted with whiskers and his eyes looked painful and loud. A bandaged hand fell out of his coat sleeve and cherries of blood were seeping through the wrapping." (Page 317)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:55:35 UTC

Mourning Michael
"MICHAEL HOLTZAPFEL— THE LAST GOODBYE
Dear Mama, Can you ever forgive me? I just couldn’t stand it any longer. I’m meeting Robert. I don’t care what the damn Catholics say about it. There must be a place in heaven for those who have been where I have been. You might think I don’t love you because of what I’ve done, but I do. Your Michael
It was Hans Hubermann who was asked to give Frau Holtzapfel the news. He stood on her threshold and she must have seen it on his face. Two sons in six months. The morning sky stood blazing behind him as the wiry woman made her way past. She ran sobbing to the gathering farther up on Himmel Street. She said the name Michael at least two dozen times, but Michael had already answered. According to the book thief, Frau Holtzapfel hugged the body for nearly an hour. She then returned to the blinding sun of Himmel Street and sat herself down. She could no longer walk." (Page 339)

jalena — 2021-08-23 06:58:07 UTC

Burial
"JULY 27, 1943
Michael Holtzapfel was buried and the book thief read to the bereaved. The Allies bombed Hamburg—and on that subject, it’s lucky I’m somewhat miraculous. No one else could carry close to forty-five thousand people in such a short amount of time. Not in a million human years." (Page 340)

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:01:36 UTC

Mourning Robert
"Frau Holtzapfel sat with wet streams of wire on her face. Her son was dead. But that was only the half of it. She would never really know how it occurred, but I can tell you without question that one of us here knows. I always seem to know what happened when there was snow and guns and the various confusions of human language. When I imagine Frau Holtzapfel’s kitchen from the book thief’s words, I don’t see the stove or the wooden spoons or the water pump, or anything of the sort. Not to begin with, anyway. What I see is the Russian winter and the snow falling from the ceiling, and the fate of Frau Holtzapfel’s second son." (Page 319)
"As the weeks had worn on, Frau Holtzapfel had not yet begun to recover. When Liesel came to read, the woman spent most of the time staring at the window. Her words were quiet, close to motionless. All brutality and reprimand were wrested from her face. It was usually Michael who said goodbye to Liesel or gave her the coffee and thanked her." (Page 328)

Captured

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:07:32 UTC

"The Germans were starting to pay in earnest by then. The Führer ’s pimply little knees were starting to shake. Still, I’ll give him something, that Führer. He certainly had an iron will. There was no slackening off in terms of war-making, nor was there any scaling back on the extermination and punishment of a Jewish plague. While most of the camps were spread throughout Europe, there were some still in existence in Germany itself. In those camps, many people were still made to work, and walk. Max Vandenburg was one such Jew." (Page 340)

Finding Liesel

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:24:56 UTC

Once more, the Jews were marched through Molching. As usual, Liesel looked around for Max's twig-like hair and spotted him. He was also looking through the crowd of Germans for her. She joined the crowd of Jews and walked alongside Max clutching his arm. Soon after, a soldier noticed her and shoved her out of the parade telling her to stay away. Liesel ignored him and ran back into the crowd calling Max's name. He came to a stop as she began to recite the words he had written in "The Word Shaker." She wanted him to recall his battles with the Führer. Max and Liesel were then both whipped. Rudy saw this and came to save Liesel from the street. After getting up from the ground she chased after Max once more. Rudy tackled her to the ground pinning her there so she couldn't run back into the crowd of Jews and get hurt again. (Pages 341-346)

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:34:28 UTC

Confessions
Rudy came every day to check on Liesel, who had been in bed for three days. Liesel and Rudy traveled to the woods on the fourth day, where they once scatter bread for the Jews. She believed that he deserved an explanation. She told him about Max and showed him "The Word Shaker" and the page Max wrote about Rudy in. The page included an illustration of Rudy with lemon-colored hair and medals dangling from his neck. (Page 347-348)

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:38:11 UTC

Liesel's Love For Rudy
"At first, Liesel could not talk. Perhaps it was the sudden bumpiness of love she felt for him. Or had she always loved him? It’s likely. Restricted as she was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drag her hand across and pull her over. It didn’t matter where. Her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Her skin was empty for it, waiting. Years ago, when they’d raced on a muddy field, Rudy was a hastily assembled set of bones, with a jagged, rocky smile. In the trees this afternoon, he was a giver of bread and teddy bears. He was a triple Hitler Youth athletics champion. He was her best friend. And he was a month from his death. 'Of course I told him about you,' Liesel said. She was saying goodbye and she didn’t even know it." (Page 348)

Words

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:41:32 UTC

"The girl simply didn’t care anymore. For a long time, she sat and saw. She had seen her brother die with one eye open, one still in a dream. She had said goodbye to her mother and imagined her lonely wait for a train back home to oblivion. A woman of wire had laid herself down, her scream traveling the street, till it fell sideways like a rolling coin starved of momentum. A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow. She had watched a bomber pilot die in a metal case. She had seen a Jewish man who had twice given her the most beautiful pages of her life marched to a concentration camp. And at the center of all of it, she saw the Führer shouting his words and passing them around. Those images were the world, and it stewed in her as she sat with the lovely books and their manicured titles. It brewed in her as she eyed the pages full to the brims of their bellies with paragraphs and words. You bastards, she thought. You lovely bastards. Don’t make me happy. Please, don’t fill me up and let me think that something good can come of any of this. Look at my bruises. Look at this graze. Do you see the graze inside me? Do you see it growing before your very eyes, eroding me? I don’t want to hope for anything anymore. I don’t want to pray that Max is alive and safe. Or Alex Steiner. Because the world does not deserve them. She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half. Then a chapter. Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words?" (Page 350)

jalena — 2021-08-23 07:45:59 UTC

The Mayor's Wife
"And Frau Hermann, the mayor’s wife, standing fluffy-haired and shivery in her enormous, cold-aired doorway. Always silent. Always alone. No words, not once." (Page 63)

Ilsa Hermann

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Bürgermeister Heinz Hermann

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jalena — 2021-08-23 07:50:45 UTC

The Mayor
"ANOTHER QUICK TRANSLATION Bürgermeister = mayor" (Page 88)

Rosa Hubermann's Washing Customer

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jalena — 2021-08-23 07:59:15 UTC

Showing Liesel The Library
When Liesel stole her second book after a celebratory fire for Hitler's birthday, she noticed that Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife, had seen her steal the book from the remains of the firepit. After that she would avoid going to her house to deliver/pick up the laundry and would make excuses. After a little while she of course had to visit her house. When she did, Isela Hermann did not ask or question Liesel about the fact that she saw her steal a book so Liesel assumed that maybe she had not seen her steal a book and that when she had caught her staring, she must've just been looking at something else or daydreaming but that was not the case. The next time she returned, the mayor's wife invited her into the house and lead her to a room filled with many books that were stacked on shelves. The mayor's wife would let Liesel stay and read in their library whenever she stopped by for laundry. (Pages 88-93)

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:04:27 UTC

Letter To Liesel
Rudy came to get Liesel on another day to show her what was in the window of 8 Grande Strasse. There was a book. Liesel and Rudy weren't sure whether it was a set-up, but she stole it nonetheless. When she inspected the book, she noticed it was a dictionary and thesaurus. While pedaling away, she saw Ilsa Hermann at the window who waved to Liesel, as she waved back in shock. When she opened the book, she discovered a note from Ilsa Hermann, in which she apologized for firing Rosa and admitted that she knew Liesel had been taking the books. She said she wouldn't stop Liesel from stealing the books because she would only take one at a time and it would take numerous visits to empty the library. The last thing she added in her letter was that one day she hoped Liesel would stop sneaking in through the window and start coming in through the front door again. (Pages 248-251)

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jalena — 2021-08-23 08:08:03 UTC

Deceased Son
Curiosity got the best of Liesel one day when she remembered the name Johann Hermann inside one of the books she had grabbed from the library before. She asked Ilsa Hermann who he was and she told her that he was her son, who perished in a mysterious barbed-wire fence accident in 1918. Ilsa had not gotten over his death and was still grieving her loss. (Page 98-99)

Johann Hermann

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:08:14 UTC

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:10:03 UTC

Ilsa Hermann's Library
Liesel and Rudy returned to the mayor's library window. Liesel saw a platter of Christmas cookies that had been sitting out for two weeks and thought it was meant for her and Rudy. She walked inside to retrieve the cookies before looking for a book. She selected "The Last Human Stranger" and wrote a letter of thanks to Ilsa Hermann. As Liesel was about to leave, Ilsa Hermann entered the library room. Liesel then realized that the library belonged not to the mayor, but to her because the cookies had been sitting there for weeks and the mayor would've noticed them and would've asked about them. Frau Hermann confirmed Liesel's thought and told her that she and her son used to read together in the library. (Pages 313-314)

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:13:08 UTC

Firing The Hubermanns
Liesel delivered the washing to 8 Grande Strasse once more and she read in the library again. For the second time, Frau Hermann insisted that Liesel take "The Whistler home" with her. This time, Liesel accepted. Then, Frau Hermann handed Liesel a letter in which she apologized and told her to apologize to her mother, too. Even though Frau Hermann had not told Liesel what she was apologizing about, she knew that Rosa had been fired from her job. According to Frau Hermann, Liesel was welcome to come by and read anytime. Liesel walked away and sat on the stairs at the front door as she read the mayor's note explaining why the Hermanns were canceling their laundry service. She became increasingly enraged with the mayor and his wife as she made her way back home, especially with the gift of The Whistler because it had been given to her out of pity. She then returned to the mayor's residence and knocked on Frau Hermann's door scolding her and telling her that she didn't want her useless book and that she wouldn't accept her pity gift. She adds angrily that Frau Hermann and her husband should start doing their own laundry while sitting in their mansion. Liesel then brought up Frau Hermann's deceased son, saying that she needed to accept the fact that he was dead and that she was pathetic. She tossed "The Whistler" at Frau Hermann's feet and noticed the pained expression she had on her face because of her words. (Pages 178-181)

Address

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:18:35 UTC

8 Grande Strasse (Page 179)

Writing "The Book Thief"

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In mid-August 1943, Liesel climbed through Frau Hermann's window to read in the library. She sat on the floor with a book and thought about words and the Führer's use of them, about how words could make her joyful but could also lead to terrible things. Out of anger and frustration, she tore the pages out of the book she was reading and then wrote Frau Hermann a note apologizing and claiming that she would punish herself by not going to the library any more. Ilsa Hermann appeared at Liesel's front door three days later. She gifted Liesel a black journal in which she could write her own stories if she would not be reading anymore of her books. Ilsa advised Liesel not to be like her and to not torture herself. Liesel went down to the basement that night and wrote her story, "The Book Thief." (Pages 349-352)

Writing "The Book Thief"

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:34:03 UTC

Ilsa gifted Liesel a black journal in which she could write her own stories if she would not be reading anymore of her books. Ilsa advised Liesel not to be like her and to not torture herself. Liesel went down to the basement that night and wrote her story, "The Book Thief." (Pages 349-352)

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:35:07 UTC

Gifted Black Journal
In mid-August 1943, Liesel climbed through Frau Hermann's window to read in the library. She sat on the floor with a book and thought about words and the Führer's use of them, about how words could make her joyful but could also lead to terrible things. Out of anger and frustration, she tore the pages out of the book she was reading and then wrote Frau Hermann a note apologizing and claiming that she would punish herself by not going to the library any more. Ilsa Hermann appeared at Liesel's front door three days later. She gifted Liesel a black journal in which she could write her own stories if she would not be reading anymore of her books. Ilsa advised Liesel not to be like her and to not torture herself. Liesel went down to the basement that night and wrote her story, "The Book Thief." (Pages 349-352)

"The Book Thief" Story's Last Line

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:38:24 UTC

"And the book thief reads, rereads, and rereads her last sentence, for many hours.
THE BOOK THIEF—LAST LINE
I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right." (Page 354)

Writing The Book Thief

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:39:55 UTC

Ilsa Hermann gifted Liesel a black journal in which she could write her own stories if she would not be reading anymore of her books. Ilsa advised Liesel not to be like her and to not torture herself. Liesel went down to the basement that night and wrote her story, "The Book Thief." (Pages 351-352)

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:41:58 UTC

"Almost all the words are fading now. The black book is disintegrating under the weight of my travels. That’s another reason for telling this story. What did we say earlier? Say something enough times and you never forget it. Also, I can tell you what happened after the book thief’s words had stopped, and how I came to know her story in the first place." (Page 355)

Address

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:43:44 UTC

31 Himmel Street (Page 339)

Collecting Souls On Himmel Street

jalena — 2021-08-23 08:48:49 UTC

"Picture yourself walking down Himmel Street in the dark. Your hair is getting wet and the air pressure is on the verge of drastic change. The first bomb hits Tommy Müller’s apartment block. His face twitches innocently in his sleep and I kneel at his bed. Next, his sister. Kristina’s feet are sticking out from under the blanket. They match the hopscotch footprints on the street. Her little toes. Their mother sleeps a few feet away. Four cigarettes sit disfigured in her ashtray, and the roofless ceiling is hot plate red. Himmel Street is burning."
"At 31 Himmel Street, Frau Holtzapfel appeared to be waiting for me in the kitchen. A broken cup was in front of her and in a last moment of awakeness, her face seemed to ask just what in the hell had taken me so long."
"By contrast, Frau Diller was fast asleep. Her bulletproof glasses were shattered next to the bed. Her shop was obliterated, the counter landing across the road, and her framed photo of Hitler was taken from the wall and thrown to the floor. The man was positively mugged and beaten to a glass-shattering pulp. I stepped on him on my way out."
"The Fiedlers were well organized, all in bed, all covered."
"Pfiffikus was hidden up to his nose."
(Page 355)
"At the Steiners’, I ran my fingers through Barbara’s lovely combed hair, I took the serious look from Kurt’s serious sleeping face, and one by one, I kissed the smaller ones good night. Then Rudy. Oh, crucified Christ, Rudy... He lay in bed with one of his sisters. She must have kicked him or muscled her way into the majority of the bed space because he was on the very edge with his arm around her. The boy slept. His candlelit hair ignited the bed, and I picked both him and Bettina up with their souls still in the blanket. If nothing else, they died fast and they were warm. The boy from the plane, I thought. The one with the teddy bear. Where was Rudy’s comfort? Where was someone to alleviate this robbery of his life? Who was there to soothe him as life’s rug was snatched from under his sleeping feet? No one. There was only me. And I’m not too great at that sort of comforting thing, especially when my hands are cold and the bed is warm. I carried him softly through the broken street, with one salty eye and a heavy, deathly heart. With him, I tried a little harder. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape. I saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry." (Page 355-356)
"Lastly, the Hubermanns. Hans. Papa. He was tall in the bed and I could see the silver through his eyelids. His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do—the best ones. The ones who rise up and say, “I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come.” Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places. This one was sent out by the breath of an accordion, the odd taste of champagne in summer, and the art of promise-keeping. He lay in my arms and rested. There was an itchy lung for a last cigarette and an immense, magnetic pull toward the basement, for the girl who was his daughter and was writing a book down there that he hoped to read one day. Liesel. His soul whispered it as I carried him. But there was no Liesel in that house. Not for me, anyway. For me, there was only a Rosa, and yes, I truly think I picked her up midsnore, for her mouth was open and her papery pink lips were still in the act of moving. If she’d seen me, I’m sure she would have called me a Saukerl, though I would not have taken it badly. After reading The Book Thief, I discovered that she called everyone that. Saukerl. Saumensch. Especially the people she loved. Her elastic hair was out. It rubbed against the pillow and her wardrobe body had risen with the beating of her heart. Make no mistake, the woman had a heart. She had a bigger one than people would think. There was a lot in it, stored up, high in miles of hidden shelving. Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night. She was a Jew feeder without a question in the world on a man’s first night in Molching. And she was an arm reacher, deep into a mattress, to deliver a sketchbook to a teenage girl" (Page 356)

Final Goodbyes

jalena — 2021-08-23 09:05:42 UTC

Death notices the LSE shouting near a pile of rubble as he travels to the next city. Liesel emerges clutching onto her book. She cries out for her Papa, and an LSE man holding his accordion case approaches her. She takes it from him, then notices the bodies all around her and tosses the accordion aside. She tells Rudy to wake up, that she loves him, and kisses him on the lips when she finds him. She then seeks out Hans and Rosa and takes a seat between them. She recalls her first visit to their home, as well as their shared memories. She requests that the LSE obtain her Papa's accordion. She tears up as she sets it next to Hans's body until the LSE take her away. Death notices that Liesel's black journal is thrown into a garbage truck. The LSE returns to collect the accordion. Death goes up to the garbage truck and takes Liesel's journal, and he retells Liesel's story from this book. (Pages 357-360)

Obtaining "The Book Thief"

jalena — 2021-08-23 09:08:56 UTC

"Later, they remembered the accordion but no one noticed the book. There was much work to be done, and with a collection of other materials, The Book Thief was stepped on several times and eventually picked up without even a glance and thrown aboard a garbage truck. Just before the truck left, I climbed quickly up and took it in my hand... It’s lucky I was there. Then again, who am I kidding? I’m in most places at least once, and in 1943, I was just about everywhere." (Page 360)

The World Is A Factory

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:08:48 UTC

"I can promise you that the world is a factory. The sun stirs it, the humans rule it. And I remain. I carry them away." (Page 362)

Liesel's Death

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:11:23 UTC

"Liesel Meminger lived to a very old age, far away from Molching and the demise of Himmel Street. She died in a suburb of Sydney. The house number was forty-five—the same as the Fiedlers’ shelter—and the sky was the best blue of afternoon. Like her papa, her soul was sitting up. In her final visions, she saw her three children, her grandchildren, her husband, and the long list of lives that merged with hers. Among them, lit like lanterns, were Hans and Rosa Hubermann, her brother, and the boy whose hair remained the color of lemons forever." (Page 362)

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:19:43 UTC

Liesel With The Hermanns
"When Himmel Street was cleared, Liesel Meminger had nowhere to go. She was the girl they referred to as “the one with the accordion,” and she was taken to the police, who were in the throes of deciding what to do with her. She sat on a very hard chair. The accordion looked at her through the hole in the case. It took three hours in the police station for the mayor and a fluffy-haired woman to show their faces. “Everyone says there’s a girl,” the lady said, “who survived on Himmel Street.” A policeman pointed. Ilsa Hermann offered to carry the case, but Liesel held it firmly in her hand as they walked down the police station steps. A few blocks down Munich Street, there was a clear line separating the bombed from the fortunate. The mayor drove. Ilsa sat with her in the back. The girl let her hold her hand on top of the accordion case, which sat between them. It would have been easy to say nothing, but Liesel had the opposite reaction to her devastation. She sat in the exquisite spare room of the mayor’s house and spoke and spoke—to herself—well into the night. She ate very little. The only thing she didn’t do at all was wash. For four days, she carried around the remains of Himmel Street on the carpets and floorboards of 8 Grande Strasse. She slept a lot and didn’t dream, and on most occasions she was sorry to wake up. Everything disappeared when she was asleep. On the day of the funerals, she still hadn’t bathed, and Ilsa Hermann asked politely if she’d like to. Previously, she’d only shown her the bath and given her a towel. People who were at the service of Hans and Rosa Hubermann always talked about the girl who stood there wearing a pretty dress and a layer of Himmel Street dirt. There was also a rumor that later in the day, she walked fully clothed into the Amper River and said something very strange. Something about a kiss. Something about a Saumensch. How many times did she have to say goodbye? After that, there were weeks and months, and a lot of war. She remembered her books in the moments of worst sorrow, especially the ones that were made for her and the one that saved her life. One morning, in a renewed state of shock, she even walked back down to Himmel Street to find them, but nothing was left. There was no recovery from what had happened. That would take decades; it would take a long life. There were two ceremonies for the Steiner family. The first was immediately upon their burial. The second was as soon as Alex Steiner made it home, when he was given leave after the bombing." (Page 363)

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jalena — 2021-08-24 06:20:57 UTC

Frau Hermann & Liesel Meminger

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:21:36 UTC

You Save You Kill

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:23:36 UTC

"You save someone. You kill them. How was he supposed to know?" (Page 364)

Reuniting With Liesel

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:29:40 UTC

"When the war was over and Hitler had delivered himself to my arms, Alex Steiner resumed work in his tailor shop. There was no money in it, but he busied himself there for a few hours each day, and Liesel often accompanied him. They spent many days together, often walking to Dachau after its liberation, only to be denied by the Americans. Finally, in October 1945, a man with swampy eyes, feathers of hair, and a clean-shaven face walked into the shop. He approached the counter.
'Is there someone here by the name of Liesel Meminger?'
'Yes, she’s in the back,' said Alex. He was hopeful, but he wanted to be sure. 'May I ask who is calling on her?' Liesel came out. They hugged and cried and fell to the floor."

Reading Aloud During Air Raid

jalena — 2021-08-24 06:41:44 UTC

Coming For Liesel

jalena — 2021-08-24 07:04:27 UTC

"Yes, I have seen a great many things in this world. I attend the greatest disasters and work for the greatest villains. But then there are other moments. There’s a multitude of stories (a mere handful, as I have previously suggested) that I allow to distract me as I work, just as the colors do. I pick them up in the unluckiest, unlikeliest places and I make sure to remember them as I go about my work. The Book Thief is one such story. When I traveled to Sydney and took Liesel away, I was finally able to do something I’d been waiting on for a long time. I put her down and we walked along Anzac Avenue, near the soccer field, and I pulled a dusty black book from my pocket. The old woman was astonished. She took it in her hand and said, 'Is this really it?' I nodded. With great trepidation, she opened The Book Thief and turned the pages. 'I can’t believe...' Even though the text had faded, she was able to read her words. The fingers of her soul touched the story that was written so long ago in her Himmel Street basement." (Page 366)

Haunted By Humans

jalena — 2021-08-24 07:05:55 UTC

"A few cars drove by, each way. Their drivers were Hitlers and Hubermanns, and Maxes, killers, Dillers, and Steiners.... I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant. None of those things, however, came out of my mouth. All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.
A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR
I am haunted by humans." (Page 366)

Book Notes

jalena — 2021-08-24 07:15:08 UTC

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blasdel, Janelle. CliffsNotes on The Book Thief. 24 Aug 2021
.