The Book Thief Part 8-Part 9 The Collector - One Toolbox, One Bleeder, One Bear Summary

Hans and Alex Steiner were not sent out of Germany. Alex was attached to an army hospital to mend clothing. While Hans was with the LSE, who were the men that went into towns after an air raid and to pick up rubble, fight fires, and remove the dead.

The job was not easy, because they were constantly covered in smoke and grime, and had to dispose of the dead. They were also constantly asked if they had seen a missing loved one, by a survivor.

Liesel was worried about Hans, Max, and Alex Steiner. A parade of Jews was to pass through town and Rudy had a plan. He brought 6 pieces of bread and broke them into quarters, together he and Liesel placed them on the road the Jews would walk on. Liesel got too close to the road, because she was looking for Max. The soldiers noticed the bread and then they spotted Liesel. She and Rudy ran away, she was caught and kicked for her efforts, but they managed to get home.

Before Christmas Rosa gave Liesel the sketchbook Max had left for her, which contained the story The Word Shaker. It was the story of how Hitler came to power using words. He wrote of how Hitler planted words, which grew into trees and he fed the people the words. Then a girl who cried for a sick man, an outcast in his own country, planted her dried tear of friendship. This seed of friendship grew into a tree which could not be cut down.

On Christmas Eve 1942, Liesel visited Rudy after curfew. She knew she shouldn't be out, but she wanted to give him a Christmas present. First she would have to convince Rudy to help her. They used a key to Rudy's father's suit shop and broke into the shop. After some looking around, she found a blue suit which was Rudy's size. This was her present to Rudy. He looked good in the suit, but it brought the reality of his father's absence home to him.

On another day, Liesel and Rudy were once again at the mayor's house. She found a plate of cookies sitting on the window ledge and passed them down to Rudy. She was in the midst of taking The Last Human Stanger, when she heard a noise.

The noise was Ilsa Hermann who came into the library and it was then Liesel understood the library was not the mayor's library, but Ilsa's. The idea of a woman having a library of her own made Liesel happy. After speaking to Ilsa about the library, Liesel left with Rudy.

At the same time Liesel and Rudy were eating the cookies, Hans and some of the other men of the LSE were playing cards. The winner would get cigarettes, because instead of playing for cash, they played for cigarettes. Hans had won three hands in a row and Reinhold Zucker was becoming angrier with each loss. It was because of this anger he insisted that he and Hans switch seats in a truck a few weeks later; the switch led to Reinhold's death.

It is January 1943 and Liesel went over to Frau Holzapfel's house to read to her. She was met at the door by a man, who tells her he will come to get her when Frau Holzapfel was ready for her.

Some hours later he came to get her, he was Michael Holtzapfel and he had returned from fighting in Stalingrad to tell his mother his brother, Robert, was dead. He died in Stalingrad three days after his legs were blown off.

Michael told Rosa he heard that Hans Junior was alive in Russia.

Liesel, one night, washed the cookie plate and returned it to the mayor's house. This good deed helped Liesel cope, because she was visited in her imagination every night by the people she loved, but missed.

She would awaken to find Rosa praying as she sat with the accordion. She prayed for the safe return of Papa and Hans Junior. Liesel believed these prayers saved Papa's life in the LSE accident in Essen.

The men in Han's LSE unit were getting into a truck, but Reinhold Zucker decided he wanted to sit in Han's usual seat, so Hans let him. As the truck traveled down the road its left front tire was punctured, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The truck rolled and Reinhold's neck was broken, killing him. Hans had a broken leg, which allowed the sergeant to send him to Munich, to either work in an office or do clean-up work.

In February, a week after Liesel's birthday, Rosa and Liesel received a letter from Hans. The letter told them about the accident and Hans' broken leg, but more importantly it told them he was coming home.

The news was shared with Rudy's family, who were ecstatic over the news, but Rudy wanted to know why it was Hans and not his father who was coming home.

Rudy was mad that his father was not home from the war. He decided to fill a tool box with items used to break into homes and stores, so he could steal some food and money. But he decided not to steal from others, instead he used the toolbox to hold things his family would need during the air raids, including his sister teddy bear.

One night after an air raid, Rudy's sister saw fire and smoke by the river. It was an enemy plane that had crashed. The pilot was still alive and Rudy gave him the teddy bear just before he died.

Liesel's stealing of books continued with the consent of the mayor's wife. Hans was sent home, because of a broken leg, but Rudy's father was still away from home. The inhabitants of Himmel Street coped in their own ways with the effects of the war on their lives.



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