Q3 Post: Book Thief

In the next few chapters, Liesel begins to become obsessed with books. Any book she can get her hand on, she instantly wants to read it with her Papa. At Hitler's birthday celebration, the town burned many books. Liesel returned to the blaze to pick up a half burned book called The Shoulder Shrug. There was nothing particularly special about this book, she simply felt obligated to pick it up. After retrieving it, she looks around and sees that the mayor's wife (who's chlothes she washes) had seen her pick it up! Liesel began to worry that the Mayor's wife would get her into trouble. It describes her worry as "every minute, every hour, there was worry, or more to the point, paranoia" (129). Liesel felt that everyone was watching her, and everyone knew. This wasn't true at all, although it was true that the mayor's wife had seen her take the book. Liesel worried about what would happen when she next went to pick up the washing.
When she rang the bell, they mayor's wife answered as usual. Only she didn't have the washing, she had a stack of books in her hand. She led Liesel back to the mayor's library. It had more books than Liesel had ever seen in her entire life. She spent a long time simply looking and touching the books "She ran the back of her hand along the first shelf, listening to the shuffle of her fingernails gliding across the spinal cord of each book" (135). This surreal experience made Liesel even more confused. Just when she thought the mayor's wife was going to turn her in, she shows Liesel a magical library filled with thousands of books. This sight encourages Liesel to read even more.