Page 76 - The Book Thief

She was taken up, put in a chair at the side, and told to keep her mouth shut by

the teacher, who also happened to be a nun. At the other end of the classroom,
Rudy looked across and waved. Liesel waved back and tried not to smile.

At home, she was well into reading The Grave Diggers Handbook with Papa.
They would circle the words she couldnt understand and take them down to the
basement the next day. She thought it was enough. It was not enough.

Somewhere at the start of November, there were some progress tests at school.
One of them was for reading. Every child was made to stand at the front of the
room and read from a passage the teacher gave them. It was a frosty morning but
bright with sun. Children scrunched their eyes. A halo surrounded the grim
reaper nun, Sister Maria. (By the wayI like this human idea of the grim reaper. I
like the scythe. It amuses me.)

In the sun-heavy classroom, names were rattled off at random.

Waldenheim, Lehmann, Steiner.

They all stood up and did a reading, all at different levels of capability. Rudy
was surprisingly good.

Throughout the test, Liesel sat with a mixture of hot anticipation and
excruciating fear. She wanted desperately to measure herself, to find out once
and for all how her learning was advancing. Was she up to it? Could she even
come close to Rudy and the rest of them?

Each time Sister Maria looked at her list, a string of nerves tightened in Liesels
ribs. It started in her stomach but had worked its way up. Soon, it would be
around her neck, thick as rope.

When Tommy Mller finished his mediocre attempt, she looked around the room.
Everyone had read. She was the only one left.

Very good. Sister Maria nodded, perusing the list. Thats everyone.

What?

No!