The Island on Bird Street

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of religious discrimination, graphic violence, death, and physical abuse.

Alex stays in the cellar for one day. He takes advantage of the light that enters by reading; he is determined not to use up his candles by reading at night. The next day, he goes to the apartment building next door through a passage in the wall he and his friends discovered. He finds many articles of clothing and gathers much of it in multiple blankets and then realizes it will all be worthless; when he and his father eventually escape the ghetto, the clothing will be too cumbersome. He trims his looted stash to three suits for his father, some clothing for himself, a Polish army hat, a folding chair, and a mattress. He makes several trips to get it all back to the cellar. The next day, he returns for food and candles but finds only a bread knife. A week goes by; he worries about his decreasing food supply when his father does not come.