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Copywork
About This Passage
This is a small everyday-sounding moment that is actually telling the reader about the whole war. Kirsti is only five years old, and she still remembers cupcakes with pink frosting from before the soldiers came. Her mother laughs gently and says there has not been butter or sugar for a long time — a year, at least. Copying this passage helps a young reader feel how a war changes ordinary kitchen things, and how a little sister's memory can hold the time when the world was sweeter.
"I wish I could have a cupcake," she said. "A big yellow cupcake, with pink frosting." Her mother laughed. "For a little girl, you have a long memory," she told Kirsti. "There hasn't been any butter, ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of chapter one. Be sure to include Annemarie racing Ellen down the Copenhagen street, the two German soldiers stopping them at the corner, the soldier called 'the Giraffe,' little Kirsti pushing the soldier's hand away, Mrs. Rosen warning the girls to walk a different way to school, and Kirsti wishing for a cupcake at the end.
Discussion Questions
- What in the story shows that the war made cupcakes hard to get in Copenhagen? How do you know that there has not been any butter or sugar for a long time?
- What makes you think Kirsti is too little to understand the soldiers? How can you tell that Kirsti is not as scared as Annemarie and Ellen?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
a small sweet cake made for one person; Kirsti remembers a big yellow cupcake with pink frosting from before the war began.
Item 2
the color of butter, sunshine, and lemons; Kirsti dreams of a big yellow cupcake even though there has been no butter or sugar in Copenhagen for a long time.
Item 3
the things you can remember from before; Kirsti's mother laughs and says, 'For a little girl, you have a long memory,' because Kirsti still remembers cupcakes from a year ago.
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Critical Thinking
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