Chapter 19 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

She told him to loosen up, to lie back and drift with the water. She told him to unclench his fists and pretend he was one of the reeds, floating. She told him all the things Gram had told her when she was learning. But it didn’t do any good.

After three sentences that begin “She told him,” Giff writes, “But it didn’t do any good.” Why make that last one so short?

For the educator One passage, four sentences, from the swimming lesson at the bay. The first three sentences all begin “She told him.” The first two each give Albert one piece of advice. The first repeats “to”: “to loosen up, to lie back and drift with the water.” The second joins two things with “and” and ends with one word after a comma, “floating,” which lets the reader picture the reed before the sentence stops. The third says where all the advice came from: “all the things Gram had told her when she was learning.” Then comes the fourth sentence, which starts with “But” and runs only six words. That short turn is the talk. One student may say it lands like Albert not floating, flat and sudden; another may say all that careful telling deserves a plain answer. Either is good if it points to the change in length. The vocabulary words drift and unclench both stand in this passage. Claim nothing about why Albert is afraid of the water.

Discussion

Narration Tell back Lily’s morning, from waking up in tears to the swimming lesson at the bay.

Lily dreamed about Margaret, Eddie and Poppy, but she tells Gram about Albert’s family. Who is she crying for? Inference
Lily wonders if she should tell Gram about Margaret’s house. What does Gram do that changes her mind? Inference
At breakfast, Albert says, “She is like my sister, Ruth.” Is that a happy thing for Lily to hear, or a hard one? Inference
Lily drops the Dillons’ key into Margaret’s package. Why not just keep it and stay away? Character
Albert has no time to fool around with floating. That is how Lily sounds about practicing the piano. What might being his teacher show her about Gram? Character
Albert begins, “You are lucky . . . ,” and stops. Why does Lily tell him he doesn’t know what a pain Gram is? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone caught themselves sounding just like a grown-up they knew. Why might that happen?

Vocabulary

liberate: If our army can get across France, if they can liberate Paris, then maybe someone can get to Ruth. To set a place free from an enemy that has taken it over.
twitched: Lily twitched one shoulder. Gave a quick, small jerk, as if it hardly mattered.
crinkling: Paprika loved it, the noise and the crinkling of paper as they wrapped the picture in layers of cardboard, and the ball of string to bat across the kitchen floor. Making small crackly sounds as it folds and wrinkles.
humid: It was hot and humid Damp and heavy, with a lot of wet in the air.
irritable: Lily felt sticky and irritable. Cranky and easily bothered.
drift: She told him to loosen up, to lie back and drift with the water. To be carried along slowly without trying to move.
unclench: She told him to unclench his fists and pretend he was one of the reeds, floating. To open up and relax something held tight.

Critical thinking

Lily tells Albert, “Maybe we should forget about Europe.” How close does she come to telling him the truth?
Gram says Poppy promised that everything would be the same after the war because he wanted it that way for Lily. Was it right for him to promise that?