Chapter 23 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

The bay was rough with whitecaps, and the rain, pelting the water, slanted toward her, pushed by the wind. She was soaked through, her hair hanging in strings, dye from her shorts running blue over her legs.

The next wave was so swollen, so tremendously high, that it pulled his boat up, and up, and the boat poised there on the crest for an instant, motionless. She could see him clearly, the orange of his life jacket standing out even in the darkness.

Read the wave sentence out loud. Why does Giff end it on the word “motionless”?

For the educator Two passages, four sentences. The first is from the crossing. Its first sentence joins two halves with a comma and “and,” then tucks a picture between commas, “pelting the water,” and adds one more at the end, “pushed by the wind.” The second sentence gives one plain statement, “She was soaked through,” and then two pictures after it: her hair hanging, the dye running blue. The second passage is the wave. It says “so” twice, climbs “up, and up,” and holds the boat on the crest before one last word after a comma. Then a shorter sentence: Lily sees Albert “clearly,” the orange of his life jacket bright in the dark. The talk prompt is about the wave sentence’s last word, “motionless.” One student may say the stillness is the worst part, the instant before the fall, when Lily can only watch; another may say Giff makes the reader stop and hold still too, the way Lily watches “breathless” a moment later. Either is good if it points to the page. The vocabulary words pelting, swollen and poised stand in these passages. Leave the hinge alone here, since whether rowing out was brave or a mistake is the last written question, and claim nothing about why Albert is out on the water.

Discussion

Narration Tell back Lily’s night on the water, from the dark row of houses to Paprika running up the path.

Suppose one house on the row had a light on. What do you think Lily would have done? Character
In the middle of the storm, Lily can’t stop thinking about Poppy. What has Poppy got to do with tonight? Inference
Giff writes that “by some miracle,” Lily’s hand caught Albert’s jacket. How much of the rescue was luck? Plot structure
The chapter ends with Paprika, “a furious ball of orange fur,” running away from them. Why does Giff end on the cat? Author's choice

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone had to decide something fast, with no one around to ask. How did they choose what to do?

Vocabulary

comforting: The sound was comforting. Making a person feel calmer and less alone or afraid.
persuaded: She’d have to stay there huddled under the seat until later, until Lily persuaded Albert to come back. Talked someone into doing something by giving good reasons.
glimpses: Lily couldn’t see light in any of the houses along the row, not even glimpses from the edges of the blackout curtains. Quick, small flashes of something, seen for only a moment.
breathless: Lily watched it, breathless, as it slid back, and in that second, Albert was tossed into the sea. Hardly breathing at all because of fear or shock.
pelting: The bay was rough with whitecaps, and the rain, pelting the water, slanted toward her, pushed by the wind. Striking hard and fast, over and over, like heavy rain beating on the bay.
swollen: The next wave was so swollen, so tremendously high, that it pulled his boat up, and up Grown much bigger and fuller than usual, as the waves rose in the storm.
poised: the boat poised there on the crest for an instant, motionless. Held still and balanced for a moment, as if about to fall.
veered: She veered away from his empty boat, which was spinning first high on a wave, then into the crest. Turned suddenly to one side to go a different way.

Critical thinking

Lily wants to say “You promised,” though she knows Albert never did. Why does she want to say it anyway?
Lily rows out alone into the storm to bring Albert back. Was that brave, or was it the same mistake he made?