Chapter 26

Lily's Crossing

Trailblazers · 4th–6th

Copywork

They had stood there balancing themselves on gray rock, and she had taken the star out of her pocket for him then, one of her mother’s from the porch wall. Almost without thinking, she had stood on tiptoes to give a quick kiss on the cheek, and they had both laughed.

They went into the kitchen, Gram bustling around to make tea, and Poppy leaning against the wall, his eyes closed.

Lily and Poppy both close their eyes in this chapter. What does each one see?

For the educator Two passages, three sentences: a goodbye Lily remembers and a homecoming that is happening now. The first passage teaches “had.” Every action in it is something that happened before the winter, so Giff writes “had stood,” “had taken,” “had stood on tiptoes” and “had both laughed.” Point out how each long sentence joins two actions with a comma and “and,” and how “one of her mother’s from the porch wall” names the star again after a comma. “Almost without thinking,” is an opening phrase with its own comma. The second passage drops “had,” because Poppy is in the kitchen this minute. It is one sentence holding three pictures: the kitchen, then Gram “bustling around to make tea,” then Poppy “leaning against the wall,” each after a comma, and it ends on a short tag, “his eyes closed.” The vocabulary words balancing and bustling stand in the passages. For the talk prompt, the student first finds the two moments: Lily closes her eyes just before the first passage, “thinking about that last afternoon of the summer,” and Poppy stands in the second with “his eyes closed.” Lily sees the jetty, and the student can say what she sees there. One student may say Poppy is seeing this very kitchen, the one he has “thought about”; another may say he is seeing France and the ship, everything he has just come home from. Either is good if it points to the page. Leave goodbyes alone here: whether Poppy is right about them is the last written question.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order. Start with Lily late for school. Stop when she squeezes Poppy’s hand.

1. Lily kisses Albert goodbye on the jetty, and they both laugh. Why would a goodbye end in a laugh?Character

2. Sister Benedicta taps Lily’s journal and says, “You have promise, Lily.” What has she seen in Lily’s writing?Inference

3. Poppy says, “I took your letter . . .” and Lily adds, “Mine and Albert’s.” Why does she need him to know that?Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone came home after a long time away. What small thing made it feel like home again?

Vocabulary

Crossword

1				2

3			4

		5
	6
7

Across

Across 1. Took someone away in secret, past people who would have stopped it.
Across 3. Keeping steady so as not to tip over or fall.
Across 5. Moving about busily and quickly, with lots to do.
Across 7. A home where nuns live, pray and work together.

Down

Down 2. A notebook for writing down thoughts and happenings.
Down 4. Stirred and tossed about roughly, round and round.
Down 6. Sad and longing for a place you love while you are away from it.

The words in the chapter

smuggled Instead, they smuggled her out one night, and took her west
bustling Gram bustling around to make tea
balancing They had stood there balancing themselves on gray rock
homesick how homesick she was for Gram’s house on stilts

journal She looked around for her books and her journal, ELIZABETH MOLLAHAN, MY THOUGHTS.
churned Once she had told about the way the sea rolled and churned when it stormed
convent took her to a convent in Saint-Laurent

Critical thinking

1. Lily wants to ask what Poppy told Ruth, but she is “almost afraid to hear.” What answer is she afraid of?

2. Poppy tells Ruth that saying goodbye “didn’t matter, not a bit.” Is he right?