Chapter 27 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

Lily knew they were almost there when they passed Margaret’s house. The bottom-floor windows were still shuttered, but the one in the attic was shiny and almost black in the sun’s reflection.

Lily waded in, bunching up her skirt. The water was icy cold on her feet and ankles, numbing.

Giff ends the sentence about the icy water with one word: “numbing.” Why save that word for last?

For the educator Two passages, four sentences: Margaret’s empty house seen from the car, and the cold sea Lily wades into. The first passage teaches two joining words. The word “when” holds the first sentence together: Lily knows they are almost there at the moment they pass the house. The second sentence is two halves joined by a comma and the word but: the shuttered windows below, the shining attic window above. Point out the hyphen in “bottom-floor” and the apostrophes in “Margaret’s” and “sun’s” that show belonging. The second passage teaches the comma that adds on. “Lily waded in” is a whole sentence; “bunching up her skirt” adds what her hands do at the same time. The next sentence could stop at “ankles,” but Giff adds one more word after a comma, so the cold arrives last. The vocabulary words shuttered and numbing stand in the passages. For the talk prompt, one student may say the word comes last because that is how cold water works: first it is icy, and then you stop feeling it. Another may say the word stands alone because it fits more than her feet on this day. Either is good if it points to the page. Ask what changes if the sentence ends at “ankles” instead. Leave Margaret’s house alone here: whether Lily would rather have stayed away is the first discussion question. Leave why Lily stays in the cold for the third.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order. Start in the crowded back seat of the Ford. Stop when Lily holds out her hand.

Mrs. Dillon stays away from Rockaway while Eddie is still lost. Would Lily rather have stayed away too? Character
Gram turns around in her seat and says, “Listen, Lily . . .” Why does she want Lily to hear the bridge? Inference
The water is icy cold, but Lily stays in. What keeps her standing there? Character
Poppy steps up behind Lily and puts his hands on her shoulders. Why doesn’t he say anything? Inference
The chapter ends with Lily’s hand held out to a cat. Why does Giff stop there, before we know if it is Paprika? Author's choice

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when a sound seemed to say words, like a train or rain on a roof. What made it say those words and not others?

Vocabulary

plastered: Her skirt, let loose, plastered itself against her legs. Stuck flat and tight against something, as wet cloth sticks to skin.
shuttered: The bottom-floor windows were still shuttered Closed up behind covers, as a house is when no one lives in it.
wedged: Lily was wedged in the backseat of Poppy’s old Ford with the suitcases, and bags, and rolled-up sweaters. Squeezed tightly into a small space with no room to move.
numbing: The water was icy cold on her feet and ankles, numbing. Making a part of the body lose its feeling, the way very cold water does.

Critical thinking

Lily’s whisper begins “You’re my best friend” and ends “the best friend I ever had”. Is Albert a friend she has, or one she had?
Poppy says Rockaway is “all the same.” Lily and Gram look at each other and know it is not. Who is right?