Lily's Crossing

Chapter 3

Patricia Reilly Giff · Trailblazers 4th–6th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

She thought of her list of problems: Number 1: Lies, and then the second list, the list of solutions. Right up there on top was the promise not to tell a lie ever again, not even a tiny little one, much less one of those gigantic ones about her aunt being an important U.S. spy against the Nazis. This was the very last one, she told herself, no matter what.

Lily had a quick flash of Eddie in her mind, his square front teeth, a little separated, resting gently on his lower lip, his nose red. He always had a cold, was always sniffling even on the hottest day of the summer. What Lily liked best about Eddie was that she could make him laugh. He always knew when she was telling Margaret a story; he never gave her away.

Read both passages aloud. In the first, Lily promises herself to stop lying. In the second, she remembers Eddie, who never gave her away. How much does Lily want to stop?

For the educator Two passages, seven sentences, in story order. The first comes just before Lily swears on aunt Celia’s life. Its first sentence uses two colons, one to open the list and one inside it (“Number 1: Lies”), and then names “the list of solutions” with a comma before it. The second sentence turns the usual order around: what is “Right up there on top” comes before the verb, and the promise grows through “not even” and “much less” to the “gigantic” lie. Keep the periods in “U.S.” The third sentence sets “she told herself” off with commas, so the reader hears Lily talking to herself. The second passage comes while the girls eat Eddie’s candy. Its first sentence hangs three small pictures on Eddie with commas: his teeth, how they rest “gently,” his red nose. The last sentence joins two short sentences with a semicolon. Side by side, the passages hold Lily’s promise to stop lying and the one person who always knew when she was making things up.

Discussion

Narration Tell back what happens at Margaret’s house, from the half-eaten Milky Way to Lily heading home to Gram’s.

Lily swears to keep Margaret’s secrets “on my aunt Celia’s life.” But Lily made up the story that Celia is a spy. Does the promise still count? Moral reasoning
Lily pictures soldiers in the water at Normandy, with the Germans shooting. She shivers. Margaret asks what is wrong, and Lily says, “Nothing.” Who is she protecting with that word? Inference
Lily shudders at the thought of saying “My name is Lily Mollahan, la la, what’s yours?” to someone new in Broad Channel. What would be so bad about that? Character
“You can sneak in, come right up to the attic,” Margaret tells Lily. Lily keeps the key under her blouse. Is the attic one more secret for Lily, or the one place she won’t have to pretend? Theme
Mrs. Dillon walked for blocks to find that candy for Eddie. Now she says, “That Mollahan girl is trouble.” Is she being fair to Lily? Moral reasoning

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone hid part of themselves from a good friend. Why might a person do that?

Vocabulary

modest: Lily tried to look modest. Not showing off about yourself; Lily pretends to be humble about a cousin she made up.
solutions: She thought of her list of problems: Number 1: Lies, and then the second list, the list of solutions. Ways of fixing a problem, like Lily's plan to stop telling lies.
throttle: The man said something about being ready to throttle him, whatever that meant exactly, but he had gone away two seconds later. To choke someone by squeezing the throat, a threat Lily only half understands.
drone: Overhead, Lily could hear the drone of one of the trainer planes from the naval base. A low, steady humming sound that goes on and on, like an engine high in the sky.
assorted: Inside were about fourteen candy bars . . . Hershey’s, Walnettos, Sugar Daddy lollipops, and even a couple of rolls of assorted LifeSavers. Mixed, with many different kinds or flavors together in one pack.
stilts: Gram’s house was built up over the water on stilts, without an attic, or a cellar, or even a bathroom with a real tub. Tall posts that hold a building up off the ground or above water.
gently: Lily had a quick flash of Eddie in her mind, his square front teeth, a little separated, resting gently on his lower lip, his nose red. Softly and lightly, without any force, the way Lily remembers Eddie's teeth resting on his lip.

Critical thinking

Eddie could always tell when Lily was making something up, and he never gave her away. Why would Lily like someone who could see right through her?
Lily stays sitting when Margaret wonders if Eddie was there on D-Day. She stays sitting when Margaret says she is moving away. Then Margaret says her father thinks Poppy will go overseas. Why does that make Lily jump to her feet?
Margaret trusts Lily with all her secrets. But she believes in the spy aunt. Can Margaret be a true friend to Lily if she only knows the Lily of the stories?