They arrive at an old villa in Italy and are greeted by children with chocolates.  Everyone over fifteen is to be a youth leader and all are to attend school. Ruth is to teach, but she only has a fourth grade education.  She is to encourage the children to tell their stories and write them down.  Ruth does not want to do this.  Rivka did not go to a camp; she was a partisan fighter.  She is so thin because she cannot eat. Ruth had told herself to forget that food ever existed.

The Children do not want to play hide and seek or tag, but will play “kill the monster”.

The house leader tells Ruth to get the younger children to tell their histories so the world can never say it did not happen.  One girl tells of hiding in a closet, putting her three-year-old brother in a suitcase where he was quiet.  She lived in a sewer for a year and a half.  She tells of the Russians liberating them and then attacking her mother.  She says she’ll ask her father if Ruth can be a part of their family.

One boy, at eight, ran with his baby brother, hid in barns and nursed the baby back to health with milk from the cows.  He was reported by a farmer and ran to the forest where he saw many Jews murdered, shot so they fell into a ditch, then he saw Zvi crawl out. They sent the baby to a convent, joined the partisans, running errands.  After the liberation, they found the baby had been put up for adoption and the family would not give him up.

Jonathan, the boy, gets uncontrollably angry, then both Ruth and he cry.  Zvi pulls them both together so he can comfort them both at once.

Discussion Director:
Section 6 (P57- 77)

MCEOG question:
Sarah did not go to a camp, instead she lived for a year and a half:
A: in a sewer
B: in a closet
C: in a barn
D: in a basement
Answer: A (P69, last two & P70, p3)
Problem:  All Zvi’s family is being shot in the forest
Solution: His mother pushed in a pit so that the Nazi’s thought he was one of the dead A (P75, bottom; P76, top)

Prediction: Ruth will have more good memories

Fact: Zvi intends to help Jonathan get his baby brother back (P78, p4)
Opinion:  It is Jonathan’s, Zvi’s, and my opinion, that he will get the baby brother back (P78, p3 end)

Passage Picker:
Section 6 (P57-77)

(P65, p3, 4) “You don’t think you deserve it,” I say, “ because your family died.” … “That’s right,” she whispers, surprised I understand so well.
I picked this because it is so emotional.
Author’s Purpose: To inform the reader of how these children relied on each other
 

Character Sketcher:
section 6 (P57-77)

Ruth:
Understanding: (P64, p 2,3,4,5) She understands why Rivka won’t eat
Smart: (P66, last p) She figures out a game the children will be willing to play
Stubborn: (P67) she refuses to ask the children to tell their stories, then (P68, p5) she refuses to let a child not tell his story.
Goal: To record the stories of all the children she is in charge of.
Problem: She has thoughtlessly hurt her friend, Zvi making him angry (P64, p 11,12, 13)
Solution: She apologizes (P64, p14) and touches his hand. (P65, p2)

Word Wizard:
section 6(P57-77)

Tentatively (P61, p2) Tentatively , I put up my hand.
Meaning: Carefully and cautiously.  Adverb (describes put – a verb)
I stepped tentatively  past the growling dog.
                                    
 

Agony: (P66, last) They throw themselves into this game with relish, screaming with delight every time I fall down in a death agony.
Meaning: Here it means a painful fit, attack, or struggle.  Noun (thing)
Her agony is also called epilepsy

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