by Audrey Couloumbis Published 2005

Looking at the first chapter, answer these questions:

• Who is telling the story?
• What first draws you into Maude and Sallie's world? (Another way to ask this: when do you first feel like you can see their world?)
• What surprises you about their world?Ê(How is it very different from your world in an unexpected way?)
• How is their world very much like yours?
• What do Maude and Sallie, and even Aunt Ruthie, do that makes you feel like you know them?

Tell one color you saw, one thing you heard, something you smelled, one feeling you had on your skin, something you could almost taste.

In what way do the newspaper accounts tell us more of the story?

Contrast is when two things are opposites.ÊTell about these contrasts in the story:

• Inside and outside the mercantile.
• Having hot chocolate with Aunt Ruthie and Mrs. Golightly.
• Working with Aunt Ruthie and Mrs. Peasley.
• Sleeping in their own bed and sleeping under the stars.
• Advice they receive from Mr. Peasley and from Marion.
• How Sallie thinks Maude will be once they are rangeÊriding,Êand how Maude turns out to be.
• How Maude tries to be someone for Sallie to look up to, and how this sometimes goes wrong.

There are some things we think we know about girls, heroes, villains, old ladies, helpful people, and strangers.

• Tell where you found something in the story that was not quite what you expected.
• Tell what each of them, Maude and Sallie, learned that might not have been what they expected.
• Tell what somebody might have learned from them.

There are five ways people usually choose from to resolve a conflict.ÊThey are:

• Avoidance.ÊThis is when people say, it's not that big a problem.ÊAnd I'm going to pretend I don't care.
• Accommodation. When people say, I didn't want it that much anyway.ÊI don't want it at all if it's going to cause all this trouble.
• Aggression.ÊOne of us is going to get our way.ÊIt's going to be me.
• Compromise. I'll give a little, if you give a little.
• Problem solving. Let's talk about this.ÊI'm sure we can work something out.

Show examples of each of these in the story.