3.30.10 ATGIB

Ariel asked if Johnny was really sick or was Katie was saying he was drunk. Was this foreshadowing anything? I answered that Katie was just saying he was drunk and that it wasn't really overshadowing anything.
Ariel didn't understand about the rapist in Ch 33. She wanted to know where he came from. I answered that he came from the shadows in the hallway.
Ariel asked why Francie feels that she can't be nice to Joanna. I answered that she was told that Joanna was a bad girl and so Francie didn't smile at her.

McKenzie asked why the family keeps rereading all the books they had. Alyssa answered that they had no other books. Alyssa also said how Francie was getting tired of them.
Asked what a zitful cap was. I answered that it was a type of woolen cap.
Asked why Katie gave up on buying land after they get Johnny's burial plot. I said that this was because they saw how much a small plot of land costed and so Katie gave up on buying land.
Why does Katie tell the children not to cry when Johnny died? I answered that Katie didn't want the children to show their weakness.

Alyssa asked what made Francie so interested in the facts about sex now. Answer was that she was growing up and wanted to know.
Said how these chapters are a foreshadowing of what's going to happen later in the book.

I asked why the children were thought that Johnny was a bad father when Francie and Neely didn't want to see their dead father in a coffin outside of their kitchen. Answer was obvious, they were children and their dad had just died.
I asked why Francie put carbolic acid on her leg. What had touched her leg was in no way poisonous and the carbolic acid just gave her third degree burns.
I asked what the father must have thought when Lucia and her family went back to Italy with no baby. Everyone agreed that its weird that the father forgot about the baby so quickly.

3.23.10 ATGIB

- I answered McKenzie's question about Katie putting kerosene in Francie's hair to keep away lice and other diseases. The question was why put it in her hair.
- I also answered McKenzie's question about Katie hating the Democratic party. I said how Katie didn't really hate the party, she just didn't believe all the things Johnny was saying about how the party would be there for you.
- McKenzie wanted to know what the "nightcap" was at the boaters office. I answered saying that i thought it was alcohol.

I then contributed all my questions, got answers, and then read my essay as well as answered some minor questions about what was going on, why, and how Francie reacted to it.

3/18/10 ATGIB

Thursday's meeting went well. We talked about all of our questions and I answered Alyssa's question about Miss Tennymore. I then went on to ask my questions concerning Francie knitting and why woman would stop in pitying admiration at the girl knitting, Katie not knowing what to do with Francie's infection, and about Francie's new neighborhood. After all my questions were answered by my group, I read my paragraph and about how teachers then were brutal to kids because they had no other knowledge on how to punish kids. Also, how they treated kids with money better than the ones without money. I believe we spent our time very well in going over everyone's questions and answering them.

March 12th's post (late)

I said that Professor Allegrato was weird -Agreed upon
Francie and the Butcher had a weird ordeal with each other because the butcher kept trying to rip her off but Francie knew how to get around it.
Aunt Sissy and her work- it was condoms that were the secret products
I read my paragraph
I related McKenzie's question to page 36. Said how Sissy thought it was the mans fault, not hers.

Not much to talk about this chapter.
Didn't contribute all that much because only 2 people were here and its hard to have an active discussion when both people agree on the topics.
We talked the entire time so it was OK time spending.

Scribe Day

We still had to decide what to read each day so we did it before we started talking about the book. Alyssa and Ariel thought that what we had to read was on the date before but McKenzie disagreed. We called over Ms. Hart and she agreed with McKenzie. We fixed our chart and moved on.

Alyssa gives a brief overview of what we read.
McKenzie and Ariel asked why Francie follows Neeley. I said that she hasn't mentioned any real friends yet.
Ariel says that there's something wrong with the dad. Everyone agrees. I bring up how he gives all his tips to the bar owner.
Alyssa talks about how there's something suspicious about the dad.
I ask about how i wonder when Francie goes back to school if she'll have friends.
I say how its weird how Francie likes to waste coffee, everyone agrees that it's not normal.
We all see some abuse happening to Francie in the future.
We all agree that she is very mature and independent for her age.
Alyssa talks about how Francie goes to the library alot.
I say that I think the book foreshadows that the library is going to burn down.
McKenzie talks about how the tree is weird and hasn't been talked about in the book that much, even though its in the title of the book.
Ariel's passage was about the Jewish pregnant woman and how Francie judges people based on their looks and clothes.
McKenzie's passage was about how Francie's dad was a good singer and everyone loved him.
McKenzie brought up how the dad freaked out and started screaming after Francie said "Oh Papa, I love you."
We all agreed it was weird and that there's something wrong with the dad.

On the first day of the book groups, my group and me decided on what we had to read each day. I took a backseat on this day and let the other 3 group members talk and decided how many pages we had to read by what day because my idea, dividing number of pages by number of days, had already been spoken by McKenzie.