In the first five chapters, pretty much everything is new. We meet the characters, get a feel for the situation, and the mood for the story is set. I can tell that the mood isn’t exactly happy, and even the events in the first five chapters bug me. For example, “…she discovered I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.” The entire section around this confuses me greatly. Why would a child knowing how to read in first grade be a bad thing? I could read in first grade. To me it seems she should be grateful, there’s one less kid to try and teach. However, she seems to believe that some damage has been done. My question is: What are Miss Caroline’s infamous teaching methods, and will they result in the children learning absolutely nothing? (Nothing educational, anyway)

Question: What did the first sentence make you think/feel?

The first sentence of the book sort of confused me. I expected this to be a very serious book, but starting off with a broken arm seemed to set a different tone. Now that I have read more I understand that there is more to it and a broken arm was a clever segue, but at the time it didn’t seem to fit.