After reading page 5 say to the students, “I’m not sure why Ramon is crumpling up his drawings, so what I’m going to do now is back up and reread the previous two pages slowly to figure that out. When I can answer that question, I’ll continue reading the story.”  

After reading page 19 say to the students, “I don’t really know what the author means when he says, ‘thinking ish-ly allowed his ideas to flow freely.’ What does ish mean? I’m going to back up two pages and reread them slowly to determine what ish means, and when I figure that out, I will continue reading the book.”

Many emotions are included in this story. Students can practice reading in different voices to match the feeling of each character. Examples:

P. 6: “Leon burst out laughing. ‘WHAT is THAT?’ he asked.” 
P. 9: “After many months and many crumpled sheets of paper, Ramon put his pencil down. ‘I’m done.’" 
P. 12: “Ramon sneered. ‘I’m NOT drawing! Go away!’"

Possibilities in this text might include: haunted, sneered, energized, inspired, and savored.