Read the title and show students the front cover. Have the students make predictions about what the story will be about.

Pause after page 2 where it says, “as soon as she’d leave, he would do something terrible to me and laugh.” Have students use prior knowledge or experiences to predict the type of things the older brother might do. Once you read page 12 (with the same illustration as the front cover), stop and have students check their predictions and cite examples from the text that confirm them.

Pause on page 25 after reading, “It was from that exact moment that our relationship changed somehow.” Have students turn and talk to each other about what the author might mean and what might have changed in her relationship with her brother. At the end of the story ask students to confirm or correct their prediction.

While looking at the title and cover of the book, have students predict what the author’s purpose might be. This is also a good time to review the concept of fiction versus nonfiction by discussing whether and how this book falls into one category or the other.

At the end of the book have students reflect on their prior notion of the author’s purpose to either confirm or correct and cite examples that support their conclusions.

Discuss the difference between fiction and realistic fiction. Have students brainstorm ideas about what makes one piece of text fiction and another piece realistic fiction. Show students the front and back inside covers of the book and discuss why the author might have included those family photos.

Sometimes, when we sound out a word, it doesn’t sound quite right or doesn’t make sense in the sentence. That’s a clue that we should try a different sound.

Here’s how:

1. Say the word the first way you think it sounds.
2. If it doesn’t sound right, try a different sound.
3. Try again until the word sounds like a real word you know!

For example:

• Cooed — If you say cood and it doesn’t sound right, try coo-d (like a dove "cooing").
• Rhubarb — If you say ruh-hub-arb, try roo-barb instead.
• Huge — If you say hug-e, try hyooj (long "u" sound).

Use pages 5 and 6 to demonstrate how the author’s use of punctuation as well as word choices such as whispered, louder, and screamed helps describe the characters’ moods and expressions.

This text is written with a lot of dialogue and frequent use of ... (ellipses) to help convey emotion. Use the two-paragraph dialogue on page 14 to discuss how the punctuation helps the reader know how it should be read.

Project or hand out a copy of page 14 and model reading the passage without punctuation and then reading it fluently with the punctuation. Discuss the differences, highlighting the meaning that is conveyed when the text is read fluently.

Have students tune in to words that the author uses to help convey emotion or actions. One example is the word jeered on page 5. “‘Bet I can pick more blackberries that you can,’ he jeered at me one day.” Have the students discuss the mental picture that word invokes, and possible synonyms for it.

Other examples are challenged (page 12), furiously(page 12), and pursed (page 13).

During the read-aloud, model strategies for using context clues (synonyms, definition, example, contrast, inference) to define unknown words.

Some examples are babushka (page 1), sneered (page 10), comforted(page 11), relish (page 13), and pop bottles (page 25).