• Do you remember a time a relative came to your house? 
• Have you ever taken a trip to a relative’s house?

This story is filled with imagery! Read the story without showing the pictures. Ask the children to draw a picture of their most vivid visual memory. After students have had time to draw their pictures, gather together and reread the story having students share their pictures as the illustrations. You can then reread the text again, to share the author’s illustrations. Compare and contrast the illustrations.

The students should reread a passage of the text several times until they can read it smoothly, accurately, and with expression. There is a repeated passage near the beginning and the end of the story that works well with this strategy.

Pages 6 & 25 — “They drove all day long and into the night...”

Possible words nclude: Virginia, bologna, relatives, wrinkled, particular, ice chest, station wagon