Memory

Ben and I read chapters 7 & 8 today. This book is a challenging read for Ben. He is confused by the period speaking but to his credit he is working to understand what is going on. We continue to use a highlighter for phrases and terms that are interesting or difficult to understand. Ben’s highlights are a 50/50 mix of those.

There was quite a contrast in today’s reading. Chapter 7 was a tale of a carefree night in the countryside – albeit with the untimely death of a rabbit. We read Chapter 8 aloud together at my suggestion because the first time I read it I did not understand it and I guessed Ben would have the same issue. A key paragraph that explained the reason that a man was digging up the coffin of his infant child on a rainy night was easy to miss.

After reading this chapter I was wondering how autobiographical this book is. The fact that the author uses his family’s names seems to indicate that the book is based on his life, but the foreword to the book does not make it clear. I was thinking about Robert Peck writing this chapter as an adult and calling on a very powerful memory that must have been quite frightening at the time.

Do you have any childhood memory that would fit into this category? (Clearly this is a harder question for a 7th grader to answer but give it a try nonetheless, Ben.)