Close Reading from Tending To Grace by Kimberly Newton Fusco (ch. 5, pg. 6-7) DIRECTIONS: Read the following passage. While Teading, underline, summarize, label, define, question and record inferences and other literary devices in the margins. Then, answer the questions on the reverse side completely. Et} Peron Mot ny ee No one likes the new girl. Her name is Ruth, She wears the goofiest glasses I've ever seen. But I ~ dike her, I like the way she looks me in the eye when I tell her ‘something. She is kind underneath those glasses and she smiles when I joke around. I want to tell her my whole life story in ten minutes, quicklike so the words tumble down, fast and furious, like my mother's promises. But I don't know how to begin, so we talk about books, which is the second-favorit reason why I like her so much, ooo 7{@\ 000 ‘We have just read Oliver Twist, me for the second time, and we are trying to figure out how ngs “Ee.” Sloves Oliver survived on the gruel they made him eat at the workhouse. We made a pact to live on gruel for one day, cold and without brought Cream of Wheat. I brought oatmeal and it sits like cold clotted gravy on my tongue.” ~Fay Sood. ought Cream of Wheat. I brought oatineal and it si wy on my tongue ‘The empty seats beside us a Leoncentre ke they'll notice our lunch. How disgusting. How odd. How much ofa loser | “©! iar, but unlike Oliver, our portions ae un-limited. Ruth.) I so". ‘The girls in the lunch line point to us. ‘my spoon. I wonder can you be, Comelia Thom? js in hie py(tedor 1 stuff my bowl into my bag and push it into my backpack, Reverse? "Hey, we've dat done," Ruth says. Her back is to the girls; she hasn't noticed, I nod toward ‘them. She turns and hides her bowl in her notebook and stands up to leave. She is sturdier then 1, more of an eggplant to stick. hungry. L, fengplnt tomy cele # ick. Tam so hungry. et belies 72M dont go of account of us," say3 Eleanor, the tallest ofthe thee breezing toward us, She Conny has had a perfect mouth from the beginning of time, one that never has~and never wil braces. I stare absently into the crowded need ene? “AL PesPle net Ave "How are you today, Comelia?" Eleanor takes her nagiin, puts it'on her lap, and ignores Ruth I take my napkin and wipe my mouth. I smile quickly and sip my milk. Chearer "Did you get the last answer on the. test?" Eleanor asks. I shake my head. The other girls are spickering behind their napkins. Me REO dong