Figurative Language
Figurative language that compares two things using "like" or "as."
What is a simile?
The potatoes are steaming.
What is not an important detail?
"Each drop finding the same crooked path as the one before it."
What is bent, twisted, or not straight?
The reason Maren stopped speaking to her father.
What is she is hurt and confused because of the letter?
The amount of day that Maren had gone without speaking to her father.
What is 11 days?
“Steam curled off the bowl of potatoes, like a small, dying ghost.” What is being compared?
What is steam and a dying ghost?
Maren saying "maybe" to her father.
What is an important detail?
"Her father's shoulders eased, just slightly."
What is became less tense, or uncomfortable?
Maren and her father's relationship is fixed.
What is, it is only the beginning of their relationship being fixed?
The item Maren discovered in her father's desk drawer.
What is a letter? Bonus: What is the importance of the letter?
“Each drop finding the same crooked path as the one before it.”
What is personification?
The letter that Maren found in her father's desk drawer.
What is an important detail?
"Outside, the rain kept falling in its same stubborn pattern, indifferent to what had just been mended."
What is repaired or restored? Bonus: What is being mended in the story?
Using "building a bridge across a canyon" to describe the relationship between Maren and her father.
What is it suggests that there is a large emotional gap between them?
The thing Maren's father told her about.
What is the Hendersons selling their boat?
"Her father counted, though he pretended not to, marking each silent meal the way sailors mark days at sea, waiting for land that refuses to appear." What does this mean?
What is her father is counting and waiting for Maren to talk to him, but he doesn't know if or when she will?
The Henderson's boat.
What is an important detail? Bonus: Why is it important?
"Outside, the rain kept falling in its same stubborn pattern, indifferent to what had just been mended."
What is not caring or showing interest?
What Maren saying "maybe" means.
What is she may not be ready to forgive him, but she is willing to begin communicating?
The first word Maren said after 11 days of silence.
What is maybe?
"Dad's voice had the careful brightness of someone building a bridge across a canyon he couldn't see the bottom of." What does this mean?
What is the dad was hopeful that Maren would reply to him?
The main idea of the passage.
What is Maren and her father were not talking to each other but Maren was able to say a single word back to her father, which shows that they are rebuilding their relationship?
"She thought about how the silence had started the same week she'd found the letter, though she told herself that was a coincidence."
What is two events happening at the same time by chance?
Maren's father's feelings towards her.
What is he misses their closeness and wants to rebuild their relationship?
Maren's father's reaction to her finally speaking.
What is his shoulder relaxed and he felt relieved that she finally said something to him?