Going North by Janice Harrington

(1) At Big Mama’s house everyone sits around the supper table talking about life up North. Everyone talks and talks about how much better the North is, how Daddy can find a good job there, and how I can go to a better school. But isn’t it good here? Can’t we just stay?

(2) I don’t want to go. I want to stay in Big Mama’s kitchen, helping her churn the butter up-down, up-down, taw-whomp, taw-whomp, swapping stories, and watching Big Mama knife-scrape a sweet potato, dragging its blade across orange pulp and sharing a sweet treat.

(3) “I don’t want to go,” I tell Big Mama. But Going-North Day hurries to our door like it’s tired of our slowpokey ways.

(4) Everybody comes to say goodbye; uncles, aunts, cousins too, Brother, Baby Sister, and me picked up, put down, passed around, and tickle-twirled all over the place. Everyone says, “Goodbye, we’ll miss you.”

(5) I slip off my shoes and push my feet into the rusty sand. I wish my toes were roots. I’d grow into a pin oak and never go away. Would they let me stay if I were a tree?

(6) Car loaded, everything packed, goodbyes said. We’re almost ready.

(7) I run to Big Mama one last time. She hugs me tight. “Take care of your mama,” she says. “Be a good girl, Jessie. Y’all take care.”

(8) “Bye-bye, Big Mama! Bye-bye!”

(9) Our station wagon pulls away, banana bright, rolling, rolling down a red dirt hill. We’re going North.

(10) “Goodbye, Big Mama. Goodbye, Popalop.” We’re going North, leaving Alabama far behind.

(11) We’re going North in a yellow station wagon, Mama, Daddy, Brother, Baby Sister, and me looking out, looking at the world going by, red sand and cotton fields, pines marking the sky like black crayons, listening to the tires make a road-drum, a road-beat: good luck, good luck, good luck.

(12) Kudzu vines covering everything, kudzu leaves like big green hands clapping, clapping and waving to us. Brother pointing at all he sees, Baby Sister bouncing on my lap, lap, lap, and Mama helping Daddy, checking the map. Daddy’s eye steady on the road, then studying the gas gauge, measuring the miles.

(13) Going by an old man selling peaches, going by tin roofs, front porches, going by brown girls jumping rope, rope, rope, brown legs flying high. Maybe later they’ll play Little Sally Walker.

(14) Do they play Little Sally Walker in the North? Do they play ring games? Oh, wipe your weepin’ eye, Oh, wipe your weepin’ eye.

(15) Cotton fields stretch out, brown shoulders dragging croaker sacks, brown fingers picking cotton under a red pepper sun.

(16) We’re going on. Cotton fields getting smaller, going by. Even the people getting smaller, going by, Mississippi on and on. Mississippi, Mississippi going by.

(17) “Lunchtime, are you hungry?” Picnic basket and paper plates, Big Mama’s tea cakes, potato salad and lemonade, cold chicken and corn bread.

(18) The car smells like chicken. Our fingers taste salty sweet. We’re riding in a lemonade car, a yellow station wagon, heading North.

(19) Sitting in the back, I see a big world. I hear the tires bumping, beating out good bye, good bye, good bye.

(20) Down the road and the baby’s crying. Mama’s singing, hush, hush. Brother’s fussing, hush, hush. Daddy’s watching the gas gauge. “It’s running out, child, running out.”

(21) “Where will we go, Daddy? Where will we go?” “Hush now, quiet now, Daddy’s got to drive.” Gas gauge getting low, getting low. Can’t stop just anywhere. Only the Negro stations, only the Negro stores.

(22) Mama’s praying, sees another town up ahead. Daddy’s searching, looking out, holding the wheel knuckle-tight. Even Brother seems to know. Baby’s quiet, won’t even cry.

(23) Will we make it? Will this place serve Negros? Gas gauge says almost gone almost gone.

(24) Joe’s Gas, up ahead, plenty of Negro faces, plenty of Negro smiles. Daddy breathes a heavy sigh. Mama hugs Baby Sister tight, tight, tight. Brother wants candy. Me too! Me too!

(25) Joes comes smelling like gasoline and fills our tank. “Y’all cutting it close,” he says. Daddy sighs and shakes his head.

(26) We’re on the road again, moving fast, car filled with gasoline, Brother wearing a chocolate bar. Mama’s hand on Daddy’s shoulder. Long road, but we’re moving fast, moving fast.

(27) I think about Daddy’s hands all knuckle-tight. I think about Mama’s prayer and the gas gauge running out. Maybe the North will be better --- May be, May be, May be.

(28) Arkansas, now, and it’s getting late. Still a long way to go.

(29) Sister’s asleep on Mama’s lap, Brother’s curled up puppy-tight, but I’m looking out.

(30) Ink-black, soot-black, skillet-black night. The road hurtling by. Mama and Daddy talking in low voices.

(31) Outside I see stars and the Big Dipper. We’re following the Big Dipper, going North.

(32) More stars than I can count, blue and white like dashboard lights. They’re gleaming in and I’m looking out.

(33) Sleepy now. Nighttime rolling by. The road whispers, the tires mumble good night, good night, good night.

(34) Daybreak, and Daddy beside the road, tired, stretching, seeing the way ahead, all of us waking up.

(35) Missouri stone, Missouri hills, are we there yet?

(36) Almost there. We’re leaving Dixie, almost there. “Will I like the North?” “Honey, I don’t know.”

(37) The road-drums, the road-beats don’t know, don’t know, don’t know.

(38) Are we there yet? Almost there. Will we be there soon? Almost there. And then ---

(39) Welcome to Nebraska, the sign says.

(40) This is it? No more cotton fields, no more red sand, no more June bugs on cotton string.

(41) Instead, I see black dirt everywhere, black magic, North magic. Nebraska rolling by on a grassy rug.

(42) Brother presses his nose against the window. Baby Sister sniffle-sighs, sniffle-sighs. Mama soothes us with her smile. But I just keep staring out, looking and looking. Until finally I see ---- Lin-coln, Lin-coln, Lincoln, Nebraska!

(44) We’re here now,” Daddy says. ”Going to start a brand-new life. We’re going to be pioneers.”

(45) Daddy, Mama, Brother, Baby Sister, and me, all pioneers, all looking out, hearing a heart-drum be brave, be brave. Be brave. We’re together. Pioneers

1. How does the narrator of the story feel about going North at the beginning of the selection?

A. Excited for the new opportunitiesB. Confused because she thinks her life “is good”C. Upset to be going someplace strangeD. Nervous about the unknown

2. Circle the following examples of figurative language.

A. But Going-North Day hurries to our door like it’s tired of our slowpokey ways.

B. The road whispers, the tires mumble good night, good night, good night.

C. I slip off my shoes and push my feet into the rusty sand

D. Daddy’s eye steady on the road, then studying the gas gauge, measuring the miles.

E. More stars than I can count, blue and white like dashboard lights.

3. Which of the following statements show this piece is historical fiction?

A. No more cotton fields, no more red sand, no more June bugs on cotton string.

B. Can’t stop just anywhere. Only the Negro stations, only the Negro stores.

C. ”Going to start a brand-new life. We’re going to be pioneers.”

D. We’re following the Big Dipper, going North.

4. What is the tone of the writing in paragraph 22?

A. ExcitedB. TenseC. HopefulD. Scared

5. What does the author mean in the following sentence? Instead, I see black dirt everywhere, black magic, North magic. Nebraska rolling by on a grassy rug.

A. There is a sense of hope; that life will be better.B. Nebraska is a good state for farming because

of the black dirt.C. Nebraska looks different than Alabama.D. The family is excited about farming in Nebraska.

6. What is the meaning of the word steady in the following sentence?

Daddy’s eye steady on the road, then studying the gas gauge, measuring the miles.

A. Serious and sensibleB. Not changing or letting upC. Blurry; not clearD. Watering; irritated

Daddy’s searching, looking out, holding the wheel knuckle-tight.

7. Select words that are synonyms for the bold, underlined word in the above sentence.

A. HuntingB. DiscoveringC. NoticingD. SeekingE. Picturing

8. How does the narrator’s feelings change from the beginning to the end?

A. Scared to happyB. Excited to unhappyC. Nervous to excitedD. Uncertain to hopeful

TEXT DEPENDENT QUESTIONS

Key Ideas and Details1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

What are the key ideas in this text/story?

What inferences can you draw about _______?

Who was the most important character in the story?

Who, what, where, when, how questions

What key details help support the main idea of ______?

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Retell the story. What is the theme of the

story? What message was the

author trying to share? What was a lesson in the

story? Summarize the text. Retell the text. What are key supporting

details?

3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Identify characters, setting, major events.

Compare and contrast characters, setting, major events.

Explain how ___ and ___ interact in the story.

Describe how ____responds to /feel about a major event or challenge.

Explain how a character changed in the story.

What clues tell you a character’s feelings/traits?

What does a character’s conversation reveal?

What event did the author include to show the reader _____?

Explain relationships or interactions between 2 or more items in the text.

Craft and Structure4. Interpret words and phrases 5. Analyze the structure of 6. Assess how point of

as they are used in a text, including determining connotative and figurative meanings and analyze how specific word choice shapes meaning or tone.

What does (word or phrase from the story, figurative language, sensory word) mean?

Describe how words and phrases (regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story or poem.

Explain the meaning of _______.

texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole.

What was the problem/solution?

Describe the story structure.

Describe the (action, setting) in the story.

What might have happened if _______ hadn’t happened first?

How do _______ fit together to provide overall structure in this text?

What kind of text is this? How do you know?

How do you know this selection is fiction/nonfiction?

How did the author organize the ideas in the article, book, etc?

What text features did the author use to help the reader

view or purpose shapes the content and style of the text.

From what point of view is this story told?

Who is narrating the story? How do we know?

Through whose eyes did you see this story?

Read two or more accounts of the same event/topic. Analyze the information the authors present.

What similarities and/or differences are there in (titles of two texts on similar topics)?

Distinguish between information provided by pictures and words in the text.

How does your own point of view compare to the author’s point of view?

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually as well as in words.

Describe (characters/setting/event). Use specific examples from the illustrations and/or words.

How did the illustrations and words in print help the reader understand the story?

How do the (visual/media elements) help the reader understand the author’s message?

What was the tone of the story/text? How did you know?

How does this selection connect to the theme of _____?

How does this selection connect to other text we have read?

How is _______ in paragraphs 1 and 2 like the same idea in paragraphs 3-6?

What mood does the author create? What details in the text help to create the mood?

8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Not applicable in reading literature.

Identify the reasons an author gives to support his key point(s).

Explain how an authoruses reasons and evidence to support the main idea of _____.

Identify which reasons/evidence support which point(s).

Describe logical connections between particular sentences and paragraphs.

9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Compare and contrast the adventures of _______ and ______.

Compare and contrast (titles from the same genre/theme/topic)

Compare and contrast 2 versions of the same story.

Identify similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic.

Read several texts on the same topic. Write/prepare a speech using information from each of the sources.

Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in each text.

Bud, Not Buddy(1) HERE WE GO AGAIN. We were all standing in line waiting for breakfast when one of the caseworkers came in and tap-tap-tapped down the line. Uh-oh, this meant bad news, either they’d found a foster home for somebody or somebody was about to get paddled. All the kids watched the woman as she moved along the line, her high-heeled shoes sounding like little fire-crackers going off on the wooded floor.

(2) Shoot! She stopped at me and said, “Are you Buddy Caldwell?

(3) I said, “It’s Bud, not Buddy, ma’am.”

(4) She put her hand on my shoulder and took me out of line. Then she pulled Jerry, one of the littler boys, over. “Aren’t you Jerry Clark?” He nodded. “Boys, good news! Now that the school year has ended, you both have been accepted in new temporary-care homes starting this afternoon!”

(5) Jerry asked the same thing I was thinking, “Together?”

(6) She said, “Why, no, Jerry, you’ll be in a family with three little girls . . . “ Jerry looked like he’d just found out they were going to dip him in a pot of boiling milk. “. . . and Bud . . .” she looked at some papers she was holding. “Oh, yes, the Amoses, you’ll be with Mr. and Mrs. Amos and their son, who’s twelve years old, that makes him just two years older than you, doesn’t it, Bud?”

(7) “Yes, ma’am.”

(8) She said, “I’m sure you’ll both be very happy,” Me and Jerry looked at each other. The woman said, “Now, now, boys, no need to look so glum. I know you don’t understand what it means, but there’s a depression going on all over this country. People can’t find jobs and these are very, very difficult times for everybody. We’ve been lucky enough to find two wonderful families who’ve opened their doors for you. I think it’s best that we show our new foster families that we’re very . . .” She dragged out the word very, waiting for us to finish her sentence for her.(9) Jerry said, “Cheerful, helpful and grateful.” I moved my lips and mumbled.

(10) She smiled and said, “Unfortunately, you won’t have time for breakfast. I’ll have a couple of pieces of fruit put in a bag. In the meantime go to the sleep room and strip your beds and gather all of your things. “

(11) Here we go again. I felt like I was walking in my sleep as I followed Jerry back to the room where all the boys’ beds were jim-jammed together. This was the third foster home I was going to and I’m used to packing up and leaving, but it still surprises me that there are always a few seconds, right after they tell you you’ve got to go, when my nose gets all runny and my throat gets all choky and my eyes get all sting-y. But the tears coming out doesn’t happen to me anymore, I don’t know when it first happened, but it seems like my eyes don’t cry no more.

(12) Jerry sat on his bed and I could tell that he was losing the fight not to cry. Tears were popping out of his eyes and slipping down his cheeks. I sat down next to him and said, “I know being in a house with three girls sounds terrible, Jerry, but it’s a lot better than being with a boy who’s going to have problems. A older boy is going to want to fight, but those little girls are going to treat you real good. They’re going to treat you like some kind of special pet or something.” Jerry said, “You really think so?”

(13) I said, “I’d trade you in a minute. The worst thing that’s going to happen to you is that they’re going to make you play house a lot. They’ll probably make you be the baby and will hug you and do this kind of junk to you.” I tickled Jerry under his chin and said, “Ga-ga goo-goo, baby-waby.” Jerry couldn’t help but smile. I said, “You’re going to be great.”

(14) Jerry looked like he wasn’t so scared anymore so I went over to my bed and started getting ready. Even thought it was me who was in a lot of trouble I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jerry. Not only because he was going to have to live around three girls, but also because being six is a real rough age to be at. Most folks think you start to be a real adult when you’re fifteen or sixteen years old, but that’s not true, it really starts when you’re around six. (15) It’s at six that grown folks don’t think you’re a cute little kid anymore, they talk to you and expect that you understand everything they mean. And you’d best understand

too, if you aren’t looking for some real trouble, ‘cause it’s around six that grown folks stop giving you little swats and taps and jump clean up to give you slugs that’ll knock you right down and have you seeing stars in the middle of the day. The first foster home I was in taught me that real quick.

(16) Six is a bad time too ‘cause that’s when some real scary things start to happen to your body, it’s around then that your teeth start coming a-loose in your mouth. You wake up one morning and it seems like your tongue is the first one to notice that something strange is going on, ‘cause as soon as you get up there it is pushing and rubbing up against one of your front teeth and I’ll be doggoned if that tooth isn’t the littlest bit wiggly.

(17) At first you think it’s kind of funny, but the tooth keeps getting looser and looser and one day, in the middle of pushing the tooth back and forth and squinching your eyes shut, you pull it clean out. It’s the scariest thing you can think of ‘cause you lose control of your tongue at the same time and no matter how hard you try to stop it, it won’t leave the new hole in your mouth alone, it keeps digging around in the spot where that tooth used to be.

(18) You tell some adult about what’s happening but all they do is say it’s normal. You’ can’t be too sure, though, ‘cause it shakes you up a whole lot more than grown folks think it does when perfectly good parts of your body commence to loosening up and falling off of you.

(19) Unless you’re as stupid as a lamppost you’ve got to wonder what’s coming off next, your arm? Your leg? Your neck? Every morning when you wake up it seems a lot of your parts aren’t stuck on as good as they used to be.

(20) Six is real tough. That’s how old I was when I came to live here in the Home. That’s how old I was when Momma died.

(21) I folded the blanket and sheet and set them back on the mattress. Then I reached under the bed to get my suitcase. Most of the kids in the Home keep their things in a paper or cloth sack, but not me. I have my own suitcase.

(22) I set it on the mattress and untied the twine that held it together. I did what I do every night before I go to sleep, I checked to make sure everything was there. The way there’re more and more kids coming into the Home every day, I had to make sure no one had run off with any of my things.

(23) First I pulled my blanket out and saw that everything was where it was supposed to be. At the bottom of my suitcase were the flyers. I took the blue flyer out and looked at it again.

(24) The paper was starting to wear out from me looking at it so much but I liked checking to see if there was anything I hadn’t noticed before. It was like something was telling me there was a message for me on this flyer but I didn’t have the decoder ring to read what it was. Across the top of the flyer writ in big black letters were the words LIMITED ENGAGEMENT, then in little letters it said, “Direct from an S.R.O. engagement in New York City.” Underneath that in big letters again it said, HERMAN E. CALLOWAY and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!

(25) Those six exclamation points made it seem like this was the most important news anyone could think of, seems like you’d have to be really great to deserve all of those exclamation points all stacked up in a row like that.

(26) Next the paper said, “Masters of the New Jazz,” then in the middle of the flyer was a blurry picture of the man I have a real good suspicion about. I’ve never met him, but I have a pretty good feeling that this guy must be my father.

(27) In the picture he’s standing next to a giant fiddle that’s taller than him. It looks like it’s real heavy ‘cause he’s leaning up against it trying to hold it up. He looks like he’s been doing this for a long time and he must be tired ‘cause he has a droopy, dreamy look on his face. There are two men beside him, one playing drums and the other blowing horn. (28) It wasn’t hard to see what the guy who must be my father was like just by looking at his picture. You could tell he was a real quiet, real friendly and smart man, he had one of those kind of faces. Underneath the picture someone had writ with a black fountain

pen, “One night Only in Flint, Michigan, at the Luxurious Fifty Grand on Saturday June 16, 1932. 9 Until?”

(29) I remember Momma bringing this flyer with her when she came from working one day, I remember because she got very upset when she put it on the supper table and kept looking at it and picking it up and putting it back and moving it around. I was only six then and couldn’t understand why this one got her so upset, she kept four others that were a lot like it in her dressing table, but this one really got her jumpy. The only difference I could see between the blue one and the others was that the others didn’t say anything about Flint on them.

(30) I remember this blue one too ‘cause it wasn’t too long after she brought it home that I knocked on Momma’s bedroom door, then found her.

(31) I put the blue flyer back in the suitcase with the four older ones and put everything back in its place.

(32) I went over to the big chest of drawers and took my other set of clothes out and put them in the suitcase too. I tied the twine back around my bag, then went and sat on Jerry’s bed with him. Jerry must’ve been thinking just as hard as I was ‘cause neither one of us said nothing, we just sat close enough so that our shoulders were touching.

(33) Here we go again.

1. The author starts and ends the chapter with the line, “Here we go again.” What is the importance of those words as related to the main character?

2. What line in the text supports the fact that Bud and Jimmy aren’t necessarily happy with the idea of going to a new Foster Home?

Jerry said, “Cheerful, helpful and grateful.” I moved my lips and mumbled.

She smiled and said, “Unfortunately, you won’t have time for breakfast.

She said, “I’m sure you’ll both be very happy,” Me and Jerry looked at each other.

Jerry couldn’t help but smile. I said, “You’re going to be great.”

3. Why does Bud feel that six is the age for being viewed as a grown-up?

4. Which line from the text did the author include to show the reader the importance of the blue flyer Bud keeps at the bottom of his suitcase?

I took the blue flyer out and looked at it again.The paper was starting to wear out from me looking at it so

much but I liked checking to see if there was anything I hadn’t noticed before.

I put the blue flyer back in the suitcase with the four older ones and put everything back in its place.

Underneath that in big letters again it said, HERMAN E. CALLOWAY and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!

5. Based on the following line from the text what event can the reader infer occurred? “I remember this blue one too ‘cause it wasn’t too long after she brought it home that I knocked on Momma’s bedroom door, then found her.”

Bud was sent to the Home.Bud’s Momma left him.

Bud’s Momma died.Bud was sent to a foster home for the first time.

Did You Get the Text’s Message?

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1,2,3

Did You Get the Text’s Message?

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1,2,3

Circle words/phrases that are unknown, interesting, figurative

language, sparkling!

Surprising Moments AH HA!

Something is unclearI wonder . . .

Things that make you go “Hmmm”

Key Events

Feeling, Traits,Motives

Circle words/phrases that are unknown, interesting, figurative

language, sparkling!

Surprising Moments AH HA!

Something is unclearI wonder . . .

Things that make you go “Hmmm”

Key Events

Feeling, Traits,Motives

1. Max approached the front door carefully. He could barely see through the blinds in the windows. Slowly he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. After waiting a few moments he put his hand on the knob and turned. The door easily opened. “Sarah,” Max whispered. “Sarah, where are you?” Max tip-toed quietly further into the house. Suddenly, he heard a soft whimper. He peered over the couch. There was Sarah cowering behind the couch. “Why are you hiding? Max asked. Sarah didn’t reply. She only seemed to bend down even lower to the ground.

Think about what the word cowering means in the above text. Which of the following words would help you

understand the meaning?hidingcouch

Bend down

1. Complete the sentence below using the word cower.

My dog cowers whenever strangers come to the door________________________________________________________.

2. Use the word cower (ing) in a sentence to demonstrate your understanding.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. I looked at my paper in aghast. Oh, no, I thought to myself what did I do wrong. Written boldly in bright red were the words, SEE ME! I was stunned. I thought I had done everything correctly. I quickly grabbed the assignment sheet and read over the direction again. “There must be a mistake,” I said under my breath. With trembling legs I walked to my teacher’s desk. I was going to be shocked if I received a poor grade. Think about what the word aghast means in the above text. Which of the following words would help you understand the meaning?

tremblingstunnedshocked

1. Complete the sentence below using the word aghast.

I was aghast when I walked in the door___________________________________________________________________________.

2. Use the word aghast in a sentence to demonstrate your understanding.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________