41 pages • 1 hour read
Laurie Halse AndersonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
That summer, Anderson works as a candy striper at a local hospital and narrowly escapes being assaulted by a man who works in the morgue. Anderson slowly improves her grades and attends school more regularly in 10th and 11th grade. She notes that, “kids living in war zones should get extra credit for just showing up” (84). Her parents don’t notice that she is still struggling and is often high. She begins to write poetry, like her father once did, and to read books about history and foreign cultures. Both of her parents are floundering in their alcoholism, and Anderson realizes, “no matter how much I loved my parents / my love could not fix them” (89). If she wishes to save herself from her parents’ fate, she knows she must leave home.
She is accepted to a foreign exchange program in Denmark for her senior year of high school. After begging her parents for the money to go, Anderson travels to Denmark, meeting friends from all over the world and learning Danish. Throughout the memoir, each poem title is written in both English and Danish when referring to this year of travel or the Danish language.
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Ashes
Ashes
Laurie Halse Anderson
Catalyst
Catalyst
Laurie Halse Anderson
Chains
Chains
Laurie Halse Anderson
Fever 1793
Fever 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson
Forge
Forge
Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
The Impossible Knife of Memory
The Impossible Knife of Memory
Laurie Halse Anderson
Twisted
Twisted
Laurie Halse Anderson
Wintergirls
Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson