The very first chapter began by introducing the reader to Mattie Cook, who is telling the story. We get to know a lot about Mattie Cook in these two first chapters. Her family runs a coffee shop in downtown Philadelphia called Cook Coffeehouse. Her family consists of her mother and Grandfather. Her father died in the past from falling off a ladder. They have a woman who cooks in their coffeehouse named Eliza and they did have a young girl that helped in the coffee house named Polly. Mattie finds out that Polly has passed away and that is her reason for not making it to work. They have Eliza to cook because, as Mattie explains, even though their last name is Cook they are not all that good at cooking. This could be considered a kind of irony because Mattie's last name Cook implies something about them that is not true.
Right from the beginning of the book I can find ways to relate to Mattie. Despite the fact that we are from completely different time periods we still have some similarities. She works in her family coffeehouse and waits on the customers. I work as a waitress so I can relate with her through that, but also the fact that her mother is raising her. My mother raised me for a long time on her own just as Mattie's mother has to do along with the help of the grandfather.
The only question that these chapters seem to pose is what exactly caused the death of Polly, her death my be foreshadowing events to come.
I provided a picture of cooking utensils to represent both Mattie's last name and their coffeehouse.
Picture provided by:
http://kitchenstewardship.files.wordpress.com /2009/03/cooking-tools.jpeg
I provided a picture of cooking utensils to represent both Mattie's last name and their coffeehouse.
Teacher Comment- You did a great job summarizing all of the important information in the first two chapters. These are the chapters where we really get to know the characters and setting, which makes the little details important when first beginning a book. I'm glad you picked out how Mattie stated that although their name may be Cook that they are not good cooks at all, which was a great usage for your image as well. The cooking untensils are a good symbol of these first two chapters. Also great job relating to the characters in the book, it always makes the book that much more interesting when you can relate to it despite the fact that it takes place in 1793. Overall, good job!
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Student Comment 1- You picked up on some basic yet important details in the summary. I can also relate to Mattie as well, being brought up by a single mother. I am also wondering about what happened to Polly and if it is indeed the fever that Mattie has described the town talking about. Also I liked how you described how her father came to pass away byt falling off a ladder, I completely forgot about that so I'm glad you included that in your summary.
ReplyDeleteStudent Comment 2- Another important detail within these two chapters that may have been important to include is that George Washington is the president at the time according to Mattie. That may play an important role in the rest of the book. I liked the picture you included of the cooking utensils, I think it fits these two chapters really well.
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