I explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Family Dynamics and Maternal Influence

  Mother Grace's resourcefulness, her use of 'oh-be-joyful' whiskey, and her creative parenting shape June's childhood.

• Poverty and Class Struggle

  The family lives in a tenement, hides crusts under the table, and uses small treats to cope with financial stress.

• Rebellion and Conformity

  June disobeys her mother by swimming with boys, and later prays to St. Pelagia to avoid whippings, blending rebellion with religious imagination.

Characters to notice

• June Henreddy

  The protagonist, a young girl who prays to St. Pelagia, plays with her sister, and experiences the joys and punishments of childhood.

• Adele

  June's younger sister, who demands stories and threatens to tattle on June.

• Mother Grace

  June's mother, who uses whiskey as 'oh-be-joyful,' makes dolls from towels, and hosts tea parties and house parties.

• Cathern

  A friend of June's who has ten dolls 'up in the closet' and hosts exclusive tea parties.

• Mary Adams

  A Catholic girl who tells June about saints and gives her a saint story to read.

• Sadie Spielberger

  A girl who lures June into a cornfield and tells her secrets, later dies from eating an old Easter egg.

Key passages

• “June prayed to Pelagia, her birthday saint, every time a whipping threatened. It didn’t avert the punishment, but her faith remained unshaken.”

  June would pray to her birthday saint, Pelagia, whenever she feared a whipping; though it never stopped the punishment, she never lost faith.

  Shows June's early religious devotion and its ineffectiveness against her mother's discipline.

• “One hot night, when the hurdy-gurdies were playing in the street, and the call of the 'hot tamale' man and the voices of the passersby kept the night alive, Adele stuck her elbow in June’s ribs. 'Tell me a story so’s I kin get to sleep,' she demanded.”

  On a sweltering night filled with street music and vendors, Adele poked June and demanded a story to help her fall asleep.

  Illustrates the lively, crowded tenement environment and the sisters' nighttime interactions.

• “And every night the smell of beer and whiskey came up in waves from the saloon below, and the Drunken Lady who lived in the flat above fell into bed and snorted and groaned with the heat all night.”

  Each night, the odors of alcohol rose from the ground-floor saloon, while the intoxicated woman upstairs noisily collapsed into bed.

  Highlights the gritty, sensory details of tenement life.

• “Whenever Mother Grace referred to whiskey as 'oh-be-joyful' she’d sigh, 'dear old Uncle Charlie,' and there would follow stories about him and his whaling vessel and his iceboat on the Hudson and when Mother was a little girl.”

  When Mother Grace called whiskey 'oh-be-joyful,' she would fondly mention Uncle Charlie and tell tales of his whaling ship and iceboat, reminiscing about her own childhood.

  Reveals how Mother Grace uses alcohol and storytelling as an escape from stress.

• “But she took two towels nevertheless and in some miraculous way with cotton and clothespins and crayons and scraps, made dolls of fascinating character and expression.”

  Despite her earlier scolding, Mother Grace used towels, cotton, clothespins, crayons, and scraps to create charming, expressive dolls.

  Demonstrates Mother Grace's creativity and resourcefulness in providing for her children.

• “Sadie Spielberger, whose mother kept a grocery store at the end of the block, used to lure June into the little corn field at the back of the house and while the two of them hid among the sweet smelling cornstalks, told June things which were very interesting but which June felt that she ought not to know.”

  Sadie Spielberger would entice June into a cornfield behind the house and share intriguing but forbidden knowledge with her.

  Introduces themes of childhood curiosity and the allure of secrets.