Class VII [Raintree Coursebook Theme - 5: For the Love of Books] Chapter - 9: Maggie's First Reader by Bill Naughton

 Comprehension
 A. 1. Maggie was considered the best housewife in Clegg Row because she always provided fresh home-cooked food for her family—be it pie, stew or home-baked bread. She would never let them eat unhealthy food from outside. She took great care of her husband and five children. She took good care of her house, getting up early in the morning to clean it.

 2. Father O’Flaherty thought that a respectable wife and mother like Maggie must learn to read. His advice to her was to learn from her son Timothy.

3. Maggie loved reading her first ‘stiff-backed’ book (Gone with the Wind). She could not stop at just one. She started going to the library every morning and coming back with a book hidden in her shopping basket. She could not stop reading and would read late into the night. Soon, she started bringing back more than one book from the library.

4. The deal Harry struck with Maggie was that Thursday would be ‘Reading Day’. Maggie could read undisturbed every Thursday, from midnight to midnight. She could read for an hour or two on other days as well, provided she did the household chores and made them food.

5. Harry and Timothy went chasing off after Father O’Flaherty a second time because Maggie had put aside reading and had taken up writing, which was worse. Harry was alarmed because the house was filled with paper and pencils and Maggie did not respond at all when she was writing.

B. Reference to Context 

 1. a. Timothy looked at Maggie with wonder because he had never seen that look on Maggie’s face before or that light in her eyes. She looked as though she was in awe, discovering the words that had always been around her.
 b. Maggie walked around the kitchen, looking at the shelves and reading aloud everything that she had been unable to before. She read the labels and instructions on all the tins and cans. She picked up the prayer book and read from it. There was a look of awe and discovery in her eyes.

2. a. Father O’Flaherty said this to Harry.
 b. The ‘remarkable woman’ was Maggie. She was remarkable because she had learned how to read very late in life. But she read voraciously and had now taken up writing.
 c. Harry had trouble accepting that Maggie was remarkable. This was because he was used to Maggie taking care of him and the household. Reading and writing took time away from this. Harry would no longer have the perfect home-cooked meal and glistening house. He would have to actively help out with the chores at home which he never had before. 

C. Answer these questions in detail.

1. Timothy had to work very hard to teach his mother how to read. She had no time to sit, busy as she was with all her chores. So he had to follow her around as she worked, trying to teach her words like ‘cat’ and ‘dog’. He tried to teach her gently but he sometimes had to bully her into learning. He put in a lot of effort for a fortnight and on the day before the last, he finally succeeded. Maggie read out ‘Tom filled his can at the well’ clearly.

2. Father O’Flaherty was one of the main people responsible for Maggie’s development. He cared a lot for the people in his church. When he discovered that she could not read, he was shocked. He knew that was a problem and insisted that she learn. He bullied Timothy, her son, into teaching her within a fortnight. He did not take no for an answer from Timothy, who would otherwise not have bothered teaching her. He tried to help her family when they could not cope with her continuous reading. But when he realised that there was no stopping Maggie, he advised her family to accept it. He knew that she was a remarkable woman, reader and writer. Father O’Flaherty knew how reading could give strength to a person. He helped Maggie become a stronger person and helped her achieve her dreams. 

3. The first time Maggie started reading all the labels on the bottles in the kitchen, Timothy felt a little uneasy. He had never seen his mother look that thrilled and it made him a little uncomfortable. Harry initially was okay with Maggie reading. He even suggested she go to the library. But when Maggie’s reading took away time from her household chores, he was not happy. The house was a mess and Maggie was so busy reading that she had no time to make the top-quality home-cooked meals that she used to before. She would serve food that was burned or shop pies with tomatoes, bread and butter. This made Harry furious. He wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. When Maggie started writing, Harry panicked. But after speaking to the rector, he reluctantly agreed to help out with the house and be supportive of his wife.
 4. Maggie was once the best housewife in her neighbourhood. She kept a perfect house. It was always sparkling clean and you could smell the aroma of delicious home-cooked food from it. You could see that Maggie always put in her best effort at what she did. It was the same with reading. When she started reading, she could not stop. She read all the jars and bottles in her kitchen and all the magazines she could find. When she was done with those, she had to join a library to satisfy her hunger for reading. She was a voracious reader. Reading distracted her from all her old cooking and cleaning chores. She preferred reading late into the night to keeping a ‘perfect’ home. Soon, Maggie felt like she could write better than most books she had read and so she started writing. This distracted her more than reading ever had. The house was filled with paper and pencils and Maggie wrote for hours. Maggie was a remarkable housewife, reader and writer who had not realised how talented she was. Once she learned to read, she was finally free to become the amazing woman she always had been. Reading provided her with the strength to achieve her dreams.


D. Think and Answer (To be done in Raintree Textbook)
1. Maggie was a perfectionist. She was an amazing housewife and made sure that all the food that she and her family ate was home-cooked and of the best quality.
2. Father O’Flaherty was a determined man who wanted to make sure Timothy taught Maggie to read. 3. Harry was initially supportive of his wife’s desire to read.
4. Timothy realised he had been taking his mother for granted and now wanted to be supportive of his mother’s dreams. He was understanding, encouraging and helpful.

Grammar (To be done in Raintree Textbook)
A. 2. although 3. wherever 4. so that 5. unless 6. and
B. 2. compound 3. compound 4. complex 5. simple 6. complex 7. simple 8. complex

Vocabulary
1. S – gobble; NS – eat
2. S – scorching; NS – hot
3. S – gulp; NS – sip
4. S – spotless; NS – clean
5. S – chomp; NS – chew
6. S – wonderful; NS – good
7. S – bellow; NS – shout
8. S – furious; NS – angry

B.
2. to speak in support of someone
3. to continue to do something
4. someone who refuses to try something new
5. refuse to change what you are saying despite criticism