User:Mosborne01/Temp/Cloze-opening-pages.doc

Opening Pages

The novel begins with an (1)________________, in which Susie recalls her father shaking a (2)________________ with a small (3)________________ inside all by himself. When she worries about the penguin, he says, "Don't worry, Susie. He's got a nice life. He's trapped inside a perfect world."

In the opening sentences, Susie introduces herself to us and takes us to (4)________________, 1973, "before kids of all races and genders started appearing on (5)________________ and in the daily mail ... when people believed things like that didn't happen."

At dusk, with a light snow falling, she takes a shortcut back home across a small cornfield from her junior high school to her home in (6)________________, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. When she stops to taste a (7)________________, she is accosted by a neighbor, (8)________________, a man in his mid-30s who lives alone and builds dollhouses for a living. He persuades her to enter an underground den he has recently built nearby. Once she enters, he rapes and strangles her to death. An (9)________________, the only part of Susie ever to be found, falls out of his bag as he returns home.

On the way there, she reaches out and brushes (10)________________, a classmate who is walking near the school while Susie is being killed. Ruth becomes increasingly fascinated with not just Susie, but murdered (11)________________ as a whole, over the next few years. Over this time, she also becomes close friends with (12)________________, a British immigrant of (13)________________ descent who had given Susie her first (14)________________ a few days before her death.

Susie arrives in heaven to find it takes the form of the (15)________________ she never got to go to. She and a fellow teen girl, (16)________________, are finally approached by a friendly older woman named (17)________________, who, after giving the two girls some lime Kool-Aid, describes herself as their intake counselor. She explains the way to find their duplex where they live, complete with a gazebo and an ice cream stand where they can get (18)________________ ice cream all year long. At the high school, there are no teachers and they only have to attend one class each, (19)________________ for Suzie and jazz band for Holly. "The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were (20)________________ and Glamour and Vogue."

art class December 6 elbow epigraph Franny George Harvey high school Holly Indian kiss milk cartons Norristown penguin peppermint-stick Ray Singh Ruth Connors Seventeen snow dome snowflake women

--Key--

Opening Pages

The novel begins with an epigraph, in which Susie recalls her father shaking a snow dome with a small penguin inside all by himself. When she worries about the penguin, he says, "Don't worry, Susie. He's got a nice life. He's trapped inside a perfect world."

In the opening sentences, Susie introduces herself to us and takes us to December 6, 1973, "before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons and in the daily mail ... when people believed things like that didn't happen."

At dusk, with a light snow falling, she takes a shortcut back home across a small cornfield from her junior high school to her home in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. When she stops to taste a snowflake, she is accosted by a neighbor, George Harvey, a man in his mid-30s who lives alone and builds dollhouses for a living. He persuades her to enter an underground den he has recently built nearby. Once she enters, he rapes and strangles her to death. An elbow, the only part of Susie ever to be found, falls out of his bag as he returns home.

On the way there, she reaches out and brushes Ruth Connors, a classmate who is walking near the school while Susie is being killed. Ruth becomes increasingly fascinated with not just Susie, but murdered women as a whole, over the next few years. Over this time, she also becomes close friends with Ray Singh, a British immigrant of Indian descent who had given Susie her first kiss a few days before her death.

Susie arrives in heaven to find it takes the form of the high school she never got to go to. She and a fellow teen girl, Holly, are finally approached by a friendly older woman named Franny, who, after giving the two girls some lime Kool-Aid, describes herself as their intake counselor. She explains the way to find their duplex where they live, complete with a gazebo and an ice cream stand where they can get peppermint-stick ice cream all year long. At the high school, there are no teachers and they only have to attend one class each, art class for Suzie and jazz band for Holly. "The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."