Part II: Pages 72 through 89 Summary and Analysis

January 6: Codell creates a "time machine" to help teach history and reading, made from a refrigerator box covered with aluminum foil and a flashing police car light. Inside, there is a shelf of books, the idea being that reading is like traveling through time. Student Maya helps to create it. Codell creates a lot of suspense about the time machine, and every students wants to try it. Student JoEllen is chosen to go first. Codell is afraid she will "ruin the illusion," but after JoEllen emerges she tells the other kids she traveled to the Middle Ages and saw a joust. Other children use the time machine, and no one says that it's just a box with books in it. They all "travel" through time.

January 7: Codell takes her students outside to look at trees...