Chapters 5-10 Summary

Caitlin checks out 32 books from the public library on the human heart as she tries to find answers to questions about the bullet that penetrated her brother's heart. She recalls that she was tested at eighth grade reading level when she was in kindergarten, and now in fifth grade she can read "anything Dad can." As she reads, Caitlin writes key words in her notebook for further study: chambers, aorta, atria, ventricles, veins, valves. She learns that regular exercise and a good diet are recommended for heart health, and finds that "a gunshot would to the heart is almost always fatal." A teacher, Mrs. Johnson, talks to the fifth grade about group projects and asks for possible animals for study. Caitlin tells her she wants to study the human heart, but the teacher says it must be about an animal. Mrs...