Chapters 3 and 4 Summary and Analysis

Pat finds the school library woefully inadequate filled with donated books that adults would read, not children. The public library is even more irrelevant because people have stopped donating because the island residents do not access it. Pat understands this completely because most of the people on Yamacraw cannot read. Someone the children relates to is the music performer James Brown and one of the students, Top Cat, leaps at the chance to perform Brown's songs whenever possible.

Pat introduces the children to classical music through records, and they listen to the news on a Savannah radio station every morning. Pat points out on the map when countries are mentioned on the broadcasts and tries to give some context to the area such as Brazil being the world's largest coffee producer. After awhile, the students are able to respond...