Chapter Two and Chapter Three Summary

Chapter Two begins in a classroom in which the teacher, Ms. Hussey, is teaching her students about writing letters. This woman is a unique teacher among those found at University School, a branch of the University of Chicago. This school was started as an experiment in working on projects and assignments that were relevant to daily life; Ms. Hussey very much agreed with this style of teaching. They were to investigate letter writing. Calder and Petra, two students in the class, are introduced. Petra is very excited about researching writing, while Calder, who is very interested in math and the pentominoes he plays with in his pocket, seems unhappy about studying words. Petra and Calder live near each other but have never been friends. Calder usually spent much of his time with his friend Tommy...