Ms. Tunik's List: Sandra Cisneros

• • What did she show well? What can you see?
    Similie, metaphor, additive phrases
• Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa’s hair is like a broom, all up

   

  in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos’ hair is thick

   

  and straight. He doesn’t need to comb it. Nenny’s hair is slippery—slides out of your

   

  hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur.

   

  But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like candy circles all

   

  curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into

   

  when she is holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it,

   

  is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin,

   

  and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain,

   

  and Mama’s hair that smells like brea

• What did she show well? What could you see?
  simile, metaphor, additive phrases - Ms. Tunik on 2009-04-21

• HAIRS
  
  Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa's
  
  hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos' hair is thick and straight. He doesn't need to comb it. Nenny's hair is slippery-slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur.
  
  But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama's hair that smells like bread.
• • What is the main point of htis story? What can you see? If the author took three pages to write this story, instead of one, what would you like to see or understand better?
• THOSE WHO DON'T
  
  Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake.
  
  But we aren't afraid. We know the guy with the crooked eye is Davey the Baby's brother, and the tall one next to him in the straw brim, that's Rosa's Eddie. V., and the big one that looks like a dumb grown man, he's Fat Boy, though he's not fat anymore nor a boy.
  
  All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes.

1 more annotation...

• Additive phrases

   

  An   additive phrase sometimes makes a sentence look as   if it has a compound subject. Examples of these phrases are   accompanied by, along with, as well as, in addition to, including, and together with. When you use one of them, you are thinking of more than one person or thing. But grammatically these phrases aren't conjunctions like   and. They are actually modifying the subject, not making it compound. Therefore, do not choose a plural verb because of one of these modifying phrases.  

   
  •  

    President   Ford,   accompanied by his advisors,   was en route to Europe. 

     
   
  •  

      not  President   Ford, accompanied   by his advisors,   were en route to Europe. 

     
   
  •  

    The   instructor, along with the class,   is angry about the room change. 

     
   
  •  

      not  The   instructor, along with the class,   are angry about the room change. 
• • Modifies the noun--it's working like an adjective