Notes for Liars - Chapters 16-25

Chapter 16

·      Cadence starts by talking about when she was eight and her dad gave her some books for Christmas.

·      She started writing a story about a King who had three daughters. He asked his three daughters how much they loved him. The youngest said that she loved him as meat loves salt. He was upset and put her out of the house. She became a very good cook and had a job cooking at an inn. Years later, the oldest daughter was getting married and they were eating at the inn. She cooked a pig without salt, and the King was upset.  When she said to him that he put his youngest daughter out of the house for saying that she loved him as meat loves salt, he knew who she was. She became his favorite daughter and ended up taking care of him. She realized that he is sick in the head, but she stays with him anyway. She is not sure whether she stays with him because she loves him or because he has promised her the Kingdom.

Chapter 17

·      The fall after Cadence’s trip to Europe with her father, she made a project to give something of hers away every day. She said that for the old people in her family, the accumulation of beautiful objects is a life goal. Cadence does not like pretty things anymore.

·      Cadence’s mother has a house full of beautiful things. Cadence gave her pillow away to a beggar. She gave her copy of King Lear to the public library. She even gave away a picture frame with a picture of her dead grandmother. Her mother is upset that she is giving everything away.

Chapter 18

·      The fall after Cadence’s trip to Europe with her father, she made a project to give something of hers away every day. She said that for the old people in her family, the accumulation of beautiful objects is a life goal. Cadence does not like pretty things anymore.

·      Cadence was upset that she could not remember the accident or the rest of summer fifteen. She kept asking her mother about the rest of the summer, and her mother would tell what happened. The next day, she would not remember and ask her mother again.  Her mother told her that she had to stop asking because the doctors said that it would be better for her to remember on her own. Cadence made her mother tell her one more time, and she wrote it down so that she would not have to ask every day.

Chapter 19

·      Cadence’s father is planning to take her to Australia and New Zealand for the whole summer seventeen. She wants to go to Beechwood Island.  She wanted to remember her accident and know why Gat disappeared. She wondered if he really loved her.

·      Granddad came to Burlington to visit. He had not been since before Granny Tipper died. Granddad has lost weight. He is looking older now. He picked three flowers in the back yard and gave them to Cadence because she was his first grandchild. He finally realized that her hair was not blond any more. She told him that she colored it.

Chapter 20

·      Cadence wrote another story about a king who had three daughters. When they were old enough to get married, a dragon started to kill the people in the kingdom. The king promised one of his daughters to the person who could kill the dragon. Nobody could. The king sent his oldest daughter to the dragon to ask for mercy. The dragon ate her. He sent his second daughter to beg the dragon for mercy, and the dragon ate her. Finally, he sent his youngest daughter to beg for mercy, and the dragon ate her too. Cadence asked at the end, who killed the daughters, the dragon or the king.

·      After Granddad leaves, Cadence’s mother calls and cancels the Australia trip. The finally decided that Cadence would go to Beechwood for four weeks, and then visit her dad.

Chapter 21

·      Cadence said that her room is nearly empty now. She has given just about everything away. One thing that she could not give away was Gat’s hunting jacket that he let her wear.

Chapter 22

·      The night before they left to go to Beechwood, her younger cousin Taft called and asked Cadence if she was a drug addict.

Chapter 23

·      When they met her aunt Carrie at the boat, Cadence is joking about drinking alcohol and taking pills. On the boat, Cadence is thinking to herself that she will see Gat soon.

·      When she can see island, she notices that the house Clairmont is gone, and there is a new house there. Cadence did not realize that Granddad had torn the old house down. Cadence was sad because a big tree was gone. Her mother told her to be normal, because she could

·      Cadence sees that rest of the liars came to meet her. She sees Mirren, Johnny, and Gat

Chapter 24

·      The Liars don’t come to the dock when the boat pulls in, only the littles. The Liars will have the Cuddledown house to themselves. Gat makes some hot tea.

·      Cadence and her mother walk to Windmere. Granddad and Aunt Bess are in the kitchen. Granddad has started calling people Mirren who are not Mirren.

·      Bonnie told Cadence that with her hair black, she looks like a vampire.

Chapter 25

·      Cadence and her mother were unpacking. She left her bag and went to look for the Liars.  Suddenly, she found them.

·      Cadence thought that Gat was so beautiful. She said that she was angry and so happy to see him. She has grown and is about as tall as Gat now.

·      Johnny asked her about college, and Cadence told her that she did not graduate because she missed too much school. Mirren says that she has a boyfriend.

infectious adj caused by infection or capable of causing infection


collapse vt. an abrupt failure of function or health

Giddy vt. having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling

embroidered adj adorned with embroidery

16“Eventually she surpasses her employer in skill and her food is known throughout the land”

12“I’d stagger from the table or collapse in quiet shameful agony, hoping no one in the family would notice.”

11“Johnny, Mirren, Gat, and I snuck glasses of wine and felt giddy and silly.”

11“Inside, it is full of original New Yorker cartoons, family photos, embroidered pillows, small statues, ivory paperweights, taxidermied fish on plaques.”

Vocabulary Words, Chapter 11-15

1.     Victorian - denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, characterized by massive construction and detailed ornamentation

2.     Taxidermied (taxidermy - the art or process of preparing, stuffing, and mounting animal skins so that they have a lifelike appearance). 

3.     Perfume - A fragrant liquid typically made from essential oils extracted from flowers and spices, used to impart a pleasant smell to one’s body or clothes

4.     Symbolic – Serving as a symbol of something. Representing something else.

5.     Shivering -  Shaking slightly and uncontrollably as a result of being cold, frightened, or excited

6.     Recuperate – Recover from illness.  Get well

7.     Traumatic -  Deeply distressing or disturbing

8.     Oozing - Slowly trickling or seeping out of something; flowing in a very gradual way

9.     Consumption -  A wasting disease, especially tuberculosis

10.  Heroine - A woman admired or idealized for her courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. (A female hero).

1.in what summer did Gat and cadence meet?

2.Who is Gat's uncle?


3.what is the name of the girl who Gat like?

4.what are the names of cadence grandparents?

5.who is the first grandson in the Sinclair family?




1.what did cadence grandmother think about Gat when they first met?

2.what dose it mean to be a Sinclair?

3.is the letter really sending to the girl in New York?


Miranda Valerie

We Were Liars, Chapters 1-5

The book “We Were Liars” is about the Sinclair family. The family is headed by Harris and Tipper Sinclair. In the story. They are the grandparents and have three daughters. Their daughters are Carrie, Bess and Penny. Carrie and her husband William Dennis had two children named Johnny and Will. Bess and her husband Brody Sheffield had four children named Mirren, Liberty, Taft and Bonnie. Penny and her husband had one child named Cadence. Cadence is the eldest grandchild, and the story is told by her.

Harris made a lot of money when he was young, and that is how the family got rich. The family has a private island, called Beachwood Island, where Harris and Tipper Sinclair, and each of their daughter’s families have a house.  All of the grandchildren seem to come to the island each summer with their parents.

At the time that she is telling the story, Cadence is nearly eighteen. She starts off by saying that she has a well-used library card and not much else.  That means that she reads a lot. Then she talks about all of the things that have changed about her like, she used to be strong, but now she is weak. And, she used to be pretty, but now she looks sick. All of these bad things happened to her after what she calls the accident. I think that the accident is what she calls when her father left her and her mother. Cadence said that

He told my mother he wasn’t a Sinclair, and couldn’t try to be on, any longer. He couldn’t smile, couldn’t lie, couldn’t be part of that beautiful family in those beautiful houses.

The accident happened in June of the summer when Cadence was fifteen. That is where she says that her story starts. Then she starts talking about what happened each summer, starting when she was eight.

The four Liars are Cadence, Johnny, Mirren and Gat. They are all about the same age. Gat is the nephew of Ed, the man that Carrie started seeing after her husband left her while she was pregnant with Will. Ed and his nephew are both Indian and dark-skinned, but the Sinclair family is White with blonde hair. Gat started coming to the island during the summer when Cadence was eight. His father had passed on, and Ed was helping out with his nephew. After he came to the island the first time, Johnny begged to have Gat stay longer, and he did. Johnny was the first grandson, and Cadence said that he usually got what he wanted. The next year, Johnny begged to have Gat come for the entire summer, and he did. Gat kept coming back every summer.  Gat and Cadence became very close.

Cadence described Johnny as “bounce, effort, and snark”. And, she described Mirren as “sugar, curiosity, and rain”. Gat pretended that nothing bothered him, but he was getting upset that he thought that Cadence had become prettier. They had been spending a lot of time together and even went out on the boat together. They would walk around the island together Gat would lend Cadence his books to read, and she liked that.

Me and You - Ending

The ending to “Me and You” was very sad.  Before the ending, I was happy that taking care of Olivia had made Lorenzo care about other people. He was not able to care about other people before. But when he was taking care of Olivia, he cared more about her than he cared about if he got into trouble.  On their last night together, he was very brave and ready to do whatever he needed to do in life.  Lorenzo had saved his sister and she promised him that she would not take drugs again.  When Lorenzo saw Olivia ten years later when she was dead, he said that she was skinny like she was when they were in the cellar. I think that she started taking drugs again if she was that skinny.

Haiku

The cold never stops
freezing freezing day by day
spring came yesterday

Bicycle shorter
nearly too tall for the seat
little brother waits

1.Why Lorenzo's sister don't tell Lorenzo 's parents he is in the basement?

2.why Lorenzo's sister seems like she don't like Lorenzo but she will help Lorenzo to answer Lorenzo' s mother's phone?

3. Why Olivia don't tell her father she is sick?