Everyday Life In The 1800s Summary

The story begins with the main character, eleven-year-old Suzy Quinn, recounting the occurrence of an event that changed her entire summer. One day, her brother Parker decided to ride his tricycle to the neighbor, Mrs. Hardens’ house without telling anyone. When he arrived, he witnessed the elderly woman having an emergency medical “episode,” Terrified, Parker called 9-1-1 and a police and ambulance quickly arrived at the Harden residence. At the same time, Suzy Quinn— who had been sent to look for her brother— arrived at the scene and found her neighbor pale and slumped on the ground. As the paramedics entered the house, Suzy held the woman’s hand and reassured her that everything was going to be okay. When they returned to their home, both Suzy and Parker were saddened by what had happened, and were scared their
Alison begins to heckle Suzy about how going to this meeting is a mistake, and suggests they do other things. At that moment, the librarian Ms. Motts enters the room and begins to discuss the topic of the day: Everyday Life in the 1800s. After an hour of talking about careers, challenges, and notable people of that time period, the meeting ends and both Suzy and Alison depart. At the next meeting, Ms. Motts explains that the children will be researching historical figures and each child is assigned a figure. Suzy selects Emily Dickinson as her research subject, and she soon becomes engrossed in the history of the poet. A few days later, Suzy and Alison pass the Ridgely Community Theater and see an advertisement that calls for children aged 10 to 13 to audition for an upcoming production called The Foggy Bog Murders. Suzy is uninterested at first, but Alison prompts her to try out. Alison assumes the role of Snow White, while Suzy is the witch. When auditioning for the play, Alison gets the lead role, but Suzy does not make the cut. This deeply hurts Suzy, and she feels absolutely