Chapter 22

Summary Francie is overjoyed when she learns how to read. When she sees and understands words like 'mouse,' 'horse,' and 'running' on a page, she feels grown up and excited. She soon becomes an avid reader, promising herself to read a book a day for the rest of her life. As a result, she never feels lonely again. Francie also enjoys math and makes up games to help her better understand numbers and sums. She even makes up stories to go along with the math problems.

In this chapter, Francie undergoes a major change in her life. When she learns to read, she finds a new friend in books and never feels lonely again. Also in this chapter, the author unifies this part of the book to an early section, when Francie's love of books and going to the library to check them out was emphasized.

Francie's imagination and creativity are again depicted in the chapter. In order to better understand math, she creates number games for herself. She also makes up stories to go along with the math problems that she works. Because of what she has learned in school, Francie is a happier child than ever before; she has discovered a means to fill the empty, lonely hours of her life.

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