Before Gram returns to Cincinnati she poses for a photograph with baby Mary in her lap, and Laura Paisley jumps in as well. School begins, and Katy has the same third-grade teacher that her mother had as a girl: Ms. Moody. Austin, Jessie, and Katy are in the same class, but they only play together before and after school. At school the boys and girls stay separate. The Bishops hire a new girl named Flora. The Bishops send Paul to a boarding school for boys in Connecticut, even though he strongly protests. Katy thinks it serves him right to be at school with no girls.

Katy plans her ninth birthday party, sad that on her eighth birthday she had the chicken pox and didn’t get to have a party. Peggy doesn’t know about birthday parties, so Katy teaches her about birthday cake, party games, and gifts. Katy asks Peggy if she can invite Jacob to her party, but Peggy says it’s not a good idea: “Jacob don’t go to parties […] He never” (189). Since he can’t come to the party, Katy gives him the party favors he would have received if he came: “two big cat’s-eye marbles […] deep brown, flecked with gold and black” (191).