By Edith Nesbit Chapter I, The Beginning of Things
They were not railway children to begin with. I don't suppose they had over thought about railways except as a means of getting to Maskelyne and Cook's, the Pantomime,
Zoological Gardens, and Madame Tussaud's. They were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their Father and Mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with
coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bath-room with hot and cold water, electric bolls, French windows, and a good deal of white paint, and
overy modern convenience, as the house-agents say.
There were three of them Roberta was the oldest Of course, Mothers never have favourites, but if their Mother HAD had a favourite, it might have been Roberta. Next came
Peter, who wished to be an Engineer when he grew up, and the youngest was Phyllis, who meant extremely well.
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. She was almost always there ready to play
with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their home-lessons Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after
tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the returnishing of the dolls
house, or the time when they were getting over the mumps.
These three lucky children always had everything they ndeded pretty clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a Mother Goose wall. paper. They had a kind
and merry nursemaid, and a dog who was called James
, and who was their very own. They also had a Father who was just perfect--never cross, never unjust, and always ready
for a game-at least, if at any time he was NOT ready, he always had an excellent reason for it, and explained the reason to the children so interestingly and funnily that they felt
sure he couldn't help himself,
You will think that they ought to have been very happy. And so they were, but they did not know HOW happy till the pretty life in the Red Villa was over and done with, and they
had to live a very different life indeed
The dreadful change came quite suddenly

Prompt choice 2 (informational response)

Review the excerpt above. Answer the following question in a well developed paragraph.

How does the excerpt prepare the reader for the last line? What details and descriptions prepare the reader for the change in tone and mood . That final line?

** be sure to restate the question in your topic sentence and use specific details from the story to support your answers.