A Norwegian Family's Journey: Life at St. Peter's School

1. Loss and New Beginnings

The father dies of pneumonia. His favorite daughter had just died a few weeks earlier, and this caused him to fall into a deep depression. He was so depressed that he didn’t mind living or dying.

After the father's death, the family didn’t go back to Norway. The mother was pregnant and had to take care of six small children. Nevertheless, she wanted her children to go to an English school, as her husband had wanted.

2. The Sweet Obsession and the Dead Mouse

The kids were obsessed with the sweets from a particular shop. They had a hole under the floor in their classroom where they hid some sweets and ate them at the end of class. One day, they find a dead mouse inside the hole and decide to place it inside a candy jar at the shop where they buy their candy. On their way there, they think about the plan, and once there, one of them distracts Ms. Pratchett, and the protagonist uses the opportunity to put the mouse inside the jar.

3. A Mother's Confrontation

When the kid is about to take a shower, the mother sees his bruises from a beating he received. She decides to go to the school and confront the principal, saying that her son wouldn't attend the school the next year.

4. Oslo or Christiana?

Yes, it was Oslo, but the name was Christiana.

5. The Treasure Box

It is the box they give them at St. Peter's, and each child has his little box. Only he has the key to his box, and not even the teachers can ask him to show it. What is inside the box is usually food and personal items, like family things. From time to time, the family sends more food and regards to the children.

6. Sunday Letters Home

Every Sunday, children have an hour to write a letter to their families. The teachers checked the letters while they were being written, but not to correct mistakes, only to ensure they didn't judge the school. For the family, it is important because the child, after leaving school in the future, continues writing a letter every week to his mother, and she keeps them until the day she dies.

7. The Snorer and the Soap

The boy, who is from St. Peter's school and sleeps in the same room as the protagonist, snores. The lady who watches them says that this is rude. To stop him from snoring, one night he throws soap in his mouth, and the child wakes up suddenly with bubbles in his mouth.