Teach students how they are to recall selections of information from a lengthy assortment of text. Once they are done reading the book, assign them a writing prompt such as asking them to recall what Anna told Caleb about the day that he was born. You might choose to allow them to look back into the book for answers, or you may decide to require them to write entirely from memory.
Explain to students how they can start to figure out some of the components of a book before even opening it or how their assumptions about a certain lifestyle might be proven wrong by the contents of a book. Ask them to imagine what the differences were between Maine and Kansas in the early 20th century and what some of the differences are now. You could also ask them to define family, and later they will compare their definition to the one in the book.
Simply reading the book and regurgitating facts back to the teacher is not enough for a proper lesson on a piece of literature. Ask them to read in between the lines of the text. For example, for chapter one you might ask the students why Caleb thinks about his mother so much or why Papa has forgotten about all of the old songs. Ask students to give reasoning for their answers as well.
Students might not be familiar with reading works set in another time period. Therefore, introduce them to concepts about the time period. You might explain to them what it was like to travel on a railroad in 1910, just like Sarah did. Sarah also loves her seashell collection that come from her home in Maine. Have students do research on the different types of seashells that come from Maine, thereby guessing what she might have.