Salvage the bones QuestionsDescribe the character? I'm kind of lost. What's happening in chapter 1? the dog giving birth? What's the conflict? the dog is having a hard time giving birth?...

The main character, Esch, is a teenager girl I believe around 12-13 years old. She is the third child in the family (Randall being the oldest, then Skeetah, and Junior being the youngest). Her mother died during child birth when Esch was only 8 years old.

Yes, Skeetah's dog, China, a pitbull is giving birth after having mated with Manny's cousin's dogfighter pitbull. However, China will only let Skeetah near her while giving birth to the puppies (one of them which is dead and the other is the runt which China refuses to take care of). This chapter may have been confusing in that it jumped from past memories/events to the current event. The entire scene of the dog giving birth was in the past and Esch cutting her hand and having sex with Manny is in the present.

They live in a house in the South (I believe Mississippi) in a house acquired by her grandfather and grandmother. It used to be rich in red clay while the grandfather still owned it and he would sell it to other landsmen for construction purposes. As the land began to deteriorate and create giant holes (aka the pit) he stopped selling the clay. Up to the day where the story takes place (right before Hurricane Katrina), that hole was basically empty due to lack of rain and the rest of the land was uncut with weeds and trees everywhere. 

Luckily for you, there are chapter summaries for this book here on enotes.  Here is chapter 1, where you will usually find this information.

http://www.enotes.com/salvage-the-bones/chapter-1-summary

 

Esch is the main character.  She has three siblings but her mother died in childbird with her fifth child.  They live in New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina is coming.

Yes, I saw the chapter 1 summary already, but it didn't help the questions I asked. I read the first chapter and the chapter summary and still can't figure out the questions. Have you read the book before? Could you help me figure out some of the question from y first post please?