"What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?" by Avi
Comprehension
1. What do Willie and his class learn about a certain kind of fish that lives in caves? Cite
evidence.
2. What does Willie's mother say is wrong with the homeless man? Cite evidence.
3. Use your own words to retell how the story ends? Cite evidence as to why you think it will
end this way.
Text Analysis
4. The type of fish with no eyes is mentioned many times in this story. What do you think it
symbolizes? What do you think the pound cake symbolizes? Why? Cite evidence to back up
your answer.
5. Look over the equations you created as you read. What inferences did you draw about the
cultural context in which the story was written? Cite evidence to back up your answer.
6. The two people in the story who have the greatest influence on Willie are his mom and the
homeless man. Compare and contrast how these two characters try to help Willie.
7. Use a chart to help you identify clues the writer provides about the theme of the story.
What do you think the theme is?
8. Willie's mother says, "Parents need to watch their children." Given what you know about
her character, do you think she was right or wrong to call the police about the man? Why?
9. Suppose Willie came to you for a cure for unhappiness. Using what you learned about
Willie, what advice would you give him? Cite evidence from the story to back up your
supposition.
Vocabulary in Context
Vocabulary Practice
Choose true or false for each statement. Write the clue or clues that make you think that way.
1. If something happens inevitably, there is probably no way to avoid it.
2. A preoccupied person is one who lives in a house that was previously occupied.
3. A threshold can be found at the front of the house.
4. A person walking slowly communicates a feeling of urgency.
5. People who contemplate art tend to have little respect for culture.
6. If someone retorts, he or she is probably irritated or impatient.
For more practice, go to:
http://my.hrw.com/la_2010/tx_lit/nsmedia/ebook_gr7/vocab_games/g7_wordscramble/7_Fish.html
Academic Vocabulary in Speaking
The story "What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?" takes place in a contemporary context.
This means that the story seems to be happening in modern times. With a partner, find five
clues that signal modern times. What clues would you add to the story if it were taking place
today?
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: GENERAL CONTEXT CLUES
Sometimes you need to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar or ambiguous word by reading
what's around it. You might find context clues in the same sentence as the unfamiliar word or
in one or more other sentences in the paragraph. For example, a clue to the meaning of
preoccupied in this story comes in the previous sentence, which says that Willie "was never
sure his mother was listening." From this, we know that she is often lost in thought, or
preoccupied.
PRACTICE Use context clues to determine the definition of each boldfaced word. Then write
its definition.
1. Tossing about on their skiff in open waters, the passengers got drenched by the
thunderstorm.
2. Lola actually made a mistake in counting election results. She showed that she is fallible
after all.
3. Mom could not placate Peter, no matter how hard she tried. He was determined to remain
angry.
4. Wealthy philanthropists contribute large sums to charities.
5. Tobias became interested in philately once he saw my stamp collection.
Write an original sentence for each of the vocabulary words. Include context clues in your
sentences. For example, Zara was so preoccupied and lost in thought that she did not hear
the bell ring. When you are finished, we will exchange papers and identify the context clues
in each other's sentences.
LANGUAGE
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Use Relative Pronouns
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. A subordinate clause contains
a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought. Some subordinate clauses are
introduced by relative pronouns, such as who, whom, whose, that, and which. These pronouns
relate to or give more information about the words they modify. You can combine short
sentences with related ideas by using relative pronouns.
Original: Willie say a man. The man was sitting on a milk crate.
Revised: Willie saw a man who was sitting on a milk crate.
PRACTICE Use a relative pronoun to combine each pair of sentences. Underline each relative
pronoun.
1. The apartment has three rooms. The rooms have green walls.
2. Mrs. Markham placed a slice of cake on a plate. The plate had images of roses.
3. Willie found a nickel. The nickel was slippery.
4. He gave the nickel to a man. The man was homeless.
5. Mrs. Markham read a memo. It was from the convenience store owner.
READING-WRITING CONNECTION
In this story, you learned that writers often use symbols to help them support ideas they want
to share with their readers. Avi chose the fish with no eyes as his main symbol in this story.
How does this symbol relate to the idea of unhappiness? Write a two or three paragraph
response, using evidence from the text to support your answer.