A Guide for Using
Call It
Courage
in the Classroom
Based on the novel written by Armstrong Sperry
This guide written by Julia Jasmine, M. A.
Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
6421 Industry Way
Westminster, CA 92683
www.teachercreated.com
ISBN: 978-1-55734-930-9
©1997 Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Reprinted, 2010
Made in U.S.A.
Edited by
Linda O’Key
Walter Kelly
Illustrated by
Howard Chaney
Cover Art by
Wendy Chang
The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of materials in this book for classroom use only. The reproduction of any part for an entire school
or school system is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission
from the publisher.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Sample Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Before the Book (Pre-reading Activities) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Book Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Vocabulary Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Vocabulary Activity Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
SECTION 1 (Chapter 1—Flight)
❖ Quiz—What Do You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
❖ Hands-On Project—Diorama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
❖ Cooperative Learning Activity—Stereotyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
❖ Curriculum Connections—Writing: Conversation Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
❖ Into Your Life—Prepare a “Survival Sack” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
SECTION 2 (Chapter 2—The Sea)
❖ Quiz—What Do You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
❖ Hands-On Project—Model of an Outrigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
❖ Cooperative Learning Activity—Ways of Making Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
❖ Curriculum Connections—Geography: Map of the South Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
❖ Into Your Life—Water Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
SECTION 3 (Chapter 3—The Island)
❖ Quiz—What Do You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
❖ Hands-On Project—Modeling the Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
❖ Cooperative Learning Activity—Building a Shelter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
❖ Curriculum Connections—Science: Volcanoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
❖ Into Your Life—First Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
SECTION 4 (Chapter 4—Drums)
❖ Quiz—What Do You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
❖ Hands-On Project—Sharpen a Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
❖ Cooperative Learning Activity—Monsters of the Deep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
❖ Curriculum Connections—Literature: Books About Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
❖ Into Your Life—Modern Security Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
SECTION 5 (Chapter 5—Homeward)
❖ Quiz—What Do You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
❖ Hands-On Project—Draw a Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
❖ Cooperative Learning Activity—Create a Chant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
❖ Curriculum Connections—Math: How Much Time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
❖ Into Your Life—Modern Welcome-Home Celebrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
After the Book (Post-reading Activities)
Mafatu’s Later Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Book Report Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Research Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Culminating Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Unit Test Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Bibliography of Related Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
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Call It Courage
About the Author
Armstrong Sperry was born November 7,
1897, in New Haven, Connecticut. His
grandfather was a sea captain in the South
Seas who told stories of adventure at sea.
These stories intrigued Sperry as a
youngster and inspired him to perform his
military service in the navy in 1917. He
explored the South Sea islands, as well as
Europe and the United States, learning
several languages along the way. His
travels provided ideas for numerous stories
of adventure and exploration. He attended
the Yale Art School and later studied art in
New York. His pen-and-ink drawings of
sea life, island scenes, and boats provide
vivid examples of his bold style. He
worked as an illustrator for 10 years before
combining illustrations with his own
writing in 1932.
Throughout his career as a writer, Sperry received many awards. He received the Newbery Honor in
1937 for The Codfish Musket. Another book, The Rainforest, received the Boys Club award in 1949
and was honored by the Spring Book Festival in 1947. The Spring Book Festival also honored his
book Sky Highways: Geography from the Air in 1945. He received honors from the Commonwealth
Club of California for Thunderbolt House in 1944, and Storm Canvas received an award at the Spring
Book Festival in 1944. Many of his books are about the sea and include such titles as All Sail Set,
which was a Newbery Honor winner in 1936. It tells the story of a clipper ship’s race around Cape
Horn. Other stories of the sea include Lost Lagoon, Hull-Down for Action, The Voyages of Christopher
Columbus, Boat Builder: The Story of Robert Fulton, and John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor. Call It
Courage is probably his most famous adventure story.
Sperry once said:
From the beginning of my career it has been my conviction that no writer should ever write
down to children. He should tell his story clearly, in a supple prose that leaves his reader—
young or old—wondering, “What happens next?” Children have imagination enough to
grasp almost any idea and respond to it if it is presented to them honestly, and without a
patronizing pat on the head.
Sperry’s memorable illustrations for Call It Courage are reproduced in the Fiftieth Anniversary Edition
of the book.
Sperry was awarded the Newbery Medal for Call It Courage in 1941.
He died on April 28, 1976, in Hanover, New Hampshire.
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Book Summary
Call It Courage
Call It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry
(Aladdin Paperbacks, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1990)
(Available in Canada from Distican; UK, Simon & Schuster; AUS, Prentice Hall)
For as long as he could remember, Mafatu had been afraid of the sea. His earliest memory was of
being swept away with his mother by the hurricane in which she died. He knew deep in his heart that
Moana, the Sea God, once cheated of his life, would claim him eventually.
Mafatu lived on the island of Hikueru, surrounded by the sea he feared. His people were fishermen
and his father was the Great Chief. His very name, Mafatu, meant “Stout Heart,” but his people called
him a coward and, therefore, he lived with shame.
Mafatu was excluded from the activities of the other boys. He was left at home to make tools and nets
for the others to use. One day after being tormented by the other boys, Mafatu decided to conquer his
fear. When night fell, he set off in a small outrigger canoe to challenge the sea. His only companions
were Uri, his dog, and Kivi, the crippled albatross he had befriended.
Mafatu had many adventures and managed to survive not only the challenges of the sea but hunger and
exposure, attacks by wild beasts, and pursuit by cannibals. The skills he had learned at home enabled
him to fashion the tools he needed to obtain food and shelter, to protect himself, and to make a new
canoe for his journey home.
Mafatu returned home triumphant to be met by the awe of his people and his father’s joy.
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Call It Courage
Vocabulary Lists
Chapter 1
missionaries
barrier-reef
millrace
thwarts
South Seas
sea urchins
frail
capsized
Polynesians
intervals
Chapter 2
dismal
convulsively
parched
belts
atoll
trough
quickened
squall
ascending
oppressive
craft
lagoon
chants
impending
albatross
bonitos
jibes
current
outrigger
pareu
Chapter 3
apprehension
cone
forbidding
breadfruit
instinct
polyp
plateau
eerie
sparingly
congealed
heeled over
combing
spirals
shoal
ballast
marrow
sultry
survival
utterly
buoyancy
Chapter 4
vantage
alien
solitude
fertile
lianas
rude
coral
cauterize
luxuriant
amethyst
anticipation
impotent
reluctant
clarity
charge
perilous
rampart
paean
utensils
preoccupied
ebbing
abandon
multitude
banked
oppressive
oblique
elation
rivulets
gunwale
tentacles
Chapter 5
transformed
constellation
reverberated
diminished
ominous
vantage
basalt
haunches
muted
guttural
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implacable
albeit
wiles
fleet
tack
awe
summation
impetus
benign
warily
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Call It Courage
Vocabulary Activity Ideas
You can help your students to learn and build on the vocabulary in Call It Courage by providing
interesting vocabulary activities for them to explore. Here are some ideas to try.
❖ Assign the words from one chapter to each of your cooperative learning groups. (If you have
more than five groups, you can assign partial lists.) Have the groups locate the vocabulary words
in the chapter and create illustrated definitions of their words as they are used in the context of
the story. Later, combine all the definitions into one Illustrated Dictionary. If you have students
use a separate piece of paper for each completed definition and illustration, it will be easy to put
your dictionary together in alphabetical order.
❖ Before combining illustrated definitions from the preceding activity into a dictionary, use a few of
them at a time for a bulletin board display entitled “Today’s Words.” Refer to the current group
of words during the day, having students use them in sentences or act them out.
❖ Distribute sets of 40 3'' x 5'' (7.5 cm x 12.5 cm) cards to each cooperative group. Have students
copy the vocabulary words from the lists used in the first activity on the lined sides of 20 cards
and the definitions they wrote on the lined sides of the remaining 20 cards. Students can play
Vocabulary Concentration with their cards by laying them out, face down, in five rows of eight
cards. Students alternate turning over two cards. If they match a word with its definition, the
cards are left face up. If there is no match, the cards are turned back face down. Groups can
exchange packs of cards until they have played the game with all the words and definitions. Each
group can create an appropriate design or symbol for the backs of their cards. This will
personalize them and also help to keep track of the sets.
❖ Challenge students to create Crossword Puzzles and Word Search Puzzles using as many of the
vocabulary words as possible. (You can award bonus points to students who use all of the words
in one puzzle.) Make copies of these puzzles and distribute to the class to solve as an assignment
or a free time activity. (Be sure to have the creators of the puzzles make answer keys!)
❖ Encourage students to explore the
etymologies of words. Show them
where to look in their dictionaries for
information about the sources of
words. Discuss specific words that
you know have roots in foreign or
ancient languages. Make sure that
these words have a number of related
entries in the dictionary. Show
students how to make a word web
using this information.
soliloquy
solitaire
Solitude
Latin: solus = alone
solo
solitary
❖ Have students explore the feeling tone of words. Which words, for instance, does the author use
to help express Mafatu’s fear of the sea? Which words are used to make sights and sounds more
vivid? How can choosing certain words help a writer to intensify the reader’s emotional
response?
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