Novel
Companion
The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
Dragonwings
Laurence Yep
Mark Twain
Catherine,
Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
I Am Mordred:
A Tale from Camelot
Nancy Springer
The Time Machine
The War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells
Photo Credits
7 CORBIS; 23 35 51 67 Bettmann/CORBIS; 95 99 Ted Streshinsky/CORBIS;
111 Bettmann/CORBIS; 123 E.O. Hoppé/CORBIS; 139 CORBIS; 183 IT Stock/
PunchStock; 187 Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS; 199 211 227 231 Bettmann/
CORBIS; 243 NASA/Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS.
Acknowledgments
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
To Students, Parents, Guardians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Interactive Reading Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Note-Taking Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Note-Taking Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
CHAPTERS 1–10
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
CHAPTERS 11–24
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
CHAPTERS 25–36
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
iii
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
JANUARY–APRIL
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
MAY–SEPTEMBER
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CHAPTERS 1–16
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
CHAPTERS 17–29
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
CHAPTERS 30–40
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
v
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
CHAPTERS 1–4
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
CHAPTERS 5–8
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
CHAPTERS 9–12
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot by Nancy Springer . . . . . . . . . 183
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
PROLOGUE–CHAPTER 4
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
CHAPTERS 5–10
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
CHAPTERS 11–EPILOGUE
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
vii
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells . . . 227
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
THE TIME MACHINE
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: BOOK ONE
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: BOOK TWO
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
viii
TO STUDEN T S, PARENTS, AND GUARDIANS
Welcome to the Novel Companion. This portable book is designed for you
to write in. It is interactive: The book prompts, and you respond. The Novel
Companion encourages, questions, provides space for notes, and invites you
to jot down your thoughts and ideas. You can use it to circle and underline
words and phrases you think are important, and to write
questions that will guide your reading.
The Novel Companion helps you develop skills for reading, analyzing, and
responding to novels, as well as to autobiographies and plays. These
literary works are drawn from Glencoe’s Literature Library. They include
some of the most notable works in literature. Many are award-winning
modern works; others are classics.
The Novel Companion is designed to follow the approach and themes in
each unit of your textbook, Glencoe Literature. The Novel Companion includes
two types of lessons:
• Note-Taking Lessons presents two methods of note-taking to help you
connect major themes in Glencoe Literature to the other novels and works
you will be reading. Using the book will help you learn these valuable
note-taking methods, so you can make effective notes whenever you study.
• Interactive Reading Lessons are lessons based on the sequential chapter
groupings in each novel. In this part of the book you’ll practice
identifying important ideas and themes, analyzing literary elements,
applying reading strategies, completing graphic organizers, and
mastering vocabulary—all skills that expert readers use to help them
comprehend novels and other long works of literature.
Note to Parents and Guardians: Ask your students to show you their work
periodically, and explain how it helps them study. You might want to talk
to them about how the skills they are learning cross over to other subjects.
To S tudents, Par ents, and G uardi ans
1
INTERACTIVE READING LESSONS
The notes and features in the interactive reading lessons will direct
you through the process of reading and making meaning from each
set of chapters. As you use these notes and features, you’ll be
practicing and mastering the skills and strategies that good readers
use whenever they read.
Get Set to Read
: Septem ber–D ecemb
BEFOR E YOU READ
ture
Conne ct to the Litera
After reading about the novel and the author, you
will begin to read the novel. You will study it in
groupings of chapters, or chapter sets, in the
Novel Companion. Each chapter set begins with
an activity to connect your personal experience to
the literature. You will also read background
material to provide context for the chapter set
content.
felt pressured to do
(or someone you know)
Recall a time when you
was your reaction?
to. How did you feel? What
something you didn’t want
Write a Journal Entry
people think or
or traditions suggest that
Sometimes social customs
feelings or wishes. In
conflict with their personal
behave in ways that may
that may be contrary
of your thoughts or beliefs
your journal, explore some
thinks.
to what most of society
er
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
to record
Keep a special notebook
that you
entries about the novels
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
the
Summarize in one sentence
Build
most important idea(s) in
Background.
Build Backg round
Class and Privilege in the
BEF ORE YOU
REA D: Sep
tem ber–
Middle Ages
in simple huts, but
the majority of people lived
During the Middle Ages,
were usually a
a manor house. Manor houses
Catherine’s family lives in
quarters as well as
included the family’s living
collection of buildings. They
gatehouse; a privy, or
stables for the horses; a
other buildings such as
spends much of her
. In this novel, Catherine
outhouse; and a cowshed
It is a
quarters.
room in the family’s living
time in the solar, a large
as a private retreat
and bedroom that serves
combination of living room
of her time in the solar
Catherine spends some
at
for the family members.
All cloth was handmade
thread.
or
fiber
into
spinning, or twisting yarn
to work to make it.
of Catherine’s class had
this time, and even someone
not seem all that
at the manor house may
Although the conditions
comfortable by the
they were actually quite
reflected
appealing to a modern reader,
which
only thing better was a castle,
standards of the time. The
society.
an even higher status in
use of paper. Paper
’s privileged status is her
was
Another sign of Catherine
Ages, and the printing press
Middle
the
during
used
was not widely
most
nth century. Consequently,
ngly written
not developed until the mid-fiftee
the Middle Ages were painstaki
documents produced during
or parchment, which
substance called vellum
precious
or copied by hand onto a
thick,
This
of cattle, sheep or goats.
was made from the skins
the case of the
the powerful, and—as in
paper was used by the rich,
e religious elite.
monks Catherine visits—th
You’re invited to interact with the information in
Build Background by summarizing content or
writing a caption for an image related to the
content.
Set Pur pos
es for Rea din
g
ion Why Do You
Read?
How big a role
does reading play
in your life? Think
read many times
about it. You proba
throughout the
day. As you read
bly
how reading helps
this novel, think
you understand
about
different peopl
e, times, and place
s.
Literary Elem
ent Conflict
Conflict is the
central struggle
between oppos
external confli
ing forces in a
ct is the strugg
story. An
le of a character
such as nature
against an outsid
, society, fate,
e force,
or another chara
takes place within
cter. An intern
a character’s mind.
al conflict
to make a difficu
For example, he
lt choice.
or she might have
The events in most
stories revolve
around conflict.
learn a lot about
As a reader, you
life by seeing how
can
people and chara
resolve conflicts.
cters confront
and
As you read, ask
yourself, what
internal and extern
Catherine face?
al conflicts does
Use the graphic
organizer on the
you record the
following page
information.
to help
Reading Strat
egy Evalu
ate Characteriz
Characterization
ation
refers to the metho
the personality
ds that an autho
of characters.
r uses to devel
When authors
op
character is like,
tell you exactly
it is called direct
what a
characterization.
a character’s perso
When authors
nality through
show
his or her words
through what other
and actions and
characters think
indirect chara
and say about
cterization. When
him or her, it is
called
you evaluate chara
critically about
the details the
cterization, you
author used to
think
reveal character.
Evaluating ber–Dec ember 55
cterization will
Birdy: Septemchara
help you to deepe
Catherin e, Called
of characters and
n your appreciatio
of the author’s
n both
technique.
To evaluate chara
9:03:54 PM
cterization 1/22/08
in this novel, ask
conflict with socie
yourself how Cathe
ty helps reveal
rine’s
who she is. You
use a graphic organ
may find it helpfu
izer like the one
l to
at the right.
55
55-98_NC_889151.indd
You are then introduced to the targeted skills for
the chapter set: the Big Question, the literary
element, and the reading skill or strategy. You will
also get vocabulary for the chapter set.
Dece mbe r
왘 BIG Quest
56
Vocabulary
betrothal [bi trō
thəl] n.
a promise or a
contract for a
future marriage
The king annou
nced the betrot
hal
of his daughter
to the prince.
docile [dos əl]
adj. easily led or
managed
Because Tim was
docile, he did
what he was told.
dowry [dour ē
] n. money or
property that a
woman brings
to
her husband in
marriage
The dowry includ
ed a sheep
pasture, house
hold goods, and
money.
impudence [im
pyə dəns] n.
disregard for others
; willful
disobedience
Making insults
and other
impudence cause
d people to
dislike T ina.
swagger [swa
ər] v. to act
superior or overw
helmingly selfconfident
Full of confidence,
Elena would
swagger as she
walked down
the hall.
“What
Catherine
Wants.”
“What Others
Want.”
NOVE L COM
PANI ON: Unit
2
55-98_NC_889151.
indd 56
1/22/08 9:03:54
PM
AC TI VE READ I NG : Sep tem b er – Decem b er
Catherine’s conflict with society is revealed through
the customs and issues that she does not
understand or with which she does not agree.
Through her experiences and analyses of her
culture, she develops independent opinions as she
Read, Respond, Interpret
Every lesson includes an active reading
graphic organizer to fill in as you read.
This graphic organizer is related to
either the literary element or the reading
skill or strategy for the chapter set.
Social Issue
matures and learns about herself. Some of her
ideas seem valid; others seem naïve. Use the
organizer below to chart the ways in which
Catherine’s opinions differ from those generally
held by her parents and society.
Society’s View
behavior of young ladies
Catherine’s View
Lady-tasks are pointless. If
ladies can “pick maggots
from the salt meat,” why
can’t they climb trees or
throw stones in the river?
Crusades
t
ING: Literar y Elemen
INTER ACTIV E READ
Literary Element
Conflict Name the external
writes
conflicts that Catherine
about.
INT ERA CTI
MBER
SEPTE
of Jewish
people
EXCER PT:
NOVE L treatment
12th day of September
I am
an account of my days:
I am commanded to write
is to say.
by family. That is all there
bit by fleas and plagued
Reading Stra
tegy
Evaluate Char
acterization
What methods
of indirect
characterizati
on are used
here?
How well do
they show Cath
erine’s
conflict with
socie
evaluation with ty? Support your
evidence.
13th day of September
day, for he
suffer from ale head this
My father must privacy
I hope his
dinner instead of once.
cracked me twice before
angry liver bursts.
Interactive reading pages include text
excerpts from the novels that emphasize
a literary element or a reading skill or
strategy. Questions in the margin help
you interact with highlighted portions of
the text.
14th day of September
torture.
Corpus bones, what a
Tangled my spinning again.
ber
marriage
Marriage
15th day of Septem
hay, is a business
the villagers sowed
arrangement. A daughter
Today the sun shone and
I,
must marry according to
pulled fish from the stream.
gathered apples, and
a cloth for
two hours embroideringher father’s wishes.
spent
trapped inside,
out my stitches after
picking
hours
three
the church and
villager.
a
were
I
wish
I
it.
my mother saw
16th day of September
Spinning. Tangled.
C a t he r ine , C a lle d B ir dy :
ber
day of Septem
17th
55-98_NC_889151.indd
57
Untangled.
18th day of September
account of
thinks that writing this
If my brother Edward
more learned,
grow less childish and
my days will help me
And I will
I will do this no longer.
he will have to write it.
indeed.
childish
Less
eat.
not spin. And I will not
.
19th day of September
and I have made a bargain
I am delivered! My mother
account for
as long as I write this
I may forgo spinning
but has it in
not much for writing
be
Edward. My mother is
lly now he is gone to
especia
,
Edward
her heart to please
the foolish
do worse things to escape
a monk, and I would
So I will write.
boredom of spinning.
58
Unit 2
NOVEL COMPAN ION:
60
NOV EL COM
PAN
ION
1/22/08 9:03:54 PM:
2
58
55-98_NC_889151.indd
VE REA DIN
G: Rea din
g Stra teg
y
NO VEL EXC
ERP
T: DEC EM
9th day of
BER
December,
Feast of Sain
in Norfolk
t Wolfeius, first
hermit
God’s knees!
A person can
kirtle at a time
only wear one
, so why are
gown and one
my mother
making such
and her ladi
a fuss about
es
my coverin
their spare
g the bird cage
ones! I cann
ot believe they
s with
poor birds
to freeze to
would wan
t my
death.
I will have
plenty of time
imprisoned
to think on
in the solar,
this, for I am
bru
bird dung off
shing feathers
of what seem
and seed and
s enough clot
French arm
y. I see no deli
hing for the
verance. Perk
grandmother
in is busy with
. Aelis is in
London with
his
Thomas are
the king. Geo
from home
muc
rge and
drinking and
h these day
s, riding and
amusing othe
r people and
knees, I mig
ht as well be
not me. God
an orphan.
’s
...
14th
day
S e pte m be r – D e c e m be
r 57
of
December,
Feast of Sain
own Lincolns
t Hybald, abbo
hire. I wonder
t of our
if he is a relat
I am in disg
ive
race
y. Grown quit
embroidery,1/22/08 9:03:54toda
PM
e weary with
with my pric
my
ked fingers
sore back, I
and tired eyes
kicked it dow
and
n the stairs
dogs fought
to the hall,
and slobbere
where
d over it, so
mess and thre
I took the sogg the
w it to the
pigs.
y
Morwenna
grabbed me
by the ear and
My mother
gave me a
pinched my
gentle but ster
face.
behaving like
n lecture abo
a lady. Lad
ut
ies, it seem
feelings and
s,
seldom hav
, if they do,
e strong
never never
thumbs! I alw
let them sho
ays have stro
w. God’s
ng feelings
painful unti
and they are
l I let them
out, like a cow
quite
milk and bell
who needs
ows with the
to give
pain in her
disgrace in
teats. So I am
my chamber.
in
I pray Mor
that being ench
wenna nev
ambered is
er discovers
no punishm
would find
ent for me.
some new tort
She
ure, like send
the ladies in
ing me to liste
the solar.
n to
15th day of
December,
Feast of Sain
Saxons, who
t Offa, king
left his wife,
of the East
his lands, his
to become a
family, and
monk in Rom
his country
e and die
Unit 2
55-98_NC_8891
51.indd 60
1/22/08 9:03:54
PM
INTERACTIVE READING LESSONS
Show What You Know
: Septem ber–D ecemb
AFTER YOU READ
After you read the chapters in the chapter set,
you will answer questions about the content,
including how the background information helped
you as you read.
as a young lady in
s must Catherine master
these skills?
1. What sort of lady-task
she protest against learning
medieval society? How does
[Paraphrase]
? Why does
ideas about the Crusades
2. What are Catherine’s
[Analyze]
laugh at Catherine’s ideas?
er
APPLY BACKGROUND
Novel
Reread Introduction to the
that
on pages 52–53. How did
nd
information help you understa
read in
or appreciate what you
novel?
the
Critic ally
Respo nd and Think
George
AFT ER YO
U REA D:
Sep tem ber
–De
or distinguishing
’s major character traits,
reveal these
3. What are some of Catherine
or circumstances does Catherine
qualities? In what ways
traits? [Interpret]
You will then demonstrate what you learned from
your interactive reading of the excerpts. You will
also practice using the vocabulary words you
were introduced to and learn a new vocabulary
word that can be used in your academic writing.
Literary Elem
ent Conflict
1. Catherine
is in conflict
with her fathe
brother Robe
r and with
rt. Why? Do
you think her
Robert think
father
the conflict is
as great as Cath and
thinks it is? [Eval
erine
uate]
a bull or
Catherine? [Evaluate]
2. What quali
ties does Cath
erine have that
her to be in
cause
conflict with
her world? Expla
each quality
in why
causes conf
lict. [Synthesi
ze]
Reading Stra
tegy Eval
uate Characte
Is most of the
rization
characterizati
on in this nove
indirect? Expla
l direct or
in, using evide
nce 9:03:54the
[Conclude]
PM
1/22/08 from
novel.
Unit 2
NOVEL COMPAN ION:
55-98_NC_889151.indd
Sep tem ber
U REA D:
AFT ER YO
64
s and
different plant
Catherine uses
us ailments
Assignment
to treat vario
substances
other natural
her any of these
. Find out whet
her any
and complaints
tive, and whet
actually effec
was
dies
reme
today.
are still in use
Science
Wr itin g
kind of
songs. What
s making up
t herself and
Catherine enjoy
t write abou
want,
think she migh
song do you
for her. If you
Write the song
her situation?
lar tune.
set it to a popu
Write a Song
Jot down some
66
ideas here first.
PAN
NOV EL COM
51.indd
55-98_NC_8891
CON NEC T
CON NEC T
LITE RAT URE
TO OTH ER
GS
LITE RAT URE
–De cem ber
Academic
Vocabulary
One of Catherine
’s principal occu
spinning yarn
pations is the
or thread. In
chore of
the preceding
means “main
sentence, princ
or major.” Think
ipal
about a princ
make of your
ipal use you
time. Explain
why it takes
time.
up so much
of your
as
Con ten t Are
Con nec t to
55-98_NC_8891
51.indd 65
RE AD IN
4. How woul
d you expect
to respond to
a smile or a
impudence—w
frown?
ith
5. Whom woul
d you expect
to swagger—
politician or
a proud
a humble serva
nt?
After you read the entire novel, you will work with
related readings, connect the novel to an excerpt
from Glencoe Literature, and finally, write an
essay or story that draws upon what you learned
by reading.
LA TED
WI TH RE
WO RK
3. What woul
d you expect
to do with a
and trade it,
dowry—spen
or eat and drink
d
it?
about the place
main ideas have you learned
ize]
5. Why Do You Read? What
English manor in 1290? [Synthes
where Catherine lives—an
64
Prac
tice
Respond to these
questions.
1. Whom woul
d you expect
a betro
merchants or
two young peop thal to involve—two
le?
2. Which woul
d you expect
to be more doci
a sheep?
le—
placed on her by her
responses to the demands
4. Describe Catherine’s
and justified? Why
her reactions reasonable
family and by society. Are
help you relate to
do your own experiences
or why not? In what ways
In addition, you will complete a short writing
assignment and other activities related to what
you read in the chapter set content. These
activities will draw on what you studied in your
interactive work on the excerpts from the
chapters.
cem ber
Vocabulary
rles
EXC ERP T: Cha
steps:
to treat
Follow these
Investigate
Catherine uses
of substances
✔ Make a list
t
complaints.
mation abou
illnesses or
sources of infor
of
ble
relia
te
Try a variety
✔ Loca
eval medicine.
ch
sear
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herbal and othe tances on your list to learn
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1/22/08 9:03:54
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2
ION : Unit
PM
1/22/08 9:03:54
66
TO OTH ER
LITE RAT URE
Compare the novel
RE SP ON
you
have just read
ly.
right, which is
to the literature
excerpted from
his father cold
selection at the
“Charles” by Shirle
Literature. Then
Laurie regarded
said.
y Jackson in Glenc
answer the quest
nothing,” he
oe
ions below. Use
text or explain
Laurie started
“I didn’t learn
the exact words
events and ideas
The day my son
“Didn’t learn
of the
in the text to suppo
unced corduroy
ything,” I said.
reno
“An
he
rt your answer.
rten
coe’s
kinderga
began wearing
.”
dings in Glen
and
hing
Rea
gh,”
bibs
anyt
ted
thou
Com
with
a boy,
par e & Con
go
overalls
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r to the Rela
tras t
I watched him
teacher spanked
stions refe
e your answ
belt;
a
que
“The
Writ
and
l.
d
with
wing
nove
1. Conflict
r girl
blue jeans
The follo
essing his brea
s on the lines
ion of this
ing with the olde
n some note
Library edit
d, with Cathe How are Laurie’s conflicts the same
Laurie said, addr
texts.
Literature
but jot dow
off the first morn
rine’s conflicts?
or different from
an era of my
g fresh,” he adde
ils from the
t of paper,
Are they intern
g clearly that
butter. “For bein
ers with deta
est Heart
separate shee
al or external?
next door, seein
nurseryof the Hon
port your answ
sweet-voiced
The Knight
o
provided. Sup
his mouth full.
was ended, my
I asked. “Wh
sered,
lifeand
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s Crispin
stina Hamlet
at did he do?”
by a long-trou
Called Bird
ivate
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e,
ced
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res ol
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who forgot to
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Author’s Not
it?”
acter
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How
?
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swaggerin
“It was Char
hman
-bye to me.
or problems
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e?
Karen Cus
Laurie thought.
t qualities
and wave good
er spanked
e of Catherin
the front
at the corner
nections Wha teenagers of today?
fresh. The teach
parallel thos
Make Con
e the same way,
said. “He was
a corner. He
e share with
He came hom
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e him stand in
does Catherin
open, his cap
him and mad
me
door slamming
lly fresh.”
e suddenly beco
awfu
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was
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again, but
d
and
?”
floor,
ody here
do?” I aske
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ting, “Isn’t anyb
a cookie,
his
raucous shou
his chair, took
e insolently to
saying,
Laurie slid off
At lunch he spok
father was still 2. Text Structure How is the
r’s milk, and
left, while his
text structure of
his baby siste
and
ed
different from the
spill
r,
“Charles” the same
fathe
we were
g man.”
text structure of
and
his teacher said
Boys
Catherine, Called
“See here, youn
ie remarked at
in vain.
and-Brakes remarked that
Birdy?
e of the Lord
next day Laur
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said.
nections Com
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grinned enor
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How is Cath
father
teacher.”
Catherine.
anything?” his
Charles hit the
the poem to
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and the cag
the free bird
asked.
Birdy
ine, Called
Cather
3. Diction In
Catherine, Called
Birdy, word choic
understand Cathe
e helps the reade
rine’s conflicts.
r
Is the same true
“Charles”? Expla
in this excerpt
in your answer.
from
nce
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writes,
hman
Catherine
Karen Cus
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e
nections In
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rests in writ
al expressi
tion
use her inte
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painting as
Pe rsu as
D TH RO
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H W RI
TIN
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sa y
WRITE ABOUT Argue
a Position
IT
Arranged
Write a comparison
for centuri
marriages
-cont es.
have bee
paragraph that politica rast Do you think they
UNDERSTAN
n a par
makes l, cult l,
are ever
D THE TAS
one economic,
a good idea t of some cultures
main point about shouldat leastura
• To argue
K
or othe
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? Are ther
how
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t? Decide
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reason or
Catherine are alike Charles and
on your pos r reasons why arra
logic to try
nged mar
ition.
to
different.
riages
Preand/o
writer Ma
reader’s idea influence a
ke a list of
s or actions
three bes
reasons for
.
t reasons.
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Use your
statement:
ion or pos
n is an opin
reasons to
ition. Sele
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usually stat
write you
ct your
ed
r thesis or
position stat in a thesis,
opinion
Arranged
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opinion
statement.
(should/sho
_________
uld not) exis
____
t because
(reason 1) , _____________ ,
and ______
(reason 2)
_______.
Grammar
(reason 3)
Tip
Draft Sta
te your thes
Interjection
is or opin
paper. Pre
s
ion stateme
sent each
Use interjec
nt near the
of your rea
explain eac
tions to sho
beginning
sons in sep
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h reason
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Revise Exc
those
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ng
feel
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ing and
ement.
hange pap
on their own
ers with a
this one for
, begin them stand
classmate.
each othe
capital lette
with a
Complete
r’s work:
r and follo
a revision
w them
with an exc
chart like
Your thesis
lamation
point:
is ______
_________
Corpus bon
_________
Why thesis
es! God’s
_________
needs/doe
thumbs!
_________
________.
s not nee
d rev
_________
When an
interjection
_________ ision: _________
does not
___
_________
Your reason
express stro
_________ _______
ng feeling
s are
quieter tone
or has a
________.
1. ______
, follow it
_________
with a
comma:
______
2. ___
_________
_________
_________
_________
3. ______
_________
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___
_________
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_________
_________
Why reason
___
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s need/do
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ision ___
Why explan
_________
ation nee
___
_____.
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ds/
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isio
_________
_________ n _______________
_________
________.
Edit and Pro
ofread
Dear god
, I can do
no more for
either of
them.
Edit your
effectively
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and is wel
that it exp
l organized.
punctuation
resses you
Carefully
, and spe
r thoughts
proofread
lling errors.
for gramm
ar,
94
Unit 2
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Inter acti ve Readi ng Lessons
3
NOTE-TAKING SYSTEMS
You may dislike taking notes. Perhaps you don’t believe that notes are
useful or maybe you just haven’t been shown how to do an effective job of
taking notes. The Novel Companion will teach you two different systems of
taking notes. These systems will help you develop note-taking skills to use
in school and for the rest of your life. Research shows that students who
take good notes perform better on tests, and note-taking skills are crucial if
you plan to attend college. When you take notes, you become more
actively engaged in what you read by constantly looking for main ideas,
supporting details, and key relationships.
Note-Taking Lessons and BIG Questions
The note-taking lessons in the Novel Companion are focused on helping you
find a connection between the main ideas of featured novels (or
autobiographies or plays) and the Big Questions, or major themes, of the
units in your textbook, Glencoe Literature. By learning the note-taking skills
presented in the Novel Companion, you will be able to make such
connections more readily and easily.
On-Page Note-Taking
College students routinely write on the pages of the books they are
reading, using the margins to jot down ideas and questions. If you are
allowed to mark up your text, you can write notes directly on the page.
The On-Page Note-Taking lessons prompt you to make connections to a
Big Question by marking up an excerpt using a system of symbols.
4
N OTE-TAKING SYSTEMS
The Cornell Note-Taking System
The Novel Companion will also train you in the Cornell Note-Taking System,
which was developed at Cornell University to help students take more
effective notes. In this system, the page is divided into two columns, one
wide and one narrow. This format provides a way to organize your
thinking. You’ll use the Cornell Note-Taking System to take notes on
excerpts from the novels and how the excerpts relate to the Big Questions.
The following summarizes the steps of the system:
Record
First, you will record notes in the right (wide) column as you read.
Your notes may include summaries, bulleted lists, and graphic organizers.
Reduce
Next, you will reduce, or condense, your notes into key words,
phrases, questions, and comments in the left (narrow) column. This step will
help you clarify meaning, find information within your notes, and trigger your
memory when you study.
Recap
Finally, you will use the bottom portion of the page to recap, or
summarize, what you have learned from your notes. This step helps
strengthen your grasp of what you just read before you move on to the
next section of text.
A Life-long Skill
Once you become accustomed to using the note-taking skills taught in the
Novel Companion, you’ll be able to use these skills when you read other
literature, when you listen to a lecture in class, when you attend a meeting,
or even as you watch a film.
Note-Taki ng Syst ems
5
NOTE-TAKING LESSONS
Through the note-taking lessons presented in the Novel Companion, you’ll
be learning to record important information in your own words, to reduce
it to key words that will help you remember your notes, and to apply your
notes as you answer questions and read and write about the novels and
other longer works in the program.
O N-PA G E NO TE-TA K ING : B I G Q ues ti on
Read, Question, and Mark-Up
Not only will you be interacting with excerpts from
the novels as you work with the literary elements
and reading skills or strategies assigned to a
chapter set, but you will also be working with
excerpts that relate to the Big Question assigned
to each chapter set.
You will take notes on the excerpt—right on the
page. With practice, you will devise a short-hand
system that works for you. In the meantime, you
can use the suggested on-page mark-up system.
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Do You Read? How does the
information on this page help you
understand the world in which
Catherine lives?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
62
NOVEL EXCERPT: OCTOBER
1st day of October
My father’s clerk suffers today from an inflammation of
his eyes, caused, no doubt, by his spying on our serving
maids as they wash under their arms at the millpond. I did
not have the mother’s milk necessary for an ointment for
the eyes, so I used garlic and goose fat left from doctoring
Morwenna’s boils yesterweek. No matter how he bellowed,
it will do him no harm.
I can stand no more of lady-tasks, endless mindless
sewing, hemming, brewing, doctoring, and counting linen!
Why is a lady too gentle to climb a tree or throw stones
into the river when it is lady’s work to pick maggots from
the salt meat? Why must I learn to walk with a lady’s tiny
steps one day and sweat over great steaming kettles of
dung and nettle for remedies the next? Why must the lady
of the manor do all the least lovable tasks? I’d rather be
the pig boy.
3rd day of October
There are Jews in our hall tonight! On their way to
London, they sought shelter from the rain. My father being
away, my mother let them in. She is not afraid of Jews, but
the cook and the kitchen boys have all fled to the barn, so
no one will have supper tonight. I plan to hide in the
shadows of the hall in order to see their horns and tails.
Wait until Perkin hears of this.
The hour of vespers, later this day: Bones! The Jews
have no horns and no tails, just wet clothes and ragged
children. They are leaving England by order of the king,
who says Jews are Hell-born, wicked, and dangerous. He
must know some others than the scared and scrawny ones
who are here this night.
I hid in the hall to watch them, hoping to see them talk
to the Devil or perform evil deeds. But the men just drank
and sang and argued and waved their arms about while
the women chattered among themselves. Much like
Christians. The children mostly snuffled and whined until
one woman with a face like a withered apple gathered
them about her. . . .
NOVEL COM PANION: Unit 2
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Record, Reduce, and Recap
You will also learn the Cornell Note-Taking
System, described on the previous page.
Here you will take notes on the excerpt you
marked-up on the On-Page Note-Taking page.
CORNELL NOT E-TAKING: B IG Qu estion
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
C at h er i n e, C al l ed B i r d y: S ep tem b er – Decem b er
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6
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The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The A dventur es of Tom Saw yer
7
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
“
Most of the adventures recorded in this
book really occurred . . . . [P]art of my plan
has been to try to pleasantly remind adults
of what they once were themselves, and of
how they felt and thought and talked, and
what queer enterprises they sometimes
engaged in.
”
—from the preface to The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
In 1876 many Americans were in a mood
to look backward. It was the hundredth
anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. The
country had come a long way since it
won its independence from Great Britain.
The United States was becoming a
powerful industrial country, with large
cities, great factories, and railroads that
crisscrossed the nation.
For city dwellers, life was growing busier
and busier. They longed for a simpler
time, without smoke-spewing factories
and clanging streetcars. To Americans,
small towns and farming communities
seemed friendlier than the cities.
A Fateful Visit Mark Twain also felt this
longing for a simpler time. He was a
busy man, a world-famous author and
lecturer, living in the East far from his
small-town, southwestern roots.
In the early 1870s, Twain’s nostalgia
was triggered by a visit he made to
8
NOV E L C O MPA NION: Un it 1
Hannibal, Missouri, his hometown.
He wrote:
During my three days’ stay in the town,
I woke up every morning with the impression
that I was a boy—for in my dreams the faces
were all young again, and looked as they had
looked in the old times.
In the Hannibal of his boyhood, it always
seemed to be summer. The name Twain
chose for the fictional version of his
hometown tells you how highly he
valued it. He called it St. Petersburg. In
Christian beliefs, St. Peter tends the gates
of heaven, and the imaginary town of St.
Petersburg is very close to heaven in
Mark Twain’s eyes.
In the second chapter of Tom Sawyer, he
describes life in St. Petersburg:
[T]he summer world was bright and fresh,
and brimming with life. There was a song in
every heart. . . . There was cheer in every face
and a spring in every step.
Another writer, the American scholar
Bernard DeVoto, echoed a word Twain
himself used to describe the novel.
Referring to Tom Sawyer, DeVoto said:
It is a hymn . . . to the richness and security
of a child’s world, to a phase of American
society now vanished altogether, . . . to many
other things in which millions of readers have
recognized themselves.
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
Trouble in Paradise Tom Sawyer is often
described as an idyll. An idyll is a
remembrance of simple, peaceful, and
innocent country life, often by a
person who now lives in the city. Many
parts of Tom Sawyer are certainly idyllic.
However, Mark Twain does not
remember only the pleasant parts of life
in Hannibal. Evil is floating around the
edges of Tom’s small-town paradise. In
addition, St. Petersburg is divided into
strict social classes, from wealthy,
educated people to penniless drunks,
enslaved African Americans, and
homeless people.
Twain contrasts the world of childhood
with the world of adults. Often these two
worlds are in conflict. More often than
not, the young people in Tom Sawyer
succeed in tricking the adults. In many
ways, Tom and his friends seem to run
the town.
There is a reason for this. One of Mark
Twain’s purposes in writing The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer was to make
fun of a type of book written for children
at that time. These books portrayed
admirable boys who always worked
hard, behaved themselves perfectly,
made touching sacrifices for others,
attended church willingly, studied hard,
saved their pennies, and never played
hooky from school. Twain, along with
some other authors of the time, felt these
stories were preachy, unrealistic, and
completely lacking in the fun and humor
of real children’s lives. From the very
first chapter, Twain makes fun of “Model
Boy” books.
Some critics claim that readers recognize
something of themselves in Tom Sawyer.
Tom represents a freedom that few, if
any, people enjoy. This is another reason
for the book’s continuing popularity.
Who would not want to join in Tom’s
search for lost treasure? Who has not
dreamed of escaping to a deserted island
to fish, swim, and play in the summer
sun? Who has not longed to leave real
life behind for a while and live in a
world of the imagination?
Slavery in Missouri
In the years before the Civil War
(1861–1865), Missouri and other
southern states allowed slavery.
Enslaved African Americans
were a common sight in Mark
Twain’s boyhood home of
Hannibal. However, even though
many people in Missouri were
immigrants from southern states
and supporters of slavery, many
others opposed it. Missourians’
mixed feelings about slavery
prevented the state from joining
other slaveholding states in the
Confederacy and made Missouri
a battleground during the
Civil War.
The A dventur es of Tom Saw yer
9
MEET THE AUTHOR
Mark Twain (1835–1910)
“
I was born the 30th of November, 1835,
in the almost invisible village of Florida,
Monroe County, Missouri. . . . The village
contained a hundred people and I increased
the population by 1 percent. It is more than
many of the best men in history could have
done for a town.
”
—The Autobiography of Mark Twain
The real name of the author we know as
Mark Twain was Samuel Langhorne
Clemens. His father was a lawyer and
store owner. While not poor, the family
was never well-off.
Growing Up Along the Mississippi Four
years after his birth, Samuel Clemens’s
family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a
fast-growing town on the Mississippi
River. Samuel spent the next fourteen
years there.
All kinds of boats, from simple rafts and
barges to magnificent steamboats,
traveled the Mississippi River. Hannibal
was also home to relatives, friends, and
townspeople who would resurface years
later as characters in Twain’s fiction.
Many of them appear in Tom Sawyer.
Clemens was only eleven years old
when his father died. At thirteen he
became a printer’s apprentice. When he
was seventeen and had learned the
trade, Clemens left Hannibal to work in
printing shops and on newspapers from
Iowa to New York.
10
N OV E L C OMPA NION: Un it 1
Finding His Life’s Work When he was
twenty-one, Clemens returned to the
Mississippi River. He trained for the job
he had always wanted: steamboat pilot.
When the Civil War began in 1861,
Clemens took a job in Virginia City,
Nevada. There he began to write
humorous sketches and tall tales for the
local newspaper. In February 1863, he
first signed a story with the pen name
that he would make famous: Mark Twain.
It was the riverboatman’s term for water
two fathoms, or twelve feet, deep—
meaning just barely deep enough to
navigate safely.
Clemens next moved to California
where he tried mining for a while. In
1865 a national magazine published his
retelling of a tall tale he had heard from
miners. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County” was an instant
success. As a reporter for several
newspapers, he traveled to Hawaii,
Europe, and the Middle East. The book
he wrote about his travels, The Innocents
Abroad, made him famous.
More books followed, including Roughing
It, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The
Prince and the Pauper. Thanks to his
lecture tours and books, the image of the
bushy-haired, mustachioed author
known as Mark Twain became familiar
around the world.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Connect to the Literature
You have probably heard the expression “Boys will be boys.” What does it
mean to you?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Write a Journal Entry
Write in your journal about what this phrase means to you. Think about the
circumstances in which you’ve heard it, the ways it can be used to excuse
certain behavior, and the attitude it conveys.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Staying True to the Characters
Though Mark Twain’s story of a Missouri childhood concerns the life and
times of a boy named Tom Sawyer, in some ways the novel is also about
Twain himself. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer brims with Twain’s very
strong opinions on everything from education to religion to racial
intolerance. But it is important to note that Twain allowed his characters
to speak in their own very distinctive voices. The characters in the novel
use colorful and often grammatically incorrect language. Although Twain
himself did not speak in that way, he was able to re-create the language
of the people he knew when he was a young boy growing up in smalltown Missouri. Another important difference between Twain and his
characters becomes clear in Chapter 6, when Huck and Tom use racial
slurs. Twain himself became a supporter of equal rights for African
Americans, and in fact, one of his last works was a bitter attack on
European colonial exploitation of Africa.
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : Chapters 1–10
11
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Whom Can You Count On?
Think about the people in your life on whom you rely most. In The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, author Mark Twain introduces readers to Tom
and some of the characters Tom counts on in his life. As you read the first
ten chapters of the novel, consider which characters Tom counts on
most—and why.
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
In a literary work, point of view is the relationship of the narrator, or
storyteller, to the story. A story with a first-person point of view is told by
a narrator who is one of the characters, the “I” of the story. In a story with
a limited third-person point of view, the narrator is outside the story and
reveals the inner thoughts of only one character, but refers to the
character as “he” or “she.” In a story with an omniscient point of view,
the narrator is also outside the story but can reveal the inner thoughts of
several characters as well as meaningful background information.
In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the lively third-person omniscient
narrator reveals details about the inhabitants of a small town called St.
Petersburg—and keeps readers laughing and thinking along the way. This
narrator is a persona, a voice created by the author to tell the story. Even
though the narrator has some exeriences in common with Mark Twain, the
narrator is not the same as the author. As you read the first section of the
novel, think about the effect this narrator has on the story.
Reading Strategy Make Inferences About Characters
When you make inferences, you make guesses based on clues. Most
authors do not directly state everything there is to know about their
characters, plot, and setting. Instead they provide clues that guide readers
toward an interactive process of interpreting the story elements.
Making inferences about characters is important because it can
help you understand the story at a deeper level. To make
inferences about a character, look for
• what the character thinks, says, and does
• how the character looks and sounds
• what others say about the character
• how others react to the character
Tom
As you read, use the text’s clues along with your own prior
knowledge of human behavior to make inferences about
characters. Use a chart like the one at right. You may also find it
helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one on the next page.
Huck
12
N OV E L C OM PA NION: Un it 1
apprehensively [ap ri hen siv lē]
adv. cautiously
Jenny heard a strange noise
in the basement, and she
apprehensively went down
the steps.
beguiled [bi ¯ld ] v. tricked;
misled
They should have known better,
but they were beguiled by the
con man’s promises of money
and fame.
perplexed [pər plekst ] adj.
confused
We were perplexed by the
complicated rules of the board
game.
reluctance [ri luk təns] n.
hesitation
With great reluctance, the little
girl opened her mouth and
showed the dentist her sore tooth.
turmoil [tur moil] n. uproar
The whole family was thrown
into turmoil by the arrival of an
uninvited guest.
Character
Aunt Polly
Traits
My
inference
is …
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–10
Many new characters are introduced in the first
section of Tom Sawyer. Use the web diagram on
this page to keep track of the new characters and
their relationship to Tom. As new characters
appear, add each name to a circle and connect to
the “Tom” circle with a line. On the line, write a
short description of the character’s relationship to
Tom. Also connect each new character with any
other appropriate circle, and explain the
relationship on a connecting line.
Aunt Polly
an
i
rd
ua
sg
m’
To
Tom
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : Chapters 1–10
13
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View How
does Tom respond to having to
wash? What point does the
narrator make about this response?
14
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
Tom was a trifle disconcerted. The basin was refilled,
and this time he stood over it a little while, gathering
resolution; took in a big breath and began. When he
entered the kitchen presently, with both eyes shut, and
groping for the towel with his hands, an honourable
testimony of suds and water was dripping from his face.
But when he emerged from the towel, he was not yet
satisfactory; for the clean territory stopped short at his chin
and his jaws like a mask; below and beyond this line there
was a dark expanse of unirrigated soil that spread
downward in front and backward around his neck. Mary
took him in hand, and when she was done with him he
was a man and a brother, without distinction of colour, and
his saturated hair was neatly brushed, and its short curls
wrought into a dainty and symmetrical general effect.
(He privately smoothed out the curls, with labour and
difficulty, and plastered his hair close down to his head;
for he held curls to be effeminate, and his own filled his
life with bitterness.) Then Mary got out a suit of his
clothing that had been used only on Sundays during two
years—they were simply called his ‘other clothes’—and so
by that we know the size of his wardrobe. The girl ‘put
him to rights’ after he had dressed himself; she buttoned
his neat roundabout up to his chin, turned his vast shirtcollar down over his shoulders, brushed him off and
crowned him with his speckled straw hat. He now looked
exceedingly improved and uncomfortable; he was fully as
uncomfortable as he looked; for there was a restraint about
whole clothes and cleanliness that galled him. He hoped
that Mary would forget his shoes, but the hope was
blighted; she coated them thoroughly with tallow, as was
the custom, and brought them out. He lost his temper and
said he was always being made to do everything he didn’t
want to do. But Mary said, persuasively:
‘Please, Tom—that’s a good boy.’
So he got into his shoes, snarling. Mary was soon ready,
and the three children set out for Sunday-school, a place
that Tom hated with his whole heart; but Sid and Mary
were fond of it.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
. . . The church’s high-backed uncushioned pews would
seat about three hundred persons; the edifice was but a
small, plain affair, with a sort of pine-board tree-box on top
of it for a steeple. At the door Tom dropped back a step
and accosted a Sunday-dressed comrade:
‘Say, Bill, got a yaller ticket?’
‘Yes.’
‘What’ll you take for her?’
‘What’ll you give?’
‘Piece of lickrish and a fish-hook.’
‘Less see ’em.’
Tom exhibited. They were satisfactory, and the property
changed hands. Then Tom traded a couple of white alleys
for three red tickets, and some small trifle or other for a
couple of blue ones. He waylaid other boys as they came,
and went on buying tickets of various colours ten or fifteen
minutes longer. He entered the church, now, with a swarm
of clean and noisy boys and girls, proceeded to his seat
and started a quarrel with the first boy that came handy.
The teacher, a grave, elderly man, interfered; then turned
his back a moment, and Tom pulled a boy’s hair in the next
bench, and was absorbed in his book when the boy turned
around; stuck a pin in another boy, presently, in order to
hear him say ‘Ouch!’ and got a new reprimand from his
teacher. Tom’s whole class were of a pattern—restless,
noisy, and troublesome. When they came to recite their
lessons, not one of them knew his verses perfectly, but had
to be prompted all along. However, they worried through,
and each got his reward in small blue tickets, each with a
passage of Scripture on it; each blue ticket was pay for two
verses of the recitation. Ten blue tickets equalled a red one,
and could be exchanged for it; ten red tickets equalled a
yellow one; for ten yellow tickets the Superintendent gave
a very plainly bound Bible (worth forty cents in those easy
times) to the pupil. How many of my readers would have
the industry and the application to memorize two
thousand verses, even for a Doré Bible?
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View In this
case, do you think the attitudes and
beliefs of the narrator are the same
as the attitudes and beliefs of the
author? Explain your answer.
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : Chapters 1–10
15
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Make Inferences About
Characters What inference can
you make about Tom based on his
reaction to the new boy in town?
16
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark yet.
Presently Tom checked his whistle. A stranger was before
him; a boy a shade larger than himself. A new-comer of
any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the
poor little village of St Petersburg. This boy was well
dressed, too—well dressed on a week-day. This was simply
astounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned
blue-cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his
pantaloons. He had shoes on, and yet it was only Friday.
He even wore a neck-tie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a
citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals. The more
Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned
up his nose at his finery, and the shabbier and shabbier his
own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If
one moved the other moved—but only sidewise, in a
circle. They kept face to face and eye to eye all the time.
Finally, Tom said:
‘I can lick you!’
‘I’d like to see you try it.’
‘Well, I can do it.’
‘No you can’t, either.’
‘Yes I can.’
‘No you can’t.’
‘I can.’
‘You can’t.’
‘Can.’
‘Can’t.’
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
‘What’s your name?’
‘’Tisn’t any of your business, maybe.’
‘Well I ’low I’ll make it my business.’
‘Well, why don’t you?’
‘If you say much I will.’
‘Much—much—much! There, now.’
‘Oh, you think you’re mighty smart, don’t you? I could
lick you with one hand tied behind me, if I wanted to.’
‘Well, why don’t you do it? You say you can do it.’
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
‘Well, I will, if you fool with me.’
. . . ‘Aw—take a walk!’
‘Say—if you give me much more of your sass, I’ll take
and bounce a rock off’n your head.’
‘Oh, of course you will.’
‘Well, I will.’
‘Well, why don’t you do it, then? What do you keep
saying you will for? Why don’t you do it? It’s because
you’re afraid.’
‘I ain’t afraid.’
‘You are.’
‘I ain’t.’
‘You are.’
Another pause, and more eyeing and sidling around
each other. Presently they were shoulder to shoulder. Tom
said:
‘Get away from here!’
‘Go away yourself!’
‘I won’t.’
‘I won’t, either.’
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a
brace, and both shoving with might and main, and
glowering at each other with hate. But neither could get an
advantage. After struggling till both were hot and flushed,
each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom
said:
‘You’re a coward and a pup. I’ll tell my big brother on
you, and he can lam you with his little finger, and I’ll make
him do it, too.’
‘What do I care for your big brother? I’ve got a brother
that’s bigger than he is; and, what’s more, he can throw
him over that fence, too.’ (Both brothers were imaginary.)
‘That’s a lie.’
‘Your saying so don’t make it so.’
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
‘I dare you to step over that, and I’ll lick you till you
can’t stand up. Anybody that’ll take a dare will steal a
sheep.’
Reading Strategy
Make Inferences About
Characters Why do you think it
takes the two boys so long to begin
fighting?
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 1–10
17
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Whom Can You Count On? What
decision does Tom make about
whom to count on? How do you
know? Why do you think he feels
this way?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
18
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 8
What if he turned his back, now, and disappeared
mysteriously? What if he went away—ever so far away,
into unknown countries beyond the seas—and never came
back any more! How would she feel then? The idea of
being a clown recurred to him now, only to fill him with
disgust. For frivolity and jokes, and spotted tights, were an
offence, when they intruded themselves upon a spirit that
was exalted into the vague, august realm of the romantic.
No, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all
war-worn and illustrious. No, better still, he would join the
Indians and hunt buffaloes, and go on the war-path in the
mountain ranges and the trackless great plains of the Far
West, and away in the future come back a great chief,
bristling with feathers, hideous with paint, and prance into
Sunday-school, some drowsy summer morning, with a
blood-curdling war-whoop, and sear the eyeballs of all his
companions with unappeasable envy. But no, there was
something grander even than this. He would be a pirate!
That was it! Now his future lay plain before him, and
glowing with unimaginable splendour. How his name
would fill the world, and make people shudder! How
gloriously he would go ploughing the dancing seas, in his
long, low, black racer, the Spirit of the Storm, with his grisly
flag flying at the fore! And, at the zenith of his fame, how
he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into
church all brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet
doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash,
his belt bristling with horse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass
at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black
flag unfurled with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear
with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, ‘It’s Tom Sawyer the
Pirate! the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!’
Yes, it was settled; his career was determined. He would
run away from home and enter upon it. He would start the
very next morning. Therefore he must now begin to get
ready. He would collect his resources together.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : Chapters 1–10
19
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Respond and Think Critically
1. How does Tom get his friends to whitewash the fence for him?
According to Mark Twain, what “great law of human action” is Tom
following? [Recall]
2. Who is Huckleberry Finn? Why does Tom find him appealing? [Analyze]
3. The narrator does not tell us what happens at the end of Chapter 4,
when Tom is unable to answer the judge’s question correctly. Why, in
your opinion, does the narrator not explain how the scene ends? [Infer]
4. Tom uses his imagination to escape from the boredom of everyday life.
Is this a positive or a negative character trait? What are its advantages
and disadvantages? Explain your answer. [Interpret]
5. Whom Can You Count On? Choose one of the characters you have read
about so far and explain why you think Tom does or does not count on
that character. [Interpret]
20
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
11. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
1. In Chapter 9, Tom and Huck witness a grave
robbery and a murder. This scene has a very
different feeling from what preceded it—the
comic overtones of Tom’s exploits are replaced
with a sense of fear and suspense. Reread the
section in which Injun Joe attacks Dr. Robinson.
What do you think the narrator’s opinions of
these events might be? How do you know?
[Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Match each boldfaced vocabulary word with a word from
the right column that has the same meaning. Two of the
words in the right column will not have matches.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
apprehensively
beguiled
perplexed
reluctance
turmoil
a. angrily
b. disinclination
c. surreptitiously
d. charmed
e. chaos
f. confounded
g. anxiously
Academic Vocabulary
Tom is able to acquire enough tickets to qualify for a new
Bible at Sunday school. In the preceding sentence acquire
means “to come into possession as one’s own.” To become
more familiar with the word acquire, fill out the graphic
organizer below.
Reading Strategy Make Inferences About
Characters
1. In Chapter 10, a howling dog reminds Tom and
Huck of a superstition they share. Though the
narrator never reveals the superstition directly,
what inference can you make about it based on
the two boys’ behavior and dialogue?
definition
synonym
acquire
2. What details guided you to this inference?
[Analyze]
antonym
sentence/image
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 1–10
21
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response What is your first impression of
Tom? Make a list of words or phrases that you think
describe him.
Literature Groups
Assignment After reading the first ten chapters of
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, do you think the
narrator excuses in Tom behavior that others would
find irresponsible or annoying?
With a small group of classmates, discuss whether
or not there are sometimes good reasons to let
“boys be boys.” Try to reach a consensus, or
general agreement, among the group.
Prepare Before your group meets, examine the text
for evidence of the narrator’s attitude toward Tom’s
pranks, schemes, and, especially, treatment of other
people. Take notes or create a chart like the one
below to keep track of what you find.
Behavior
Tom skips
school
Harmful
to Tom
Harmful
to others
3
Discuss During your discussion, respect the views
of others by listening carefully. Remember to make
eye contact and share your own ideas and opinions
calmly. Offer support for your opinions, but keep
yourself open to the possibility of changing your
mind. Use your notes and your chart to support
your opinions.
Report Have one member of your group orally state
your consensus to the class or state that no
consensus was reached. This group member must
speak loudly and clearly enough for all to hear.
Evaluate How would you rate your own
participation in the discussion? Write a short
paragraph describing what you feel you did well
and listing at least one element you feel you could
improve. Exchange your self-evaluation with a peer,
and discuss each other’s participation.
22
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–24
Connect to the Literature
Why, in your opinion, do some people see past events through “rosecolored glasses”? In other words, why does the past sometimes look
better than it actually was?
Have a Discussion
Discuss with a partner an experience in which you or a friend were
looking at a past event through rose-colored glasses. What led to the
positive feeling about the event? Did your view of the event ever change?
Build Background
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
The photograph shows Mark
Twain’s boyhood home in Hannibal,
Missouri.
Fact and Fiction
Mark Twain created the characters and places in his novels partly from
the people and places he knew. His experiences in his boyhood home in
Hannibal, Missouri, are reflected in some of his works, particularly in The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom, Mark Twain later wrote, is made up of
himself as a child and two of his friends. Aunt Polly is based on Twain’s
mother, and Becky is based on Laura Hawkins, a neighbor. Henry, Twain’s
younger brother, appears in the book as Sid, but Twain noted that Henry
was never a tattletale. Tom Blankenship, son of a Hannibal ne’er-do-well,
was the model for Huck. In real life, Injun Joe was a pitiful homeless
person. Keep in mind that the real-life people Twain used are not the
characters themselves. They have been filtered through Twain’s
imagination.
Twain often made reference to the wondrous power of the human
imagination. He once wrote: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is
because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
23
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–24
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Whom Can You Count On?
In the section of the novel you are about to read, Tom and two friends,
Huck Finn and Joe Harper, leave home with a plan to make their own way
in the world. As you read, note how their new circumstances force the
boys to count on one another as well as how each boy counts on himself.
Literary Element Description
Description is writing that conveys the feeling and impression of a setting,
a person, an animal, an object, or an event. Writers use sensory details to
make their descriptions more vivid. Sensory details appeal to the reader’s
five senses: hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell. Sensory details are
also called imagery.
Writers use concrete words to appeal to the senses. Writers also use
abstract words that express ideals or qualities—such as order, hope, and
despair—to describe what the senses cannot reveal.
chronic [kron ik] adj. permanent;
long-term
The pain in Sajid’s fingers is the
result of a chronic medical
condition.
conspicuous [kən spik ū əs] adj.
obvious
With her enormous flowered hat,
Aunt Lily was conspicuous even
in a crowd.
frivolous [friv ə ləs] adj. not
serious; silly or playful
His frivolous behavior in class
annoyed his teacher and
classmates.
As you read, notice examples of concrete and abstract words that
effectively convey Tom’s adventures and thoughts.
ominous [om ə nəs] adv.
threatening; menacing
It was about to storm and the sky
looked very ominous.
Reading Skill Analyze Setting
When you analyze, you look at the separate parts of something to
understand the whole. When you analyze the setting of a literary work,
you look at the different aspects of where and when the story takes place.
A setting also embodies the values and traditions of a particular place or
culture.
vindictive [vin dik tiv] adj. eager
for revenge
When Maurice feels he’s been
unfairly accused, he can be very
vindictive.
Analyzing the setting is important because the setting can have a great
influence on the characters and action of a story. Every change in setting
can help move the plot forward.
To analyze setting, pay attention to
• where and when the action takes place
• what the details of each new setting are
• how each setting affects the characters and their actions
You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one
at right.
24
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Where
Details
Effects
Jackson
Island
natural
beauty, quiet,
no adults,
plenty of free
time
sense of
freedom,
homesickness
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 11–24
The long second paragraph of Chapter 14 contains
many striking words and phrases that create a
“word painting” of waking up on Jackson’s Island.
As you read this paragraph, keep track of words
Word or Phrase
cool gray dawn
and phrases that you feel are especially colorful
and memorable. In one column of the chart below,
write the word or phrase. In the other, explain how
the description appeals to a reader.
How or Why It Works
appeals to senses of both touch (cool) and sight (gray)
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
25
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Description What details in this
description help you imagine the
sights and sounds of the oncoming
storm?
26
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 17
Now a weird flash turned night into day, and showed
every little grass-blade separate and distinct, that grew
about their feet. And it showed three white startled faces,
too. A deep peal of thunder went rolling and tumbling
down the heavens, and lost itself in sullen rumblings in the
distance. A sweep of chilly air passed by, rustling all the
leaves and snowing the flaky ashes broadcast about the
fire. Another fierce glare lit up the forest, and an instant
crash followed that seemed to rend the tree-tops right over
the boys’ heads. They clung together in terror, in the thick
gloom that followed. A few big rain-drops fell pattering
upon the leaves.
‘Quick, boys, go for the tent!’ exclaimed Tom.
They sprang away, stumbling over roots and among
vines in the dark, no two plunging in the same direction.
A furious blast roared through the trees, making
everything sing as it went. One blinding flash after another
came, and peal on peal of deafening thunder. And now a
drenching rain poured down, and the rising hurricane
drove it in sheets along the ground. The boys cried out to
each other, but the roaring wind and the booming thunderblasts drowned their voices utterly. However, one by one
they straggled in at last, and took shelter under the tent,
cold, scared, and streaming with water; but to have
company in misery seemed something to be grateful for.
They could not talk, the old sail flapped so furiously, even
if the other noises would have allowed them. The tempest
rose higher and higher, and presently the sail tore loose
from its fastenings, and went winging away on the blast.
The boys seized each others’ hands, and fled, with many
tumblings and bruises, to the shelter of a great oak that
stood upon the river bank. Now the battle was at its
highest. Under the ceaseless conflagrations of lightnings
that flamed in the skies, everything below stood out in
clean-cut and shadowless distinctness; the bending trees,
the billowy river white with foam, the driving spray of
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
spume-flakes, the dim outlines of the high bluffs on the
other side, glimpsed through the drifting cloud-rack and
the slanting veil of rain. Every little while some giant tree
yielded the fight and fell crashing through the younger
growth; and the unflagging thunder-peals came now in
ear-splitting explosive bursts, keen and sharp, and
unspeakably appalling. The storm culminated in one
matchless effort that seemed likely to tear the island to
pieces, burn it up, drown it to the tree-tops, blow it away
and deafen every creature in it, all at one and the same
moment. It was a wild night for homeless young heads to
be out in.
But at last the battle was done, and the forces retired,
with weaker and weaker threatenings and grumblings, and
peace resumed her sway. The boys went back to camp a
good deal awed; but they found there was still something
to be thankful for, because the great sycamore, the shelter
of their beds, was a ruin, now, blasted by the lightnings,
and they were not under it when the catastrophe
happened.
Everything in camp was drenched, the camp-fire as
well; for they were but heedless lads, like their generation,
and had made no provision against rain. Here was matter
for dismay, for they were soaked through and chilled.
They were eloquent in their distress: but they presently
discovered that the fire had eaten so far up under the great
log it had been built against (where it curved upward and
separated itself from the ground), that a handbreadth or so
of it had escaped wetting; so they patiently wrought until,
with shreds and bark gathered from the under sides of
sheltered logs, they coaxed the fire to burn again. Then
they piled on great dead boughs till they had a roaring
furnace and were glad-hearted once more. They dried their
boiled ham and had a feast, and after that they sat by the
fire and expanded and glorified their midnight adventure
until morning, for there was not a dry spot to sleep on
anywhere around.
Literary Element
Description To what does author
Mark Twain compare the end of the
storm? What details does he use to
create this comparison?
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
27
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Setting How has the town
changed in response to the
disappearance and assumed
drowning of Tom, Joe, and Huck?
28
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 18
But there was no hilarity in the little town that tranquil
Saturday afternoon. The Harpers and Aunt Polly’s family,
were being put into mourning with great grief and many
tears. An unusual quiet possessed the village, although it
was ordinarily quiet enough in all conscience. The villagers
conducted their concerns with an abstracted air, and talked
little; but they sighed often. The Saturday holiday seemed
a burden to the children. They had no heart in their sports,
and gradually gave them up.
In the afternoon Becky Thatcher found herself moping
about the deserted school-house yard, and feeling very
melancholy. But she found nothing there to comfort her.
She soliloquized:
‘Oh, if I only had his brass andiron knob again! But I
haven’t got anything now to remember him by,’ and she
choked back a little sob.
Presently she stopped, and said to herself:
‘It was right here. Oh, if it was to do over again, I
wouldn’t say that—I wouldn’t say it for the whole world.
But he’s gone now; I’ll never, never, never see him any
more.’
This thought broke her down, and she wandered away
with the tears rolling down her cheeks. Then quite a group
of boys and girls—playmates of Tom’s and Joe’s—came by,
and stood looking over the paling fence and talking in
reverent tones of how Tom did so-and-so the last time they
saw him, and how Joe said this and that small trifle
(pregnant with awful prophecy, as they could easily see
now!)—and each speaker pointed out the exact spot where
the lost lads stood at the time, and then added something
like, ‘and I was a standing just so—just as I am now, and as
if you was him—I was as close as that—and he smiled, just
this way—and then something seemed to go all over me,
like—awful, you know—and I never thought what it
meant, of course, but I can see now!’
Then there was a dispute about who saw the dead
boys last in life, and many claimed that dismal distinction,
and offered evidences more or less tampered with by the
witness; and when it was ultimately decided who did
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
see the departed last, and exchanged the last words with
them, the lucky parties took upon themselves a sort of
sacred importance, and were gaped at and envied by all
the rest. . . .
When the Sunday-school hour was finished the next
morning, the bell began to toll, instead of ringing in the
usual way. It was a very still Sabbath, and the mournful
sound seemed in keeping with the musing hush that lay
upon nature. The villagers began to gather, loitering a
moment in the vestibule to converse in whispers about
the sad event. But there was no whispering in the house;
only the funereal rustling of dresses, as the women gathered
to their seats, disturbed the silence there. None could
remember when the little church had been so full before.
There was finally a waiting pause, an expectant dumbness,
and then Aunt Polly entered, followed by Sid and Mary, and
then by the Harper family, all in deep black, and the whole
congregation, the old minister as well, rose reverently and
stood, until the mourners were seated in the front pew.
There was another communing silence, broken at intervals
by muffled sobs, and then the minister spread his hands
abroad and prayed. A moving hymn was sung, and the text
followed: ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’
As the service proceeded, the clergyman drew such
pictures of the graces, the winning ways, and the rare
promise of the lost lads, that every soul there, thinking he
recognized these pictures, felt a pang in remembering that
he had persistently blinded himself to them always before,
and had as persistently seen only faults and flaws in the
poor boys. The minister related many a touching incident
in the lives of the departed, too, which illustrated their
sweet, generous natures, and the people could easily see,
now, how noble and beautiful those episodes were, and
remembered with grief that at the time they occurred they
had seemed rank rascalities, well deserving the cowhide.
The congregation became more and more moved as the
pathetic tale went on, till at last the whole company broke
down and joined the weeping mourners in a chorus of
anguished sobs, the preacher himself giving way to his
feelings, and crying in the pulpit.
Reading Skill
Analyze Setting Why do you think
Mark Twain chose to set this scene
in the church? What does this
setting reveal about the way the
townspeople—and people in
general—sometimes behave after
a tragedy?
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
29
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Whom Can You Count On? Why
does Tom take the blame for
Becky’s actions?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
30
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 21
Tom shot a glance at Becky. He had seen a hunted and
helpless rabbit look as she did, with a gun levelled at its
head. Instantly he forgot his quarrel with her. Quick,
something must be done! done in a flash, too! But the very
imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention.
Good! he had an inspiration! He would run and snatch the
book, spring through the door and fly! but his resolution
shook for one little instant, and the chance was lost—the
master opened the volume. If Tom only had the wasted
opportunity back again! Too late; there was no help for
Becky now, he said. The next moment the master faced the
school. Every eye sank under his gaze; there was that in it
which smote even the innocent with fear. There was silence
while one might count ten; the master was gathering his
wrath. Then he spoke:
‘Who tore this book?’
There was not a sound. One could have heard a pin
drop. The stillness continued; the master searched face
after face for signs of guilt.
‘Benjamin Rogers, did you tear this book?’
A denial. Another pause.
‘Joseph Harper, did you?’
Another denial. Tom’s uneasiness grew more and more
intense under the slow torture of these proceedings. The
master scanned the ranks of boys, considered a while, then
turned to the girls:
‘Amy Lawrence?’
A shake of the head. . . .
‘Susan Harper, did you do this?’
Another negative. The next girl was Becky Thatcher.
Tom was trembling from head to foot with excitement, and
a sense of the hopelessness of the situation.
‘Rebecca Thatcher’—(Tom glanced at her face; it was
white with terror)—‘did you tear—no, look me in the
face’—(her hands rose in appeal)—‘did you tear this book?’
A thought shot like lightning through Tom’s brain. He
sprang to his feet and shouted:
‘I done it!’
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
31
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–24
Respond and Think Critically
1. How do Tom and Huck treat Muff Potter after he has been put in jail?
Why, in your opinion, do they treat him this way? [Interpret]
2. What important decision does Tom make at the end of this section?
What result does the decision have? [Analyze]
3. Do you feel that Mark Twain is successful in creating Injun Joe as a
villain? Does Injun Joe seem like a real person to you? Explain your
answer. [Classify]
4. Some readers feel that Tom goes too far in his pranks. What do you
think? How would you feel if you were one of the people affected by his
jokes, such as Aunt Polly or the people who attended his funeral?
[Connect]
5. Whom Can You Count On? In terms of counting on others, what do you
think are the benefits and disadvantages to Tom’s living in a small
town? [Analyze]
32
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
23. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–24
Literary Element Description
1. In your opinion, what was some of the most
memorable imagery in Chapter 12’s description
of the cat and the pain-killer? [Recall]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary word
that best completes each sentence.
chronic
frivolous
vindictive
2. What emotional effect do you think author Mark
Twain had in mind with this description?
[Evaluate]
Reading Skill Analyze Setting
1. How do you think living on the island influences
the way Tom, Joe, and Huck think about
themselves? [Infer]
conspicuous
ominous
1. My cousin hates being ____________ , so he always
tries to blend into the scenery.
2. Some people respond in ____________ ways when
they feel they have been wronged.
3. Andy is tired of his ____________ problem with math.
4. Sometimes people think Terri is a ____________
person, but that’s only because she laughs too loudly.
5. There was a(n) ____________ pause after my mother
asked who broke her favorite vase.
Academic Vocabulary
Becky Thatcher thought Tom’s conduct was noble when he
took the blame for tearing the book. In the preceding
sentence, conduct means “behavior.” Conduct also has
other meanings. For instance: Tom and his friends like to
conduct imaginary battles after school. What do you think
conduct means in the preceding sentence? What is the
difference between the two meanings?
2. How do the values and traditions of the town
make it easy for the three boys to return without
being harshly reprimanded? [Interpret]
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 11–24
33
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–24
Write with Style
Connect to Content Areas
Apply Description
Art
Assignment Imagery is an important part of many
authors’ writing style because it helps readers
imagine the characters and events more vividly.
Review some examples of imagery from the section
of the novel you just read. Look for examples that
convey a humorous effect. Then, using comic
imagery, write a paragraph about a personal
experience you had.
Assignment A courtroom sketch is an artistic
rendering of a scene or moment that takes place
in a court of law. Because many courts in the
United States do not allow cameras in the
courtroom, artists are hired to create sketches
of the proceedings.
Get Ideas Think about past experiences when you
or someone you know did something funny. Then
take a few minutes to write a list of these
experiences. Don’t write complete sentences at this
stage. A word or two that reminds you of the
experience will be enough. Write quickly and try not
to judge your ideas. When you’ve finished your list,
select one of your ideas to use as the basis for your
paragraph. Choose the one that you are able to
visualize most clearly.
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a
sentence that introduces readers to the comic
situation. Follow it with sentences that describe the
situation fully using imagery to create vivid word
pictures.
Look at Language When it comes to creating
effective imagery, word choice is very important.
Use a thesaurus to help you find strong synonyms
for weak words. The underlined words in the
sentences below, for example, could be effectively
replaced by the bracketed words.
EXAMPLE
I come from a family of secret eaters. My brother
sometimes takes [sneaks, pilfers, snitches] cookies
and eats [gobbles, munches, devours] them under
his bed.
EXAMPLE
When he comes out from under the bed, he has
crumbs and chocolate on his face. [When he
emerges from his subterranean lair, his face is a
chocolate-smeared mask of crumbs.]
34
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Chapter 24 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
contains a vivid courtroom scene. Using details
from the novel, draw your own courtroom sketch of
one or more of the following characters: Tom, Injun
Joe, Muff Potter.
Investigate Using an Internet search engine such
as Google, type in the key words “courtroom
sketches.” View several Web pages that feature
examples of this type of illustration. As you view
the sketches, take notes, print out images, or create
rough drawings to remind you of facial expressions
and body positions you might like to use in your
own sketch.
Create Decide on the medium you will use: colored
pencils, pastels, colored markers, charcoal, or pen
and ink. On a large sheet of plain paper or poster
board, create a preliminary sketch to show the
positioning of the character or characters you
would like to sketch.
Use your research materials to guide your drawing,
but do not trace copies of any of the images you
found during your research process. Think about
which moment of the trial scene you wish to depict.
Report Display your courtroom sketch for the
class and discuss why you chose the scene
you did.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 25–36
Connect to the Literature
One of the characters in the novel says, “being rich ain’t what it’s cracked
up to be. It’s just worry and worry, and sweat and sweat.”
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Sharing Ideas
Share ideas with a partner about the advantages and disadvantages
of being wealthy. How might your life change—for the better and for
the worse?
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information from Build Background.
Build Background
Bad Boys and Good Boys
You read on page 9 about the “good boy” novels that Mark Twain poked
fun at. In the final section of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you’ll find out
what happens to Tom, the bad boy, and his “bad” comrade, Huck Finn.
Keep in mind that the good boys of the other books never misbehaved and
were rewarded with wealth, true love, and the respect and admiration
of others.
Mark Twain had great affection for his literary creations, Tom and Huck.
He brought them back in other novels. In 1885, nine years after The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, Twain published the first
sequel to Tom Sawyer. This novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is
considered to be Twain’s masterpiece and one of the great American
novels. It follows Huck and the runaway Jim on a journey down the
Mississippi River to freedom. In 1894 Twain published Tom Sawyer Abroad
and two years later, Tom Sawyer, Detective.
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
35
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 25–36
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question: Whom Can You Count On?
Vocabulary
You may have heard the expression “It takes a village to raise a child.” In
what way does this statement relate to the novel? As you read, think about
the people Tom and Huck can and cannot count on.
apathy [ap ə thē] n. lack of
interest
My sister used to love playing
soccer, but now the idea of
playing fills her with apathy.
Literary Element Theme
The theme is the main message about life that an author wants to share.
Some works have a stated theme, which is expressed directly. More often,
though, works have an implied theme, one that is revealed slowly through
other elements such as plot, character, and setting.
insipid [in sip id] adj.
uninteresting; bland
Some people find paintings of
sweet, sad-eyed puppies to be
quite insipid.
Identifying the theme of a story, poem, novel, or play helps you understand
the author’s message and purpose.
In these final chapters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, consider the
way the narrator’s relationship to the story and the events of the story
embody one of author Mark Twain’s major themes: Youth is a time of
innocence.
Reading Skill Analyze Plot
Plot is the sequence of events in a story. The plot begins with exposition,
which introduces the story’s characters, setting, and situation. The rising
action adds complications to the story’s conflict, or central problem. The
highest point of conflict, interest, or suspense in a story is called the
climax. The falling action is the logical result of the climax, and the
resolution presents the final outcome. When you analyze the plot of a
literary work, you break it down in terms of these major structural
elements.
Analyzing the plot is important because it can help you understand not only
the theme, setting, and characters, but also how the story itself is built.
As you read the final chapters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
• pay attention to the characters’ needs and desires
• try to understand how one action leads to other actions
• note the emotional pull of each event or situation
• make predictions about what will happen next
You may find it helpful to fill out graphic organizers like the one on the
right and on the next page to keep track of the story’s plot progression.
36
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
subdued [səb dō¯ōd] adj. quiet;
restrained
When the other team scored a
touchdown, our fans became
subdued.
threadbare [thred bār] adj.
shabby; worn
That old sofa is so threadbare
that its springs are coming out.
windfall [wind fôl] n. unexpected
gain; bonus
My cousin’s inheritance was a
windfall of more than a million
dollars!
Climax
Rising
Action
Exposition
Falling
Action
Resolution
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 25–36
Following the different events in the final chapters
of Tom Sawyer is important to understanding the
novel’s ending. Use the step-by-step chart on this
page to record the events as they occur in this
section of the novel, starting with the first one
listed.
Tom and Huck look for treasure in
the haunted house.
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
37
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Theme In what way do Huck’s
problems with living in society
reflect the author’s nostalgic view
of childhood?
38
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 36
Huck Finn’s wealth, and the fact that he was now under
the Widow Douglas’s protection, introduced him into
society—no, dragged him into it, hurled him into it—and
his sufferings were almost more than he could bear. The
widow’s servants kept him clean and neat, combed and
brushed, and they bedded him nightly in unsympathetic
sheets that had not one little spot or stain which he could
press to his heart and know for a friend. He had to eat
with knife and fork; he had to use napkin, cup, and plate;
he had to learn his book; he had to go to church; he had to
talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his
mouth; whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of
civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot.
He bravely bore his miseries three weeks, and then one
day turned up missing. For forty-eight hours the widow
hunted for him everywhere in great distress. The public
were profoundly concerned; they searched high and low,
they dragged the river for his body. Early the third
morning Tom Sawyer wisely went poking among some old
empty hogsheads down behind the abandoned
slaughterhouse, and in one of them he found the refugee.
Huck had slept there; he had just breakfasted upon some
stolen odds and ends of food, and was lying off, now, in
comfort with his pipe. He was unkempt, uncombed, and
clad in the same old ruin of rags that had made him
picturesque in the days when he was free and happy. Tom
routed him out, told him the trouble he had been causing,
and urged him to go home. Huck’s face lost its tranquil
content and took a melancholy cast. He said:
‘Don’t talk about it, Tom. I’ve tried it, and it don’t work;
it don’t work, Tom. It ain’t for me; I ain’t used to it. The
widder’s good to me, and friendly; but I can’t stand them
ways. She makes me git up just at the same time every
morning; she makes me wash, they comb me all to
thunder; she won’t let me sleep in the woodshed; I got to
wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me, Tom;
they don’t seem to any air git through ’em, somehow; and
they’re so rotten nice that I can’t set down, or lay down,
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
nor roll around anywheres; I ain’t slid on a cellar door
for—well, it ’pears to be years; I got to go to church, and
sweat and sweat—I hate them ornery sermons! I can’t
ketch a fly in there, I can’t chaw, I got to wear shoes all
Sunday. The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a
bell; she gits up by a bell—everything’s so awful reg’lar a
body can’t stand it.’
‘Well, everybody does that way, Huck.’
‘Tom, it don’t make no difference. I ain’t everybody and
I can’t stand it. It’s awful to be tied up so. And grub comes
too easy—I don’t take no interest in vittles that way. I got
to ask to go a fishing; I got to ask to go in a swimming—
dern’d if I hain’t got to ask to do everything. . . . The
widder wouldn’t let me smoke, she wouldn’t let me yell,
she wouldn’t let me gape, nor stretch, nor scratch before
folks.’ Then with a spasm of special irritation and injury:
‘And dad fetch it, she prayed all the time! I never see such
a woman! I had to shove, Tom, I just had to. And besides,
that school’s going to open, and I’d a had to go to it; well, I
wouldn’t stand that, Tom. Looky here, Tom, being rich
ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. It’s just worry and worry,
and sweat and sweat, and a wishing you was dead all the
time. Now these clothes suits me and this bar’l suits me,
and I ain’t ever going to shake ’em any more. Tom, I
wouldn’t ever got into all this trouble if it hadn’t a ben for
that money; now you just take my sheer of it along with
yourn, and gimme a ten-center sometimes—not many
times, becuz I don’t give a dern for a thing ’thout it’s
tollable hard to git—and you go and beg off for me with
the widder.’
‘Oh, Huck, you know I can’t do that. ’Tain’t fair; and
besides, if you’ll try this thing just a while longer you’ll
come to like it.’
‘Like it! Yes—the way I’d like a hot stove if I was to set
on it long enough. No Tom, I won’t be rich, and I won’t
live in them cussed smothery houses. I like the woods, and
the river, and hogsheads, and I’ll stick to ’em too. Blame it
all! just as we’d got guns, and a cave, and all just fixed to
rob, here this dern foolishness has got to come up and spile
it all!’
Literary Element
Theme About what activities does
Huck feel nostalgia? What do all
these things represent to him?
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
39
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Plot Keeping in mind the
events of the novel up to this point,
into which category of plot
structure do you think this portion
of the excerpt falls—exposition,
rising action, falling action, or
resolution? Explain your answer.
40
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 27
Two men entered. Each boy said to himself:
‘There’s the old deaf and dumb Spaniard that’s been
about town once or twice lately—never saw t’other man
before.’
‘T’other’ was a ragged, unkempt creature, with nothing
very pleasant in his face. The Spaniard was wrapped in a
serape; he had bushy white whiskers, long white hair
flowed from under his sombrero, and he wore green
goggles. When they came in, ‘t’other’ was talking in a low
voice; they sat down on the ground, facing the door, with
their backs to the wall, and the speaker continued his
remarks. His manner became less guarded and his words
more distinct as he proceeded.
‘No,’ said he, ‘I’ve thought it all over, and I don’t like it.
It’s dangerous.’
‘Dangerous!’ grunted the ‘deaf and dumb’ Spaniard, to
the vast surprise of the boys. ‘Milksop!’
This voice made the boys gasp and quake. It was Injun
Joe’s! There was silence for some time. Then Joe said:
‘What’s any more dangerous than that job up yonder—
but nothing’s come of it.’
‘That’s different. Away up the river so, and not another
house about. ’Twon’t ever be known that we tried, anyway,
long as we didn’t succeed.’
‘Well, what’s more dangerous than coming here in the
daytime?— anybody would suspicion us that saw us.’
‘I know that. But there wasn’t any other place as handy
after that fool of a job. I want to quit this shanty. I wanted
to yesterday, only it warn’t any use trying to stir out of
here with those infernal boys playing over there on the hill
right in full view.’
‘Those infernal boys’ quaked again under the inspiration
of this remark, and thought how lucky it was that they had
remembered it was Friday and concluded to wait a day.
They wished in their hearts they had waited a year. The
two men got out some food and made a luncheon. After a
long and thoughtful silence, Injun Joe said:
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
‘Look here, lad, you go back up the river where you
belong. Wait there till you hear from me. I’ll take the
chances on dropping into this town just once more, for a
look. We’ll do that “dangerous” job after I’ve spied around
a little and think things look well for it. Then for Texas!
We’ll leg it together!’
This was satisfactory. Both men presently fell to
yawning, and Injun Joe said:
‘I’m dead for sleep! It’s your turn to watch.’
He curled down in the weeds and soon began to snore.
His comrade stirred him once or twice, and he became
quiet. Presently the watcher began to nod; his head drooped
lower and lower; both men began to snore now. . . .
Now one snore ceased. Injun Joe sat up, stared around—
smiled grimly upon his comrade, whose head was
drooping upon his knees—stirred him up with his foot and
said:
‘Here! You’re a watchman, ain’t you! All right, though—
nothing’s happened.’
‘My! have I been asleep?’
‘Oh, partly, partly. Nearly time for us to be moving,
pard. What’ll we do with what little swag we’ve got left?’
‘I don’t know—leave it here as we’ve always done, I
reckon. No use to take it away till we start south. Six
hundred and fifty in silver’s something to carry.’ . . .
‘Yes, but look here; it may be a good while before I get
the right chance at that job; accidents might happen, ’tain’t
in such a very good place; we’ll just regularly bury it—and
bury it deep.’
‘Good idea,’ said the comrade, who walked across the
room, knelt down, raised one of the rearward hearthstones and took out a bag that jingled pleasantly. He
subtracted from it twenty or thirty dollars for himself and
as much for Injun Joe, and passed the bag to the
latter, who was on his knees in the corner, now, digging
with his bowie-knife.
The boys forgot all their fears, all their miseries in an
instant.
Reading Skill
Analyze Plot What do you predict
will happen next?
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
41
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Whom Can You Count On? How do
the townspeople work together to
find the missing children? What
does this behavior say about them
as individuals and as a group?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
42
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 31
‘Is my Becky going to sleep all day? I just expected she
would be tired to death.’
‘Your Becky?’
‘Yes,’ with a startled look. ‘Didn’t she stay with you last
night?’
‘Why, no.’
Mrs Thatcher turned pale, and sank into a pew just as
Aunt Polly, talking briskly with a friend, passed by. Aunt
Polly said:
‘Good morning, Mrs Thatcher. Good morning, Mrs
Harper. I’ve got a boy that’s turned up missing. I reckon my
Tom stayed at your house last night—one of you. And now
he’s afraid to come to church. I’ve got to settle with him.’
Mrs Thatcher shook her head feebly and turned paler
than ever.
‘He didn’t stay with us,’ said Mrs Harper, beginning to
look uneasy. A marked anxiety came into Aunt Polly’s face.
‘Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom this morning?’
‘No’m.’
‘When did you see him last?’
Joe tried to remember, but was not sure he could say.
The people had stopped moving out of church. Whispers
passed along, and a boding uneasiness took possession of
every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned,
and young teachers. They all said they had not noticed
whether Tom and Becky were on board the ferry-boat on
the homeward trip; it was dark; no one thought of
inquiring if anyone was missing. One young man finally
blurted out his fear that they were still in the cave! Mrs
Thatcher swooned away; Aunt Polly fell to crying and
wringing her hands.
The alarm swept from lip to lip, from group to group,
from street to street; and within five minutes the bells were
wildly clanging, and the whole town was up! The Cardiff
Hill episode sank into instant insignificance, the burglars
were forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs were manned,
the ferry-boat ordered out, and before the horror was half
an hour old two hundred men were pouring down highroad and river towards the cave.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
43
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 25–36
Respond and Think Critically
1. Who is Uncle Jake? What does Huck’s friendship with him say about
Huck? What does it say about the different levels of St. Petersburg
society? [Interpret]
2. How does Huck help the Widow Douglas? Why does he want his
actions kept secret? [Recall]
3. In what ways can the novel be seen as a study of the effects money
has on people’s lives? [Evaluate]
4. The final section of the novel contains two examples of racist attitudes
expressed by the characters, along with a sexist remark. Identify one of
these examples. [Identify]
5. Whom Can You Count On? How would you describe Tom’s behavior in
the cave with Becky? What personal characteristics does he
demonstrate? [Summarize]
44
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
35. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 25–36
Literary Element Theme
1. Do you think Tom will ever reach his goal of
becoming a famous and wealthy robber? Explain.
[Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the words in each set have the same or
the opposite meaning.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2. In what way does Huckleberry Finn’s final
statement illustrate a theme of the novel?
[Analyze]
apathy and lethargy
insipid and scintillating
subdued and raving
threadbare and ragged
windfall and boon
Academic Vocabulary
The people of the town of St. Petersburg often
underestimated Huckleberry Finn’s potential based on his
social class. Potential means “capability” or “promise.”
Have you ever been underestimated in terms of your
potential? What do you think were the reasons behind the
way others saw you?
Reading Skill Analyze Plot
1. The plot of a novel is in many ways like a
journey—for the characters and for the reader.
In what ways did Tom Sawyer’s journey through
the events of the novel change him? Did your
opinion of him change as a result? Explain.
[Evaluate]
2. You will recall that the falling action of a novel’s
plot happens after the climax. Identify the falling
action in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
[Identify]
The A dventur es of Tom Sawyer : C hapters 25–36
45
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 25–36
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write an Argument Consider again the idea of
seeing life through “rose-colored glasses.” Can you
find evidence that author Mark Twain’s story and its
setting are not entirely viewed through rose-colored
glasses? Does he focus only on the positive aspects
of small-town life, or does he include negative
aspects as well? Using examples from the novel,
write an essay to support your argument.
Performance
Before you begin writing, you may find it helpful to
create a list of the advantages and disadvantages
of living in a small town like St. Petersburg. For
example:
Positive factors:
• Everyone knows everyone else.
• People take care of each other’s children. The
whole town goes out to look for people who have
gone missing.
• There is a strong sense of family and community.
Negative factors:
• People gossip about each other.
• People are often hypocritical about their beliefs.
• If a member of the community is seen as having
bad reputation, it is hard to change the town’s
opinion about it.
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment Many readers feel that Chapter 32,
when Tom and Becky are lost in the cave, is the
most exciting and best written part of the novel.
With a group of classmates, prepare a dramatic
reading of this scene.
Prepare Working together, select three group
members to play the roles of Tom, Becky, and the
narrator. Discuss the best way to present the
reading. You might want to stage the action. To do
that, work as a group to determine where and how
the characters will move. If your group prefers to
use a sit-down format for the reading, decide where
the chairs will be placed. The narrator should be
seated a short distance away from Becky and Tom.
Decide on what kind of background music would be
effective. Consider creating sound effects such as
water dripping, the echoes of voices, and the
fluttering wings of bats. Select one group member to
be in charge of the music and one or two others to
produce live or recorded sound effects. Use
dialogue from the novel as the basis for the script.
Work as a group to write any extra dialogue needed.
Then rehearse your presentation at least once.
Perform Present the scene to the class. Performers
should speak loudly enough that their classmates
will be able to hear them without straining. Those
group members who are operating the music or
creating sound effects should maintain their
concentration and adjust their volume if necessary.
Evaluate After the performance, get together with
your group and discuss how successfully you
worked together. Use a chart like the one below to
record your group’s ideas.
What Worked
Well
The music and
voices built
suspense.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
What Needed
Improvement
We were nervous
during the beginning
of the scene.
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers with
details from the texts. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper, but jot down some notes first on the lines provided.
Boy’s Manuscript
Mark Twain
Make Connections Give examples of people and
events in Boy’s Manuscript that Mark Twain later
used in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
A Rescue from an Underground Mine!
Deborah Morris
Make Connections Why are Tom Sawyer and
Becky Thatcher better off in the cave than Josh is
in the mine? What does each child do to survive?
Sometimes I Feel This Way
John Ciardi
Make Connections Tom Sawyer wrestles with the
choice of being good or bad. Which does he usually
seem to choose? How does Aunt Polly describe
Tom’s behavior?
from Ethics
Susan Neiburg Terkel
Make Connections Based on Terkel’s description of
ethics, what would you say about Tom’s decision to
tell the lawyer about Injun Joe’s part in the doctor’s
murder?
Getting the Bugs Out of Tom Sawyer
John D. Evans
Make Connections How is the entomologist able to
correctly identify the insect in Tom’s bedroom that
makes a “ghastly ticking of a death watch in the
wall”?
The A dventur es of Tom Saw yer
47
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: We Are All One
Night was coming fast and with it the
cold. He rubbed his arms and hunted for
shelter. In the twilight, he thought he
could see the green tiles of a roof.
He stumbled through the growing
darkness until he reached a ruined
temple. Weeds grew through cracks in
the stones and most of the roof itself had
fallen in. Still, the ruins would provide
some protection.
As he started inside, he saw a
centipede with bright orange skin and
red tufts of fur along its back. Yellow
dots covered its sides like a dozen tiny
eyes. It was also rushing into the temple
as fast as it could, but there was a bird
swooping down toward it.
The old peddler waved his arms and
shouted, scaring the bird away. Then he
put down his palm in front of the insect.
“We are all one, you and I.” The many
feet tickled his skin as the centipede
climbed onto his hand.
Inside the temple, he gathered dried
leaves and found old sticks of wood and
soon he had a fire going. The peddler
even picked some fresh leaves for the
centipede from a bush near the temple
doorway.
“I may have to go hungry, but you
don’t have to, friend.”
Stretching out beside the fire, the old
peddler pillowed his head on his arms.
He was so tired that he soon fell asleep,
but even in his sleep he dreamed he was
still searching in the woods. Suddenly
he thought he heard footsteps near his
48
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
head. He woke instantly and looked
about, but he only saw the brightly
colored centipede.
“Was it you, friend?” The old peddler
chuckled and, lying down, he closed his
eyes again. “I must be getting nervous.”
“We are one, you and I,” a voice said
faintly—as if from a long distance. “If
you go south, you will find a pine tree
with two trunks. By its roots, you will
find a magic bead. A cousin of mine spat
on it years ago. Dissolve that bead in
wine and tell the rich man to drink it if
he wants to heal his eyes.”
The old peddler trembled when he
heard the voice, because he realized that
the centipede was magical. He wanted to
run from the temple, but he couldn’t
even get up. It was as if he were glued to
the floor.
But then the old peddler reasoned
with himself: If the centipede had
wanted to hurt me, he could have long
ago. Instead, it seems to want to help me.
So the old peddler stayed where he
was, but he did not dare open his eyes.
When the first sunlight fell through the
roof, he raised one eyelid cautiously.
There was no sigh of the centipede. He
sat up and looked around, but the
magical centipede was gone.
He followed the centipede’s
instructions when he left the temple.
Traveling south, he kept a sharp eye out
for the pine tree with two trunks. He
walked until late in the afternoon, but all
he saw were normal pine trees.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read with the literature selection at the
left, which is excerpted from “We Are All One” by Laurence Yep in
Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below. Provide details from
the selections to support your answers.
Compare & Contrast
1. Narrator and Point of View As you know, the point of view of a
literary work is the relationship of the narrator to the story. What are
some similarities between the narrators of “We Are All One” and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? What is an important difference
between them?
WRITE ABOUT IT
Using very different means, both
Tom Sawyer and the old peddler try
to find a way to make a fortune.
The peddler tries to win a particular
reward by solving a problem. Tom
Sawyer sets out to find his fortune
using only his desire and his
instincts. Which method do you
think is usually more effective?
Write a paragraph explaining your
response.
2. Description The authors of both works use imagery and descriptions of
the settings to convey not only a sense of place but also their attitudes
about the larger world. Explain, using examples.
3. Theme How would you relate the statement “We are all one” to the
people, places, and events depicted in Tom Sawyer’s small town of
St. Petersburg?
The A dventur es of Tom Saw yer
49
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Research Report
Investigate Setting The events of the novel take place in and around the
small town of St. Petersburg, in the pre–Civil War south. Although the
town, which is located along the banks of the Mississippi River, is fictional,
it is based on author Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. Using
multiple research sources, write a research report of 1,500 words on the
subject of Mississippi River towns and their function as centers of
commerce and transportation during the time period of the novel. Use at
least three sources, including at least one primary source.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• Primary sources are firsthand
accounts of an event, such as
diaries or eyewitness news
articles written at the time the
event took place.
• Secondary sources are sources
written by people who did not
influence or experience the
event.
Prewrite Make a list of questions to guide your research. For example:
•
•
•
•
What kinds of industry were most common in Mississippi River towns?
What were the people like there?
What was the climate like and how did that affect trade and industry?
What were some of the political and social issues people faced?
Look for the answers to these questions by checking secondary sources,
such as Web sites, encyclopedias, and books. Keep a detailed list of each
fact or quote you find—and its source. Then plan what you want your
report to say.
Draft Once you have selected the ideas you want to explore, create
a thesis statement that explains what you plan to say about your
chosen topic.
Example: Great changes took place in towns along the Mississippi
River during the 1820s as a result of new political policies and rapid
population expansion.
As you begin to write your report, continue to refer to your notes. Try to
present the information in the most logical and effective way possible.
Remember that graphics can help readers understand your topic more
clearly. You may wish to enhance your report with copies of old
photographs and historical documents.
Revise As you continue to refine your ideas, be on the lookout for areas
where your report might be over- or underwritten. Delete any facts or
ideas that do not support your thesis. Locate and incorporate any missing
facts or other information. Make sure you define any terms or regional
expressions that might be unfamiliar to your readers.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
50
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Grammar Tip
Parentheses
To document each fact, quote,
or idea you use in your report,
enclose in parentheses the
name of the author of your
source and the page number on
which you found the information:
The Mississippi River is the
second longest river in the
United States (Jenner, p. 14).
Catherine,
Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
C ather ine, C al l ed Bi rdy
51
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
“
The England of 1290 is a foreign country.
It would seem foreign even to people who
have been to England or live there now. . . .
Our ideas of individual identity, individual
accomplishments and rights, individual
effort and success did not exist. Family and
community and guild and country were
what mattered. No one was separate and
independent, even the king.
”
—Karen Cushman, Author’s Note to
Catherine, Called Birdy
As the novel begins, Catherine declares
that “What follows will be my book—the
book of Catherine, called Little Bird or
Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady
Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and
the abominable Robert, of the village of
Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln, in the
country of England, in the hands of God
. . . . The writing I learned of my brother
Edward, but the words are my own.”
Catherine identifies herself as a member
of a family and of a society, yet she
asserts that what follows will be
uniquely hers, the story of an individual.
Catherine, Called Birdy, Karen Cushman’s
first novel, is the product of years of
reading, researching, imagining, and
wondering. Cushman was inspired by
books about the Middle Ages, but not in
the usual way. Most of the books she had
52
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
read dealt with characters of great fame or
social stature. She wanted to explore the
lives of regular people who faced struggles
that were typical of the era in which they
lived. Thus, Catherine is the daughter of
a country knight who hopes to increase his
own wealth and status by arranging a
profitable marriage for Catherine.
A Strong Female Character Catherine,
like Cushman’s other protagonists, is
a strong female character who goes
through the coming-of-age process, facing
many of the challenges that teenagers of
all ages have faced—trying to become an
adult while at times still feeling like a
child, rebelling against the dictates of
parents and society, discovering a sense
of self and individuality. The author
herself can relate to her protagonist.
Cushman says that there have been times
in her life when she, like Catherine, has
felt trapped in a way of life. When she
was around ten years old, her family
moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. The
1950s were not the freest time for a girl
who was a little different—“bookish and
shy” with a rich imagination. She recalls
that it took her a long time to figure out
what she wanted. Once she knew, like
Catherine, she realized that she might not
be able to achieve it.
Over the course of a year, Catherine
challenges established modes of
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
thinking, questions widely-held
assumptions and beliefs, and learns
a great deal about herself in an effort
to find a way to function and find
happiness in medieval society.
Feudalism Social and economic
conditions in thirteenth-century England
were much different than they are now.
The economy was based on a system of
feudalism, which originated as an
economic arrangement designed to
address military problems. A man
would attach himself to someone
superior to him in rank and, in return
for a grant of land, would promise
military service. By the thirteenth
century, country knights, such as Lord
Rollo of Catherine, Called Birdy, were no
longer expected to bear arms and thus
granted the use of their lands in
exchange for rents (money or goods).
These knights usually held lands that
belonged to a single neighborhood and
managed their holdings from the manor
house, a structure that was something
like a small castle or a large farmstead.
Marriage During the Middle Ages
Marriage was an issue of great
importance during the Middle Ages.
Villagers, who might marry for love or
romantic attachment, enjoyed more
freedom than those who were of the
nobility. Women like Catherine, whose
fathers held lands and titles, were treated
as their fathers’ property and were given
in marriage to the man who offered the
greatest economic and social benefit to
the family. Thus, Catherine’s father
admonishes her not to discourage
various suitors as he attempts to
negotiate a marriage contract. Catherine
and other young women in the novel
face issues that women of their time
typically faced.
Saints and Legends
In Catherine, Called Birdy,
Catherine is named for
St. Catherine of Alexandria, a
legendary saint and martyr of
the fourth century who was
an extremely learned young
woman of noble birth. She is
the patron saint of philosophers
and scholars.
Edward, for example, was the
son of King Ethelred III. He
become a pious ruler and built
St. Peter’s Abbey at Westminster.
St. George is the patron saint of
England. Legends portray him as
a warrior-saint who slew a
dragon, and he is often depicted
as a knight in armor.
Other characters in the novel,
such as Edward and George, are
also named for saints. St.
Though they naturally fall short
of the legends, in many ways
the characters in Catherine,
Called Birdy resemble the saints
for whom they are named—
Catherine is learned and
considers herself a martyr to
her father’s cause, Edward is
religious and is training to
become a monk, and George is
a returned crusader.
C ather ine, C al l ed Bi rdy
53
MEET THE AUTHOR
Karen Cushman (1941– )
“
People ask me why I write books for
young people, and when I grow up will I
write for adults. I write about topics and
issues that concern me, and they are issues
that concern many other people, of all
ages.
”
—Karen Cushman, Bookcase,
November 1995
Karen Cushman, who began her writing
career at age 50, considers herself a late
bloomer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she
grew up loving books, often visiting the
public library.
Research, Research, Research Cushman’s
books are products of extensive research.
Some of the source materials she uses
include books about aspects of everyday
life, such as clothing, manners, and foods,
as well as primary sources, or first-hand
accounts, such as letters, journals, and
personal papers. One of her goals is to
make her characters seem real so that
readers can experience strange and exotic
places through their stories.
While growing up, Cushman attended
Catholic school, and she draws on this
background for her books about the
Middle Ages. She earned degrees in
Greek and English, and master’s degrees
in human behavior and museum studies.
Her Career Catherine, Called Birdy,
published in 1994, was an immediate
success and was recognized as a Newbery
Honor Book. Her second book, The
Midwife’s Apprentice, earned the prestigious
Newbery Medal. Cushman has continued
to write historical fiction; her other titles
include The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (1996),
set during the California gold rush, and
Matilda Bone (2000), in which Cushman
returns to medieval England.
Ordinary People Many of the books that
Cushman read as a child told stories of
kings and queens or great generals and
presidents. In her own writing, she prefers
to focus on the lives of ordinary young
people from other times. In Catherine,
Called Birdy, she explores the possibilities
of what a young woman might do in a
situation that she cannot control.
Cushman’s works have been recognized
by numerous organizations, including
the American Library Association and
School Library Journal. Cushman plans to
continue researching and writing about
the everyday lives of characters in
remote times and places and to present
to her readers lively characters who must
overcome realistic challenges.
54
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BEFORE YOU READ: September–December
Connect to the Literature
Recall a time when you (or someone you know) felt pressured to do
something you didn’t want to. How did you feel? What was your reaction?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Write a Journal Entry
Sometimes social customs or traditions suggest that people think or
behave in ways that may conflict with their personal feelings or wishes. In
your journal, explore some of your thoughts or beliefs that may be contrary
to what most of society thinks.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Class and Privilege in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, the majority of people lived in simple huts, but
Catherine’s family lives in a manor house. Manor houses were usually a
collection of buildings. They included the family’s living quarters as well as
other buildings such as stables for the horses; a gatehouse; a privy, or
outhouse; and a cowshed. In this novel, Catherine spends much of her
time in the solar, a large room in the family’s living quarters. It is a
combination of living room and bedroom that serves as a private retreat
for the family members. Catherine spends some of her time in the solar
spinning, or twisting yarn into fiber or thread. All cloth was handmade at
this time, and even someone of Catherine’s class had to work to make it.
Although the conditions at the manor house may not seem all that
appealing to a modern reader, they were actually quite comfortable by the
standards of the time. The only thing better was a castle, which reflected
an even higher status in society.
Another sign of Catherine’s privileged status is her use of paper. Paper
was not widely used during the Middle Ages, and the printing press was
not developed until the mid-fifteenth century. Consequently, most
documents produced during the Middle Ages were painstakingly written
or copied by hand onto a substance called vellum or parchment, which
was made from the skins of cattle, sheep or goats. This thick, precious
paper was used by the rich, the powerful, and—as in the case of the
monks Catherine visits—the religious elite.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
55
BEFORE YOU READ: September–December
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question Why Do You Read?
How big a role does reading play in your life? Think about it. You probably
read many times throughout the day. As you read this novel, think about
how reading helps you understand different people, times, and places.
Literary Element Conflict
Conflict is the central struggle between opposing forces in a story. An
external conflict is the struggle of a character against an outside force,
such as nature, society, fate, or another character. An internal conflict
takes place within a character’s mind. For example, he or she might have
to make a difficult choice.
The events in most stories revolve around conflict. As a reader, you can
learn a lot about life by seeing how people and characters confront and
resolve conflicts.
As you read, ask yourself, what internal and external conflicts does
Catherine face? Use the graphic organizer on the following page to help
you record the information.
Reading Strategy Evaluate Characterization
Characterization refers to the methods that an author uses to develop
the personality of characters. When authors tell you exactly what a
character is like, it is called direct characterization. When authors show
a character’s personality through his or her words and actions and
through what other characters think and say about him or her, it is called
indirect characterization. When you evaluate characterization, you think
critically about the details the author used to reveal character.
Vocabulary
betrothal [bi trō thəl] n.
a promise or a contract for a
future marriage
The king announced the betrothal
of his daughter to the prince.
docile [dos əl] adj. easily led or
managed
Because Tim was docile, he did
what he was told.
dowry [dour ē ] n. money or
property that a woman brings to
her husband in marriage
The dowry included a sheep
pasture, household goods, and
money.
impudence [im pyə dəns] n.
disregard for others; willful
disobedience
Making insults and other
impudence caused people to
dislike T ina.
swagger [swa ər] v. to act
superior or overwhelmingly selfconfident
Full of confidence, Elena would
swagger as she walked down
the hall.
Evaluating characterization will help you to deepen your appreciation both
of characters and of the author’s technique.
To evaluate characterization in this novel, ask yourself how Catherine’s
conflict with society helps reveal who she is. You may find it helpful to
use a graphic organizer like the one at the right.
56
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
“What
Catherine
Wants.”
“What Others
Want.”
ACTIV E READING: September–December
Catherine’s conflict with society is revealed through
the customs and issues that she does not
understand or with which she does not agree.
Through her experiences and analyses of her
culture, she develops independent opinions as she
Social Issue
matures and learns about herself. Some of her
ideas seem valid; others seem naïve. Use the
organizer below to chart the ways in which
Catherine’s opinions differ from those generally
held by her parents and society.
Society’s View
behavior of young ladies
Catherine’s View
Lady-tasks are pointless. If
ladies can “pick maggots
from the salt meat,” why
can’t they climb trees or
throw stones in the river?
Crusades
treatment of Jewish people
privacy
marriage
Marriage is a business
arrangement. A daughter
must marry according to
her father’s wishes.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
57
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Conflict Name the external
conflicts that Catherine writes
about.
NOVEL EXCERPT: SEPTEMBER
12th day of September
I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am
bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say.
13th day of September
My father must suffer from ale head this day, for he
cracked me twice before dinner instead of once. I hope his
angry liver bursts.
14th day of September
Tangled my spinning again. Corpus bones, what a torture.
15th day of September
Today the sun shone and the villagers sowed hay,
gathered apples, and pulled fish from the stream. I,
trapped inside, spent two hours embroidering a cloth for
the church and three hours picking out my stitches after
my mother saw it. I wish I were a villager.
16th day of September
Spinning. Tangled.
17th day of September
Untangled.
18th day of September
If my brother Edward thinks that writing this account of
my days will help me grow less childish and more learned,
he will have to write it. I will do this no longer. And I will
not spin. And I will not eat. Less childish indeed.
19th day of September
I am delivered! My mother and I have made a bargain.
I may forgo spinning as long as I write this account for
Edward. My mother is not much for writing but has it in
her heart to please Edward, especially now he is gone to be
a monk, and I would do worse things to escape the foolish
boredom of spinning. So I will write.
58
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
What follows will be my book—the book of Catherine,
called Little Bird or Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady
Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and the abominable
Robert, of the village of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln,
in the country of England, in the hands of God. Begun this
19th day of September in the year of Our Lord 1290, the
fourteenth year of my life. The skins are my father’s, left
over from the household accounts, and the ink also. The
writing I learned of my brother Edward, but the words
are my own.
Picked off twenty-nine fleas today.
Literary Element
Conflict Does Catherine appear to
have any internal conflict here?
Explain.
20th day of September
Today I chased a rat about the hall with a broom and set
the broom afire, ruined my embroidery, threw it in the
privy, ate too much for dinner, hid in the barn and sulked,
teased the littlest kitchen boy until he cried, turned the
mattresses, took the linen outside for airing, hid from
Morwenna and her endless chores, ate supper, brought in
the forgotten linen now wet with dew, endured scolding
and slapping from Morwenna, pinched Perkin, and went
to bed. And having writ this, Edward, I feel no less
childish or more learned than I was.
21st day of September
Something is astir. I can feel my father’s eyes following
me about the hall, regarding me as he would a new
warhorse or a bull bought for breeding. I am surprised that
he has not asked to examine my hooves.
And he asks me questions, the beast who never speaks
to me except with the flat of his hand to my cheek or my
rump.
This morning: “Exactly how old are you, daughter?”
This forenoon: “Have you all your teeth?”
“Is your breath sweet or foul?”
“Are you a good eater?”
“What color is your hair when it is clean?”
Before supper: “How are your sewing and your bowels
and your conversation?”
What is brewing here?
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
59
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Evaluate Characterization
What methods of indirect
characterization are used here?
How well do they show Catherine’s
conflict with society? Support your
evaluation with evidence.
NOVEL EXCERPT: DECEMBER
9th day of December, Feast of Saint Wolfeius, first hermit
in Norfolk
God’s knees! A person can only wear one gown and one
kirtle at a time, so why are my mother and her ladies
making such a fuss about my covering the bird cages with
their spare ones! I cannot believe they would want my
poor birds to freeze to death.
I will have plenty of time to think on this, for I am
imprisoned in the solar, brushing feathers and seed and
bird dung off of what seems enough clothing for the
French army. I see no deliverance. Perkin is busy with his
grandmother. Aelis is in London with the king. George and
Thomas are from home much these days, riding and
drinking and amusing other people and not me. God’s
knees, I might as well be an orphan. . . .
14th day of December, Feast of Saint Hybald, abbot of our
own Lincolnshire. I wonder if he is a relative
I am in disgrace today. Grown quite weary with my
embroidery, with my pricked fingers and tired eyes and
sore back, I kicked it down the stairs to the hall, where the
dogs fought and slobbered over it, so I took the soggy
mess and threw it to the pigs.
Morwenna grabbed me by the ear and pinched my face.
My mother gave me a gentle but stern lecture about
behaving like a lady. Ladies, it seems, seldom have strong
feelings and, if they do, never never let them show. God’s
thumbs! I always have strong feelings and they are quite
painful until I let them out, like a cow who needs to give
milk and bellows with the pain in her teats. So I am in
disgrace in my chamber. I pray Morwenna never discovers
that being enchambered is no punishment for me. She
would find some new torture, like sending me to listen to
the ladies in the solar.
15th day of December, Feast of Saint Offa, king of the East
Saxons, who left his wife, his lands, his family, and his country
to become a monk in Rome and die
60
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
I was seated at dinner this day with a visitor from Kent,
another clodpole in search of a wife. This one was friendly
and good-tempered, and had all his teeth and hair. But he
did not compare with George or Perkin, so I would have
none of him. Our talk at dinner went like this:
“Do you enjoy riding, Lady Catherine?”
“Mmph.”
“Could we perhaps ride together while I am here?”
“Pfgh.”
“I understand you read Latin. I admire learned women
when they are also beautiful.”
“Urgh.”
“Mayhap you could show me about the manor after
dinner.”
“Grmph.”
So it went until I conceived my plan, after realizing that
the only thing my father would want more than a rich
son-in-law is not to part with one of his pennies or acres
or bushels of onions. So I grew quite lively and talkative,
bubbling with praise for our chests of treasure and untold
acres and countless tenants and hoards of silver and for the
modesty that prompted my father to hide his wealth and
appear as a mere country knight. My suitor’s eyes, which
had already rested kindly on me, caught fire, and he fairly
flew over the rushes to talk with my father in the solar.
The storm I expected was not long in coming. Poor Fire
Eyes tumbled down the stairs from the solar, hands over
his head, and rolled across the hall floor to the door and
out while my father bellowed from above, “Dowry!
Manors! Treasure! You want me to pay you to take the girl?
Dowry? I’ll give you her dowry!”
And as the comely young man ran across the yard on
his way to the stable and freedom, a brimming chamber
pot came flying from the solar window and landed on his
head. Farewell, suitor. Benedicite.
Even now as I pity the young man in his spoiled tunic,
I must smile to think of my dowry. No other maiden in
England has one like it.
Reading Strategy
Evaluate Characterization
What methods of indirect
characterization are used in these
two diary entries? How well do they
show Catherine’s conflict with
society? Support your evaluation
with evidence.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
61
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Do You Read? How does the
information on this page help you
understand the world in which
Catherine lives?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
62
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: OCTOBER
1st day of October
My father’s clerk suffers today from an inflammation of
his eyes, caused, no doubt, by his spying on our serving
maids as they wash under their arms at the millpond. I did
not have the mother’s milk necessary for an ointment for
the eyes, so I used garlic and goose fat left from doctoring
Morwenna’s boils yesterweek. No matter how he bellowed,
it will do him no harm.
I can stand no more of lady-tasks, endless mindless
sewing, hemming, brewing, doctoring, and counting linen!
Why is a lady too gentle to climb a tree or throw stones
into the river when it is lady’s work to pick maggots from
the salt meat? Why must I learn to walk with a lady’s tiny
steps one day and sweat over great steaming kettles of
dung and nettle for remedies the next? Why must the lady
of the manor do all the least lovable tasks? I’d rather be
the pig boy.
3rd day of October
There are Jews in our hall tonight! On their way to
London, they sought shelter from the rain. My father being
away, my mother let them in. She is not afraid of Jews, but
the cook and the kitchen boys have all fled to the barn, so
no one will have supper tonight. I plan to hide in the
shadows of the hall in order to see their horns and tails.
Wait until Perkin hears of this.
The hour of vespers, later this day: Bones! The Jews
have no horns and no tails, just wet clothes and ragged
children. They are leaving England by order of the king,
who says Jews are Hell-born, wicked, and dangerous. He
must know some others than the scared and scrawny ones
who are here this night.
I hid in the hall to watch them, hoping to see them talk
to the Devil or perform evil deeds. But the men just drank
and sang and argued and waved their arms about while
the women chattered among themselves. Much like
Christians. The children mostly snuffled and whined until
one woman with a face like a withered apple gathered
them about her. . . .
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
63
AFTER YOU READ: September–December
Respond and Think Critically
1. What sort of lady-tasks must Catherine master as a young lady in
medieval society? How does she protest against learning these skills?
[Paraphrase]
2. What are Catherine’s ideas about the Crusades? Why does George
laugh at Catherine’s ideas? [Analyze]
3. What are some of Catherine’s major character traits, or distinguishing
qualities? In what ways or circumstances does Catherine reveal these
traits? [Interpret]
4. Describe Catherine’s responses to the demands placed on her by her
family and by society. Are her reactions reasonable and justified? Why
or why not? In what ways do your own experiences help you relate to
Catherine? [Evaluate]
5. Why Do You Read? What main ideas have you learned about the place
where Catherine lives—an English manor in 1290? [Synthesize]
64
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on pages 52–53. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: September–December
Literary Element Conflict
1. Catherine is in conflict with her father and with
brother Robert. Why? Do you think her father and
Robert think the conflict is as great as Catherine
thinks it is? [Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
Respond to these questions.
1. Whom would you expect a betrothal to involve—two
merchants or two young people?
2. Which would you expect to be more docile—a bull or
a sheep?
3. What would you expect to do with a dowry—spend
and trade it, or eat and drink it?
2. What qualities does Catherine have that cause
her to be in conflict with her world? Explain why
each quality causes conflict. [Synthesize]
4. How would you expect to respond to impudence—with
a smile or a frown?
5. Whom would you expect to swagger—a proud
politician or a humble servant?
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy Evaluate Characterization
Is most of the characterization in this novel direct or
indirect? Explain, using evidence from the novel.
[Conclude]
One of Catherine’s principal occupations is the chore of
spinning yarn or thread. In the preceding sentence, principal
means “main or major.” Think about a principal use you
make of your time. Explain why it takes up so much of your
time.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: S eptem ber–D ecember
65
AFTER YOU READ: September–December
Writing
Connect to Content Areas
Write a Song
Science
Catherine enjoys making up songs. What kind of
song do you think she might write about herself and
her situation? Write the song for her. If you want,
set it to a popular tune.
Assignment Catherine uses different plants and
other natural substances to treat various ailments
and complaints. Find out whether any of these
remedies was actually effective, and whether any
are still in use today.
Jot down some ideas here first.
Investigate Follow these steps:
✔ Make a list of substances Catherine uses to treat
illnesses or complaints.
✔ Locate reliable sources of information about
herbal and medieval medicine. Try a variety of
search terms in a library catalog or search
engine. A reference librarian may also be able to
recommend reference works with information on
herbal and other natural remedies.
✔ Research the substances on your list to learn
about them and their effectiveness in treating
ailments.
Create Make an illustrated list, chart, or poster
showing and explaining the remedies. Note
which ones are still in use and what they are
used for today.
Report Display your list, chart, or poster and
explain what it shows. Be sure to explain any
technical or scientific terms you use.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
BEFORE YOU READ: Januar y–April
Connect to the Literature
Think of someone you especially like or admire. What qualities about this
person appeal to you?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Make a Web
Create a web listing the positive qualities of a close friend or someone you
admire. Think about why these qualities are especially important to you.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
Feasts in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, holidays and the seasons of the year were
marked by feasts, vacations from work, and then more feasts to celebrate
the resumption of work. The most important holidays were Christmas, a
celebration that lasted for nearly two weeks, and Easter. As part of the
Christmas festivities, groups of masked pantomimists, called mummers,
visited different homes to dance and present plays. Christmas marked the
end of winter, and Hocktide, a festival at the end of Easter week, marked
the beginning of summer. Lammas (August 1) ushered in the harvest
season. Most holidays were celebrated with food, entertainment, games,
and general merriment.
In Catherine’s diary, almost every day is a feast day. Only some feast days
were days of celebration, however. Most were simply days on which a
particular saint was remembered or commemorated.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
67
BEFORE YOU READ: Januar y–April
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Why Do You Read?
As you read, ask yourself, what do you know about the customs and beliefs
of English people in 1290? What can you learn about them from a novel?
Literary Element Text Structure
Text structure is the way an author organizes information in a text. One
way that authors structure information is in chronological order, or time
order. When authors organize information in chronological order, they tell
about events in the order in which they occurred. To recognize the order
of events, look for time-order words and phrases such as first, next, then,
later, and finally. Dates can also help you recognize chronological order.
Identifying the order of events is important because it helps you recognize
how one event leads to another to create a sequence. It also helps you
find and recall key ideas and events. The structure of a diary allows you to
understand what happened on a specific day or at a certain time.
As you read, pay attention to the sequence of events in Catherine’s life.
Look for time-order words and dates to understand how one event relates
to another. Use the graphic organizer on the following page to list events
in each column in time order.
Reading Strategy Make Predictions About Plot
When you make predictions, you make careful guesses about what will
happen next in a story. You think about the events and details you’ve read
so far, along with what you already know from your own experiences, to
make a prediction.
Making predictions helps you become a more involved
reader. It’s okay if your predictions turn out to be incorrect.
You predict to get involved in the story and to follow the
story’s twists.
To make predictions about plot, the events of a story,
• pay attention to descriptions of the characters
• take note of what the characters say and do
• look for details about the time and place in which the
story occurs
• think about what you already know about the subject of
the story
• guess what will happen next
As you read, you may find it helpful to use a graphic
organizer like the one at the right.
68
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Novel
Information
blight [bl¯ t] v. to frustrate plans
or hopes; to destroy
My injuries blight my hopes for
breaking a record this season.
chide [ch¯ d] v. to scold or
reprove
In a firm voice, the parents chide
their child for her messy room.
closeted [kloz i tid] adj.
secluded; working or meeting in
private
The managers are closeted in
the office, deciding on next
year’s budget.
moderate [mod ər it] adj. calm;
avoiding extremes of behavior
Amy is a moderate person who
does not get angry easily.
odious [ō dē əs] adj. exciting
strong dislike or repugnance
No one wanted to go near the
odious dog with its strange skin
disease.
My
Prediction
Was My
Prediction
Correct?
ACT IVE READING: Januar y–April
While many events in this section of the novel
are humorous, many are tragic, revealing some
of the tremendous difficulties faced by people
who lived during the Middle Ages. In fact,
Catherine often dreams of pursuing romantic
adventures in order to escape the realities of
Positive or Humorous Event
End-of-holiday celebrations, feasting,
games, plays
medieval life. To get an overview of the ups and
downs of daily life in the thirteenth century, use
the chart below to record both positive and
negative events that occur in this section of the
novel. Record the events in each column in
chronological order.
Negative or Tragic Event
Aelis marries a seven-year-old boy.
George marries a rich widow and is unhappy.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
69
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Text Structure How does the diary
format show chronological order?
NOVEL EXCERPT: JANUARY
1st day of January, Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord.
Seventh day of Christmas
Perkin wants me to teach him to read. He dreams of
being a scholar but most likely will just be a goat boy who
can read. My Latin is none so good—I wish Edward were
here to help. But Edward is not here, and Robert and
Thomas cannot read or write. Robert can barely talk. Too
bad Perkin doesn’t want to learn how to skewer an enemy
on a sword or tumble a laundress in the barn.
2nd day of January, Feast of Saint Abel the Patriarch, son
of Adam killed by his brother Cain. Eighth day of Christmas
New snow today. We had a snowball fight and everyone
joined in. Even my lady mother was giddy and gay,
laughing and blushing and acting much like a girl
although she must be over thirty. William Steward grew
smitten and made flowery speeches to her, but we put
snow down his pants to cool his passion.
3rd day of january, Feast of Saint Genevieve, who through
fasting and praying kept Attila the Hun from Paris. Ninth day
of Christmas
My head aches from the cold, the smoke, and the noise
of too many people drinking too much ale. At supper,
grown angry with the puppies nipping at my food, I swept
them off the table onto the floor. Later in remorse I
smuggled them all into my bed for the night. Good thing
Morwenna sleeps heavy and never knows what she has
been sleeping with until morning.
4th day of january, Feast of Saints Aquilinus, Geminus,
Eugenius, Marcianus, Quinctus, Theodotus, and Tryphon,
a band of martyrs put to death in Africa by the king of the
Vandals. Tenth day of Christmas
The eels in their tub in the kitchen froze last night, so
we had an eel feast for dinner and eel pie for supper. I fear
more eels with our breakfast bread and ale tomorrow.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
5th day of january, Feast of Saint Simeon Stylites, who lived
for thirty-seven years atop a pillar, praising God. Eleventh
day of Christmas
I will not be sorry to see the Christmas days end, for I
have been spending excessive time curing other people’s
ale head, putrid stomach, and various wounds, cuts, and
bruises sustained in drunken fights. I have near run out of
mustard seed and boiled snake.
Literary Element
Text Structure What signal words
and phrases in this excerpt indicate
time order?
6th day of january, Feast of the Epiphany. Twelfth day
of Christmas
The end of Christmas. Mayhap I will soon have my
chamber and my bed to share with only the usual residents.
At dinner today my mother found the bean in her
Twelfth Cake and chose my father to be king. I found the
pea and was queen. My father and I had to sit next each
other for the mumming and lead the dancing and eat
together at supper. I could hardly swallow from being so
near the beast for so long. I wish I had just eaten the pea
and told no one . . . .
13th day of January, Feast of Saint Kentigern, called Mungo,
grandson of a British prince
It appears the curse has worked. George returned last
night from York to say that Aelis has been married to the
seven-year-old duke of Warrington. After the ceremony, the
duke had an attack of putrid throat and had to go home to
his mother to be nursed. His new wife remains at court.
I am sorry that Aelis was sold at auction to the highest
bidder like a horse at a horse fair, but I am gladdened to
have my uncle George back.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
71
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot What
prediction might you make about
Robert’s actions in the future?
72
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: FEBRUARY
26th day of February, Feast of Saint Ethelbert of Kent, first
English king to become a Christian . . .
The wedding feast still rollicks below, but I have had
my fill of merriment and have escaped to my chamber to
write this account of the day’s events.
The morning started out gray and drizzly, with a mist
that wet our faces and our clothes and made the rushlights
hard to fire, a poor omen for a wedding. We dressed the
bride in her second-best gown (Morwenna let the seams out)
and on her hair put a small veil held with a golden band.
The musicians came at dawn, yawning and scratching,
smelling of the sour wine they had drunk half the night.
On bagpipe and crumhorn they played us to the church.
Robert and his bride exchanged vows at the church door
and we all went inside for Mass, a lengthy affair with
priest droning and candles hissing and flickering. The
loudest sound was the musicians snoring. I think Robert
fell asleep himself but was jostled awake by my father’s
sharp elbow.
I watched the early morning light pass over and
through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of
red and green and yellow on the stone floor. When I was
little, I used to try to capture the colored light. I thought I
could hold it in my hand and carry it home. Now I know it
is like happiness—it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it
or keep it.
We walked back to the manor for the ale feast,
showering the bride with rose petals, the musicians
playing and tomfooling. Gerd the miller’s son fell into the
river as we crossed, but Robert waded in and pulled him
out so his wedding day would not be ruined. . . .
I was partnered for the feast with an ugly shaggybearded hulk from the north. My father sought to honor
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
him because his manor lies next to my mother’s, and my
father lusts after it. I fail to see how sitting next to me and
sharing my bowl and goblet honored him—and it certainly
did me no good. The man was a pig, which dishonors pigs.
He blew his red and shiny nose on the table linen, sneezed
on the meat, picked his teeth with his knife, and left wet
greasy marks where he drank from the cup we shared. I
could not bring myself to put my lips to the slimy rim, so
endured a dinner without wine. . . .
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot
Based on what you have read and
what you already know, make a
prediction about whether Catherine
will “learn to like it.” Use evidence
from the novel to support your
prediction.
27th day of February, Shrove Tuesday and the Feast of Saint
Alnoth, serf and cowherd
Today my father questioned me about the bearded pig.
I said he affected my stomach like maggoty meat and my
father laughed and said, “Learn to like it.”
It bodes not well. Shaggy Beard has a son, Stephen,
whom he spoke of with loathing, calling him “Sir Priest,”
“the clerk,” and “the girl,” because the boy thinks and
bathes and does not fart at Mass. I fear they are planning a
match between me and Stephen. I will not. To be part of
Shaggy Beard’s family and have to eat with him every day!
If my father does not drive him away, I will, as I have done
the others.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
73
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Do You Read? What did you
find out about English beliefs and
customs in 1290?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
74
N OV E L C OMPA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: APRIL
12th day of April, Maundy Thursday and the Feast of Saint
Zeno of Verona, who liked to fish
Today we began to read of the Passion and death of Our
Lord. It is a sad and tragic story and I do not sleep through
it but watch it in my mind like a play unfolding. I picture
Jesus like my uncle George, and my mother as His blessed
mother. The evil Judas in my mind looks like the miller,
scrawny and scowling and mean. Herod is my father, and
Pontius Pilate that Sir Lack-Wit who was once my suitor.
The apostles look like our villagers except for Saint Peter,
who is Morwenna in leggings and a tunic. Saint Peter seems
so human and unlike a saint. I think he may be my favorite,
although Saint John is as beautiful as summer—or Geoffrey.
13th day of April, Good Friday and the Feast of Saints Carpus,
Papylus, and Agathonice, scraped with claws and burned to death
This sad holy day we spent in church, marking the
death of Our Lord. I wore my second-best kirtle so I would
not ruin my best as we crept on the floor toward the altar.
I don’t know if that is fair to God but I do not believe He
wants me to ruin the only good kirtle I own. I believe He
likes me to look my best when I hear Mass.
14th day of April, Holy Saturday and the Feast of Saint
Caradoc, a Welsh harper who lost his prince’s greyhounds
and so became a monk
My mother was not with us for the procession of Our
Lord’s coffin around the church. Being tortured with
headaches and the bulk of the growing babe, she stayed
abed with a tonic I made her of chamomile and honey. Her
discomfort discomforts me.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write any questions you have about
the novel. Do you have to go to an
outside source to find the answers?
Recap
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
75
AFTER YOU READ: Januar y–April
Respond and Think Critically
1. What are Catherine’s fantasies about Madame Joanna, the king’s
cousin? How does Madame Joanna react when Catherine tells her
about these fantasies? [Interpret]
2. Who is Shaggy Beard? Why does Catherine dislike him so much? [Infer]
3. This section of the novel marks the transition from winter to spring.
How do events in this section parallel the change of season? Does
Catherine’s life also parallel the movement from winter to spring? Why
or why not? [Conclude]
4. Which of Catherine’s qualities do you like or admire? Why do you
admire these qualities? [Evaluate]
5. Why Do You Read? What do the people of Catherine’s time and place
appear to value most? [Conclude]
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N OV E L C OM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
67. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Januar y–April
Literary Element Text Structure
1. How does the text structure of this novel help
you understand small details of life in the Middle
Ages? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the
same meaning as another word. Match each boldfaced
vocabulary word below with its synonym. Use a
thesaurus or dictionary to check your answers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
blight
chide
closeted
moderate
odious
2. Tell how at least one event that occurred
between January and the end of April led to
another. [Analyze]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
calm
diminish
hateful
further
secluded
scold
destroy
Academic Vocabulary
Catherine often writes about her individual needs and
concerns. To become more familiar with the word individual,
fill out the graphic organizer below.
definition
synonyms
Reading Strategy Make Predictions
About Plot
1. Tell whether you think Catherine will marry
before the novel ends. Cite evidence from the
novel to support your prediction. [Apply]
2. Tell what else you think is going to happen in the
final section of this novel. Cite evidence from the
novel to support your prediction. [Apply]
individual
antonym
sentence/image
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: January–Apri l
77
AFTER YOU READ: Januar y–April
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response What is your opinion of
Speech
Catherine at this point in the novel? Can you relate
to her in any way? Why or why not?
Assignment In Catherine’s world, many people
made arranged marriages as a matter of survival or
economic benefit. Even though some of these
marriages led to great personal unhappiness, they
were a way of life. Give a persuasive speech in
which you urge the people of Catherine’s time to
accept arranged marriage.
Prepare List as many reasons as you can to
support the opinion; then select the best ones.
Outline your speech, beginning with a hook to
engage your audience. Follow with a clear
statement of your opinion. Then list your reasons in
order from most important to least important, or vice
versa. Use examples and ideas from Catherine,
Called Birdy to explain your reasons.
Deliver Make eye contact with your audience.
Speak loudly and clearly so they can understand
you. Maintain good posture to reflect confidence.
Use gestures as appropriate, and be sure your tone
and movements engage your audience.
Evaluate Evaluate your speech by providing
examples of and rating how well you met each of
the criteria below.
Criterion
Example
My Rating
Nonverbal • Made eye
Good to
Techniques contact after
Excellent
stating my thesis
and each main
reason
• Used gestures to
show first, second,
and third most
important reasons
Verbal
Techniques
Content
and Clarity
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
BEFORE YOU READ: May–September
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Connect to the Literature
How do you feel when you make personal sacrifices for others?
Quickwrite
Think of a time when you made a sacrifice for the benefit of someone else.
Was it difficult? What were your feelings? Write a paragraph describing
your experience, your emotions, and the feelings of the person you helped.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Medicine in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, childbirth was very hazardous to both mother and
baby, and one or both often died. Most babies were not delivered by
doctors but by midwives, women who made a profession of assisting in
childbirth. Though the midwife made some efforts at medical treatment,
she also followed superstitious rituals, especially during a difficult
delivery. For example, midwives might order servants to open all doors,
drawers, and cupboards in the house as well as to untie all knots. This
ritual was supposed to help speed the delivery of the baby. In Catherine,
Called Birdy, as Catherine’s mother struggles to deliver her baby,
Catherine “untied all the knots and unstopped all the jugs in the manor,”
but to no immediate avail.
In this section of the novel, Catherine begins to create an herbal, a book of
remedies in which she draws various herbs and describes their uses in
curing a range of ailments. Medieval cures went well beyond the use of
single herbs and included various tonics and poultices. Tonics are
medicines or potions that invigorate, restore, or refresh. Poultices are
heated substances applied to a cut, wound, or sore. Ingredients for tonics
included various kinds of organic matter ranging from fish bones to human
nail trimmings. In this section, the physician recommends a poultice of
raven manure as a cure for toothache.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
79
BEFORE YOU READ: May–September
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question Why Do You Read?
As you read, ask yourself, how can reading a story about people in the
Middle Ages help you learn about your world?
Literary Element Diction
Diction refers to the author’s choice of words. A writer chooses some
words for their denotation, or exact meaning in the dictionary, and others
for their connotations, or feelings associated with the word. Word choice
can help an author present his or her bias, or inclination toward a
particular attitude or opinion.
Diction is important because a writer’s diction helps pull a reader into the
writing. The words help influence how the reader feels about the
characters, events, and issues of the time and place.
As you read, think about the words author Karen Cushman chooses. Ask
yourself the following questions: What feelings do they arouse in you?
How do they show the author’s bias? Why?
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and-Effect Relationships
In a cause-and-effect relationship, one event or action causes another
event or action. For example, a character does something wrong (cause)
and then feels guilty about what he or she did (effect). The character may
then try to correct the wrong that was done (a new effect caused by the
character’s feeling of guilt).
Identifying cause-and-effect relationships helps readers understand the
reasons why events happen and why characters act in certain ways. Use
the graphic organizer on the following page to help you understand the
changes that Catherine undergoes.
To identify other cause-and-effect relationships,
• think about the connection between events or actions and the resulting
outcomes
• ask yourself why things happen in the story and how events affect
characters
• look for words, such as because, so, since, if . . . then, and as a result
of, that signal cause and effect.
As you read, you may want to also use a graphic organizer like the one at
the right and on the next page to keep track of cause-and-effect
relationships.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Vocabulary
cajole [kə jōl] v. to persuade
with gentle urging
If we can’t cajole you into action,
we may force you into it.
desolate [des ə lit] adj. joyless;
sorrowful
The house was desolate with all
the owners and their things gone.
harrowing [har ō in] adj.
distressing; tormenting
Harrowing thoughts of having
hurt her sister filled Mei’s head.
relics [rel iks] n. objects valued
for their associations with saints
or martyrs
People at the church kissed the
relics and prayed to the saints.
unlettered [un let ərd] adj.
lacking in knowledge to be
gained from books; illiterate
The unlettered woman could not
write her name.
Cause
Catherine feels pity
for the bear.
Effect/New Cause
Effect/New Cause
ACTIVE READING: May–September
In this section of the novel, Catherine becomes less
selfish and more caring. As you read, use the
diagram below to keep track of Catherine’s acts of
kindness and their effects—particularly how
performing these acts affects her feelings.
helps an ant—feels as if
she has saved the world
Catherine’s
acts of kindness
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
81
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Diction Write two words in these
entries for June that you think were
chosen for their denotation and two
that were chosen for their
connotation. Explain your choices.
NOVEL EXCERPT: JUNE
20th day of June, Feast of Saint Alban, beheaded by a soldier
whose eyes then fell out. Saint Alban is buried near here. At
Saint Albans
We returned in the midst of furious housecleaning. The
courtyard and the orchard were bedecked with wet linen,
hanging from ropes and walls and trees, while kettles
bubbled with strong-smelling soapy water. Tonight my
body will rejoice—clean linen!
Home can never match the excitement of Lincoln, but
I was happy to see my mother again. She is well and the
babe she carries too, God save us all.
21st day of June, Feast of Saint Leufred, forty-eight years
an abbot
Old Tam, the father of Meg from the dairy, finally has
three pigs, so Meg will marry Thomas Baker’s oldest son,
Alf, as soon as they have a cottage. Alf is puny and sneezes
all summer, but still I would be Meg, about to marry the
choice of my heart, rather than the lady Catherine,
promised to a pig. I am desolate.
22nd day of June, Feast of Saint Ebbe the Younger, who cut off
her nose to protect her virtue from marauding Danes
This afternoon was flea-catching. I spread a white cloth
on each bed so even my weak eyes could see the little
black fleas as they jumped. I then caught each one and
crushed it between my finger and thumb. It is tedious and
leaves me bumpy and red with bites, but does not overvex
my brain, so I can think and wonder while I work.
Today I thought about ways the shaggy-bearded oaf who
wishes to marry me might die and leave me free. He might
be eaten by wolves or struck by lightning or explode from
eating too much. He might encounter a dragon bigger and
meaner and more evil even than he or be disemboweled by
a Turk or a jealous husband. Mayhap all his teeth will fall
out and he will be unable to eat and so will starve to death.
Or he might jump off a roof in a drunk, thinking he could
fly. He could be run over by a peddler's wagon full of heavy
iron pots or have corrupt and rotten ulcers eat away his
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
body. I could put deadly thorn apple or monkshood in his
soup or train my birds to fly north and peck him to death.
Or a giant hand might reach down and pinch him between
its thumb and finger. Life is full of possibilities. If only
something would happen soon.
Literary Element
Diction How does word choice in
these entries for July help show the
author’s bias about arranged
marriage in the England of 1290?
JULY
2nd day of July, Feast of Saints Processus and Martinian,
Roman martyrs, whose relics cure the sick, reveal perjurers, and
cure lunatics
I have been thinking about my own marriage. Once I
dreamed of a handsome prince on a white horse decked in
silks and bells. Now I am offered a smelly, broken-toothed
old man who drinks too much. I would rather even Alf! But
it occurred to me that what actually makes people married
is not the church or the priest but their consent, their “I
will.” And I do not consent. Will never consent. “I will not.”
I cannot be wed without my consent, can I? They cannot
bind me with ropes and force my mouth open and closed
while my father says in a high voice, “I will.” I am told this
has happened, but even my father could not be so cruel. I
will not consent and there will be no marriage. Amen.
4th day of July, Feast of Saint Andrew of Crete, stabbed to
death by a fanatical Iconoclast
I spent this summer evening lying in the field, watching
stars come out in the sky. Free. Free. Free! After my harrowing
days locked away, I rejoice to be free. It was like this:
The evening after Meg's wedding, I encountered my
father near the buttery.
“Now we will get on with it, daughter,” he said. “It is
time to make good your promise and consent to marriage
with Murgaw.”
“Never,” I said. “Your villagers are allowed to marry
where they will, but your daughter is sold like a cheese for
your profit! Never.”
He blinked three times, opening and closing his mouth.
Then his face grew purple and he choked out disconnected
words: “Meg . . . cottage . . . promise . . . marriage.”
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
83
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships What is the effect of
Catherine’s time spent thinking
about her choices?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: SEPTEMBER
Sitting beneath a pear tree later in the drizzling rain, I
thought about my choices. I have no desire for three years
of snowy mountains or some Saracen court. I cannot be a
monk shut off from the world. I cannot be a crusader riding
over the bloody bodies of strangers I am supposed to hate,
or a wandering minstrel unconnected to any place or
anybody. I cannot be like Odd William, involved only with
the dead people he writes about while the living swirl in
joy and pain around him. I cannot be like Aunt Ethelfritha,
who, in being anyone she chooses, forgets who she really is.
Suddenly I saw the old Jewish woman saying,
“Remember, Little Bird, in the world to come, you will not
be asked ‘Why were you not George?’ or ‘ Why were you
not Perkin?’ but ‘ Why were you not Catherine?’ ” And it
came into my head that I cannot run away. I am who I am
wherever I am.
Like the bear and my popinjay, I cannot survive by
myself. But I also cannot survive if I am not myself. And
who am I? I am no minstrel and no wart charmer but me,
Birdy, Catherine of Stonebridge, daughter of Lord Rollo and
the lady Aislinn, sister to Robert and Thomas and Edward
and little Eleanor, friend of Perkin, goat boy and scholar.
I am like the Jews in our hall, driven from England,
from one life to another, and yet for them exile was no
exile. Wherever they go, they take their lives, their families,
their people, and their God with them, like a light that
never goes out. I imagine them somewhere in Flanders
eating their Jewish food and talking their horses’ talk and
loving one another and their God. At home even in exile.
Just so, my family and Perkin and Meg and Gerd and
Aelis and the barn cats and even my father are part of me,
and I part of them, so even in my new life I will not be far
from home.
I realize that Shaggy Beard has won my body, but no
matter whose wife I am, I will still be me. Mayhap I can do
what I must and still be me, still survive and, please God,
even thrive. I have girded my loins like a warrior from the
Bible and am going forth to do battle with the enemy. He
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
shall not find it a comfortable prize he has won, this grayeyed, sun-browned beauty. Amen.
After dinner my uncle George came home, surprised
but pleased to see me. His mouth smiled and his eyes
almost did as I told him of the mad plans of Ethelfritha
and how I decided I cannot escape my life but can only use
my determination and courage to make it the best I can.
He will take me home tomorrow. We will ride, which suits
my feet just fine.
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships Why will Catherine
marry Stephen and not Shaggy
Beard?
22nd day of September, Feast of Saint Maurice and his six
thousand six hundred sixty-six companions, Roman soldiers of the
Theban Legion, martyred for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods
We leave in one hour. In George's garden I saw a toad,
may it bring me luck. And as Morwenna says, luck is
better than early rising.
23rd day of September, Feast of Saint Thecla of Iconium,
virgin and follower of Saint Paul. Condemned to be burnt, a
storm put out the fire. Sent to be eaten by beasts, they would not.
She escaped and lived in a cave for seventy-two years
I am home again. Such ado! I was kissed and slapped
and lectured until my ears turned inside out. I told my tale
and then sat to listen to theirs.
It seems God is indeed watching over me. Or else toads
really are lucky. How I know is this:
The riders from the north did not say that Shaggy Beard
comes for his bride, but that he is dead, killed in a brawl
over a tavern maid. His son Stephen is now Baron Selkirk,
Lord of Lithgow, Smithburn, Random, and Fleece, and
wishes to honor the marriage contract in his father's place.
He sent me an enameled brooch of a little bird with a pearl
in its beak. I am wearing it now.
My lady mother and the beast my father think it no
better and no worse that I marry Stephen instead of
Shaggy Beard, but for me it is like moving from the
darkness into the light, like coming in from a cold gray
mist and seeing the fire make a warm and golden glow in
the center of the hall, like the yolk of a boiled egg or the
deeper gold in the belly of a rose.
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
85
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Do You Read? What have
you learned about how people
amused themselves in 13thcentury England?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: AUGUST
22nd day of August, Feast of Saint Alexander of Alexandria,
who died a martyr after suffering numerous agonies from
scrapers and whips
It is Bartlemas Fair, easily the busiest and merriest days
of the summer. After days of preparation, we left the
manor gay and giddy and ready for play. And today we
are here.
Before I left her, my mother gave me ten pence for
spending. I bought her a string of jet beads—3 pennies, a
wooden whistle for Perkin—2 pennies, a bone rattle for the
coming babe—1 penny, and four skins of parchment for my
herbal—4 pennies. In one morning, all my money gone.
Still, I have yet to eat my fill of pork and pastries, cheer
the fastest horses and the fleetest runners, wonder at the
tumblers and magicians, laugh at the puppets and giants,
and clap for every dancer and minstrel at the fair.
We are at an inn tonight in a room with seven people
and seven thousand fleas.
23rd day of August, Feast of Saint Tydfil, killed by Saxons
I used to think the saddest sight in the world was an
eagle I once saw in a baron’s hall, wings clipped, chained
to a perch from which it kept falling, flapping piteously
until someone righted it again. But there is worse. Here at
the fair is a dancing bear, moth-eaten and scrawny, anxious
only to be taken home and fed and not prodded and
pinched to do silly tricks for fairgoers.
The performance I saw was so clumsy and sad and
brought the bear’s owner so little profit that he announced
a bearbaiting, planning to set a pack of dogs against the
poor bear and see who cries and bleeds and dies first, all
for the amusement of those wagering money on the
outcome. How can we think ourselves made in the likeness
of God when we act worse than beasts?
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key words.
Recap
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
87
AFTER YOU READ: May–September
Respond and Think Critically
1. How does Catherine help Meg and Alf to be able to marry? How are
Catherine’s efforts a sacrifice for her? [Summarize]
2. At the end of the novel, what does Catherine mean when she says,
“I am, if not free, at least less painfully caged”? [Synthesize]
3. In what ways does Catherine’s tone, or attitude, change in this section
of the novel? What was her tone in the beginning of the novel, and how
is it different now? [Compare]
4. What do you think Catherine means when she says that she is “having
so many soft feelings”? How do these soft feelings affect her behavior?
[Conclude]
5. Why Do You Read? Does reading about a young adult in 13th-century
England help you in any way to understand young adults in your own
time and place? Explain. [Connect]
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
79. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: May–September
Literary Element Diction
1. When Catherine writes, “the bear is safe and
I am doomed,” which word carries the strongest
connotations? What are they? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Denotation is the literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word.
Connotation is the implied, or cultural, meaning of a word.
For example, the words scrawny and skeletal have a
similar denotation, “being very thin,” but they have
different connotations:
Negative
scrawny
2. By the end of the novel, Catherine is no longer
writing “God’s thumbs!” or other curses. What
does this change in diction help show about her?
[Synthesize]
More Negative
skeletal
Each of the vocabulary words is listed with a word that
has a similar denotation. Choose the word that has a
more negative connotation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
cajole
desolate
harrowing
relics
unlettered
force
upset
disturbing
remains
ignorant
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships
What causes Catherine to begin her book with such
anger and to end it with such joy? [Synthesize]
Author Karen Cushman uses the technique of diary entries
to tell this story. In the preceding sentence, technique
means “a method of doing something.” Think of a goal you
wanted to achieve in writing, drawing, making music, or
another activity. What technique did you use?
C ather ine, C alled B ir dy: M ay–S eptember
89
AFTER YOU READ: May–September
Write With Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Diction
Interview
Assignment Think about the words Karen Cushman
chose to help you see and understand Catherine’s
world. Some told you exactly about the places and
activities. Others gave you a strong sense of
Catherine’s feelings and attitudes. Write a diary
entry in which you use careful word choice to
describe something a place in your world and your
attitude toward it.
Assignment Imagine you have the opportunity to
interview someone like Catherine—a young woman
from the Middle Ages. What would you like to ask
her? With two partners, prepare an interview with
the young woman that reflects your understanding
of the novel.
Get Ideas Make a two-column chart like this one to
list word choices that will bring your reader into
your world.
Precise Words
white plastic
dresser
shiny wood floor
Words That Show
My Feelings
warm glow of
bedside lamp
Give It Structure Use spatial order to organize your
ideas about the place. Options include describing
from top to bottom, from left to right, or around the
perimeter and working toward the center.
Look at Language Sharpen word choices by
making them more exact. For example, turn the field
into the baseball field or the chair into the dentist’s
chair. Add feelings, too. If you don’t like a room, you
might call it a cell. If you love the room, you might
call it a haven.
Prepare Write a list of relevant questions phrased
in respectful language. Then prepare responses
that accurately reflect the world and times in which
Catherine lives. When you are satisfied with your
questions and answers, mark them up with
performance cues, such as places for eye contact,
a humorous or serious tone, and appropriate body
language such as leaning forward or back.
Interview Have one person act as interviewer, one
as the young woman, and one as stage manager.
The host should follow these guidelines:
• Allow your subject to respond completely; don’t
interrupt.
• Take notes. When necessary, ask the young
woman to say more or explain.
Both the host and the young woman should follow
these guidelines:
• Make frequent eye contact.
• Adjust your tone of voice or body language in
response to the questions and answers.
The stage manager should keep all the guidelines in
mind, and give nonverbal cues as reminders (such
as “slow down” or “speak up”) to the host and the
young woman when they need them during the
interview.
Report Write a paragraph summarizing the
interview information. Remember that a summary
focuses on the main ideas rather than the details.
Evaluate Write an evaluation of the interview
based on how clearly, accurately, and effectively it
communicated information about Catherine’s world.
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WORK WITH RELATED READINGS
Catherine, Called Birdy
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Write your answers on a
separate sheet of paper, but jot down some notes on the lines
provided. Support your answers with details from the texts.
Author’s Note to Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
Make Connections What qualities or problems
does Catherine share with teenagers of today?
Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
Make Connections Compare the birds described in
the poem to Catherine. How is Catherine like both
the free bird and the caged bird?
The Knight of the Honest Heart
Christina Hamlet
Make Connections What motivates Crispin and
Celia to act deceptively? How do their desires
parallel those of Catherine?
Becky and the Wheels-and-Brakes Boys
James Berry
Make Connections How is Becky’s situation similar
to Catherine’s?
Newbery Medal Acceptance
(for The Midwife’s Apprentice)
Karen Cushman
Make Connections In the novel, Catherine writes,
composes songs, and paints. How does Catherine
use her interests in writing, song making, and
painting as a means of emotional expression?
C ather ine, C al l ed Bi rdy
91
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: Charles
The day my son Laurie started
kindergarten he renounced corduroy
overalls with bibs and began wearing
blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go
off the first morning with the older girl
next door, seeing clearly that an era of my
life was ended, my sweet-voiced nurseryschool tot replaced by a long-trousered,
swaggering character who forgot to stop
at the corner and wave good-bye to me.
He came home the same way, the front
door slamming open, his cap on the
floor, and the voice suddenly become
raucous shouting, “Isn’t anybody here?”
At lunch he spoke insolently to his
father, spilled his baby sister’s milk, and
remarked that his teacher said we were
not to take the name of the Lord in vain.
“How was school today?” I asked,
elaborately casual.
“All right,” he said.
“Did you learn anything?” his father
asked.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Laurie regarded his father coldly.
“I didn’t learn nothing,” he said.
“Anything,” I said. “Didn’t learn
anything.”
“The teacher spanked a boy, though,”
Laurie said, addressing his bread and
butter. “For being fresh,” he added, with
his mouth full.
“What did he do?” I asked. “Who
was it?”
Laurie thought. “It was Charles,” he
said. “He was fresh. The teacher spanked
him and made him stand in a corner. He
was awfully fresh.”
“What did he do?” I asked again, but
Laurie slid off his chair, took a cookie,
and left, while his father was still saying,
“See here, young man.”
The next day Laurie remarked at
lunch, as soon as he sat down, “Well,
Charles was bad again today.” He
grinned enormously and said, “Today
Charles hit the teacher.”
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the
right, which is excerpted from “Charles” by Shirley Jackson in Glencoe
Literature. Then answer the questions below. Use the exact words of the
text or explain events and ideas in the text to support your answer.
WRITE ABOUT IT
Write a comparison-contrast
paragraph that makes at least one
main point about how Charles and
Catherine are alike and/or different.
Compare & Contrast
1. Conflict How are Laurie’s conflicts the same or different from
Catherine’s conflicts? Are they internal or external?
2. Text Structure How is the text structure of “Charles” the same and
different from the text structure of Catherine, Called Birdy?
3. Diction In Catherine, Called Birdy, word choice helps the reader
understand Catherine’s conflicts. Is the same true in this excerpt from
“Charles”? Explain your answer.
C ather ine, C al l ed Bi rdy
93
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Persuasive Essay
Argue a Position Arranged marriages have been a part of some cultures
for centuries. Do you think they are ever a good idea? Are there any
political, cultural, economic, or other reasons why arranged marriages
should exist? Decide on your position.
Prewrite Make a list of reasons for your opinion or position. Select your
three best reasons. Use your reasons to write your thesis or opinion
statement:
Arranged marriages (should/should not) exist because
_____________ , _____________ , and _____________.
(reason 1)
(reason 2)
(reason 3)
Draft State your thesis or opinion statement near the beginning of your
paper. Present each of your reasons in separate body paragraphs. Fully
explain each reason you give. As part of your explanation, think about
what people with the opposite opinion might think or say. Address those
counterarguments. End with a strong concluding statement.
Revise Exchange papers with a classmate. Complete a revision chart like
this one for each other’s work:
Your thesis is _________________________________________.
Why thesis needs/does not need revision: ___________________
_____________________________________________________.
Your reasons are
1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
Why reasons need/do not need revision ____________________.
Why explanation needs/does not need revision _______________
_____________________________________________________.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• To argue is to use reason or
logic to try to influence a
reader’s ideas or actions.
• A position is an opinion. It is
usually stated in a thesis,
position statement, or opinion
statement.
Grammar Tip
Interjections
Use interjections to show
emotion, or feeling. Interjections
may come before or after a
complete sentence. When they
express strong feeling and stand
on their own, begin them with a
capital letter and follow them
with an exclamation point:
Corpus bones! God’s thumbs!
When an interjection does not
express strong feeling or has a
quieter tone, follow it with a
comma:
Dear god, I can do no more for
either of them.
Dandelion
Wine
Ray Bradbury
D andel i on Wi ne
95
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
When Bradbury writes or speaks, the line
“between
solid fact and metaphor gets hazy.
He often adds his own details to true stories
to make them more interesting or
illustrative . . .
. . . The more Bradbury twists the facts, the
more he is able to wring from them.
”
—Chris Jepson in a 1995 article, Ray
Bradbury at the Fullerton Library
In an introduction to Dandelion Wine,
Bradbury writes, “I was gathering
images all of my life, storing them away,
and forgetting them. Somehow I had to
send myself back, with words as
catalysts, to open the memories out and
see what they had to offer.” Dandelion
Wine, however, is fiction, not an
autobiography.
Playing with Memories and Senses In
this book, Bradbury takes real memories
and sense impressions and plays with
them. For example, at the age of thirteen,
the writer actually looked at the hairs on
the back of his wrist and suddenly
became aware of the fact that he was
alive. A similar experience takes place in
the novel, when the main character,
Douglas Spaulding, has this realization:
“I’m really alive!” he thought. “I never
knew it before, or if I did I don’t
remember!”
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Even this character’s name shows reality
transformed. “Douglas Spaulding” is
made up from Bradbury’s own middle
name and the middle name of his father,
Leonard Spaulding Bradbury. In the same
way, his home town of Waukegan is
transformed into Green Town and
friends, such as John Huff of Arizona are
moved east to Green Town and woven
into the story.
The Setting Dandelion Wine takes place in
the summer of 1928, the summer just
before the Great Depression, which
began the following year. The so-called
Roaring Twenties were years of great
change. One world war had finished,
and another lurked on the horizon.
The twenties were the first decade in
which the population of the United
States was above a hundred million, and
for the first time, more Americans lived
in cities than lived on farms. Still, a third
of the people did live on farms.
However, the rapid development of both
the automobile and the radio were
quickly making society more mobile and
less provincial. Now people could not
only travel to new places easily, but they
could also hear about what was
happening in the wider world.
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
Urban lifestyles also differed from
those of small towns. Gangsters, flappers,
and movie stars made newspaper
headlines with their unconventional
lives. Yet the heroes of the decade,
Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earheart,
appealed to old-fashioned idealism when
they flew their tiny planes alone across
the Atlantic Ocean.
The Welcome Weed
The golden dandelion, whose
name comes from the French
dent de lion, or “tooth of the
lion,” is well known to most
people who have lawns. The
flower is seen by many as a
weed that should be eliminated.
To others, though, the dandelion
is a welcome plant. Its leaves
are often used in salads and
sandwiches or cooked like
spinach and served hot. The
roots, roasted and ground, are
sometimes used to make a hot
beverage similar to coffee.
D andel i on Wi ne
97
MEET THE AUTHOR
Ray Bradbury (1920– )
I write for fun. You can’t get too serious.
“I don’t
pontificate in my work. I have fun
with ideas. I play with them. I approach my
craft with enthusiasm and respect. If my
work sparks serious thought, fine. But I
don’t write with that in mind.
”
—Ray Bradbury in an interview with Future
magazine
Born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, Ray
Bradbury spent a childhood steeped in
Buck Rogers comic strips, magic, movies,
and literature. These influences, as well
as the personal details of Bradbury’s own
life, stayed with the author and inspired
many of his later works. His hometown
of Waukegan, for instance, is the basis for
Green Town in Dandelion Wine.
When Bradbury was fourteen, his family
moved to Los Angeles, where the writer
still lives. A few years later, he joined the
local Science Fiction League and
published his first story in a fan magazine.
At twenty, his first story appeared in the
professional publication Weird Tales.
Versatile Writer Bradbury is best known
for his science fiction writing. But as a
writer, he is incredibly versatile. In
addition to books and stories, he has
written television scripts, screenplays,
poetry, and even musicals. He has been a
consultant for the U.S. Pavilion at the
1964 World’s Fair and for Spaceship
Earth at Disney World. He is now
creating CD-ROM adventure games.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
The Martian Chronicles, one of his bestknown works, established his reputation
as a writer of science fiction, but the
author sees himself differently. “I am a
collector of metaphors,” he says. He
points out that most of his books are
fantasy, not science fiction, which he calls
“the art of the possible.” His only novel
of true science fiction, he believes, is
Fahrenheit 451, a book that is set in a grim
future in which people burn books.
Bradbury himself does not worry much
about the future. He told an interviewer,
“You put your head down and you do
your work. Never think of the future.
Only your work.”
Playing Through Life In some ways, Ray
Bradbury is not what people expect.
Although he writes of rockets and other
highly technical machines, he does not
drive a car or use a computer. Although
he has won numerous awards, such as
the O. Henry Memorial Award and the
Grand Master Award from the Science
Fiction Writers of America, Bradbury
does not rest on past achievements.
Instead, he faces the future with zest.
When asked how he would like to be
remembered, he says, “As someone who
never had to take a vacation, as someone
who played through life and had a great
time.”
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–16
Connect to the Literature
What season is your favorite? What is particularly special about that
season for you?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Write a Journal Entry
In your journal, write a paragraph about a memorable event that took
place during your favorite season. Include as many details as you can.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
Build Background
Herbal Medicine
For centuries the dandelion has been used as a medicinal herb. Arabian
doctors in the tenth century called it Taraxacon. Today, the chemical that
is found in the root is called Taraxacin. The plant is said to be a general
stimulant that increases appetite and improves digestion. Some people
squeeze juice from the roots and claim the juice will help cure liver
problems. People also make dandelion tea, dandelion powder, and
dandelion wine. The wine takes months to make. First, the plants are
steeped in water and allowed to stand and then various ingredients are
added. Only later is the wine placed in bottles that are then capped. Once
bottled, dandelion wine can be stored for later use.
D andelion Wine: Chapters 1–16
99
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–16
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What Makes Life Good?
How do you define what is good in life? What are the things in life that give
you pleasure or joy or a sense of belonging? As you read the first section of
the novel, consider how the characters and plot embody the elements of a
good life—with all the contradictions that implies.
Literary Element Figurative Language
Figurative language is language used for descriptive effect, often to imply
ideas indirectly. Expressions of figurative language are not literally true
but express some truth beyond the literal level. One example of figurative
language is metaphor, a comparison of two seemingly unlike things. An
extended metaphor is one that continues through a long poem or passage.
A simile is a comparison of seemingly unlike things that uses the words
like or as.
Although figurative language can occur in many different genres, it is most
common in poetry. Fiction writers like Ray Bradbury often bring a poetic
sensibility to their work. As you read the first section of Dandelion Wine,
consider how Bradbury uses figurative language to pull you into the rich
world of his imagination.
Reading Strategy Interpret Imagery
Imagery is language that emphasizes sensory impressions to see, hear,
feel, smell, and taste the scenes described in a literary work. When you
interpret imagery, you use your own knowledge of the world to understand
and experience the impressions presented.
Interpreting imagery is important because using your own history and
experiences gives you another way to understand what an author is really
trying to say. To interpret imagery,
• look for details about the place the writer is describing. Ask yourself:
What do the details help you see in your mind?
• look for details about the people discussed in the selection. How does
the writer describe people’s physical features, clothing, and body
language?
• look for details about objects the writer describes. What does the item
sound, feel, smell, or taste like?
As you read Dandelion Wine, pay close attention to the author’s
descriptions. You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one
to the right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
Vocabulary
ferrule [fer əl] n. metal ring or
cap put around the end of a shaft,
such as a cane, to strengthen it
The pipe was fitted at one end
with a small steel ferrule.
paraphernalia [par ə fər nāl ya]
n. pl. personal belongings
When the children divided their
paraphernalia, they found they
had collected many treasures.
ravine [rə vēn ] n. small, deep,
narrow valley
My uncle’s cottage is located at
the bottom of a steep ravine.
revelation [rev ə lā shən] n.
something that is revealed or
disclosed
The court gasped as the
prosecutor brought out revelation
after revelation about the
defendant’s previous record.
serenely [sə rēn lē] adv.
peacefully; calmly
The raft drifted serenely down
the river.
Detail
“The street
lights, like
candles on a
black cake,
went out.”
“The water
was blue silk
in the cup;
clear, faintly
blue silk.”
My
interpretation
The lights go
out as quickly
and completely
as blowing out
birthday
candles.
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–16
Dandelion Wine contains many settings,
characters, stories, and objects, some of which
are mentioned again later in the book. A recurring
element that has symbolic significance in a story
Item
dandelion wine
is called a motif. As you read the opening
chapters, pay attention to the items listed below.
Record what you know about that item and how
the characters felt about it.
Details
Character’s thoughts/feelings
put away until January
new and old sneakers
the ravine
Grandfather’s
lawnmower
the Happiness Machine
Mrs. Bentley’s
photograph
D andelion Wine: C hapters 1–16
101
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Figurative Language This is the
beginning of an extended metaphor
that goes on until the end of the
chapter. What two seemingly unlike
things is author Ray Bradbury
comparing? Why do you think he
uses metaphor instead of simply
stating the facts?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
The town, later in the day.
And yet another harvest.
Grandfather stood on the wide front porch like a captain
surveying the vast unmotioned calms of a season dead
ahead. He questioned the wind and the untouchable sky
and the lawn on which stood Douglas and Tom to question
only him.
“Grandpa, are they ready? Now?”
Grandfather pinched his chin. “Five hundred, a
thousand, two thousand easy. Yes, yes, a good supply. Pick
‘em easy, pick ‘em all. A dime for every sack delivered to
the press!”
“Hey!”
The boys bent, smiling. They picked the golden flowers.
The flowers that flooded the world, dripped off lawns onto
brick streets, tapped softly at crystal cellar windows and
agitated themselves so that on all sides lay the dazzle and
glitter of molten sun.
“Every year,” said Grandfather. “They run amuck; I let
them. Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole
in your retina. A common flower, a weed that no one sees,
yes. But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.”
So, plucked carefully, in sacks, the dandelions were
carried below. The cellar dark glowed with their arrival.
The wine press stood open, cold. A rush of flowers
warmed it. The press, replaced, its screw rotated, twirled
by Grandfather, squeezed gently on the crop.
“There . . . so . . .”
The golden tide, the essence of this fine fair month ran,
then gushed from the spout below, to be crocked, skimmed
of ferment, and bottled in clean ketchup shakers, then
ranked in sparkling rows in cellar gloom.
Dandelion wine.
The words were summer on the tongue. The wine was
summer caught and stoppered. And now that Douglas
knew, he really knew he was alive, and moved turning
through the world to touch and see it all, it was only right
and proper that some of his new knowledge, some of this
special vintage day would be sealed away for opening on a
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
January day with snow falling fast and the sun unseen for
weeks or months and perhaps some of the miracle by then
forgotten and in need of renewal. Since this was going to
be a summer of unguessed wonders, he wanted it all
salvaged and labeled so that any time he wished, he might
tiptoe down in this dank twilight and reach up his
fingertips.
And there, row upon row, with the soft gleam of flowers
opened at morning, with the light of this June sun glowing
through a faint skin of dust, would stand the dandelion wine.
Peer through it at the wintry day—the snow melted to
grass, the trees were reinhabitated with bird, leaf, and
blossoms like a continent of butterflies breathing on the
wind. And peering through, color sky from iron to blue.
Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, a
tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip for children;
change the season in your veins by raising glass to lip and
tilting summer in.
“Ready, now, the rain barrel!”
Nothing else in the world would do but the pure waters
which had been summoned from the lakes far away and the
sweet fields of grassy dew on early morning, lifted to the
open sky, carried in laundered clusters nine hundred miles,
brushed with wind, electrified with high voltage, and
condensed upon cool air. This water, falling, raining,
gathered yet more of the heavens in its crystals. Taking
something of the east wind and the west wind and the north
wind and the south, the water made rain and the rain,
within this hour of rituals, would be well on its way to wine.
Douglas ran with the dipper. He plunged it deep in the
rain barrel. “Here we go!”
The water was silk in the cup; clear, faintly blue silk. It
softened the lip and the throat and the heart, if drunk. This
water must be carried in dipper and bucket to the cellar,
there to be leavened in freshets, in mountain streams, upon
the dandelion harvest.
Even Grandma, when snow was whirling fast, dizzying
the world, blinding windows, stealing breath from gasping
mouths, even Grandma, one day in February, would
vanish to the cellar.
Literary Element
Figurative Language What does
the simile “blossoms like a
continent of butterflies” mean? Try
to paraphrase the meaning by
creating your own simile.
D andelion Wine: C hapters 1–16
103
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Interpret Imagery How does the
author’s use of imagery add to the
suspense of this scene?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
He took her hand. Together they walked down St. James
Street. Underfoot the concrete was still warm, and the
crickets were sounding louder against the darkening dark.
They reached a corner, turned, and walked toward the
West Ravine.
Off somewhere a car floated by, flashing its lights in the
distance. There was such a complete lack of life, light, and
activity. Here and there, back off from where they were
walking, faint squares of light glowed where people were
still up. But most of the houses darkened, were sleeping
already, and there were a few lightless places where the
occupants of a dwelling sat talking low night talk on their
front porches. You heard a porch swing squeaking as you
walked by.
“I wish your father was home,” said Mother. Her large
hand squeezed around his small one. “Just wait’ll I get that
boy. The Lonely One’s around again. Killing people. No
one’s safe any more. You never know when the Lonely
One’ll turn up or where. So help me, when Doug gets
home I’ll spank him within an inch of his life.”
Now they had walked another block and were standing
by the holy black silhouette of the German Baptist Church
at the corner of Chapel Street and Glen Rock. In back of
the church, a hundred yards away, the ravine began. He
could smell it. It had a dark-sewer, rotten-foliage, thickgreen odor. It was a wide ravine that cut and twisted
across town—a jungle by day, a place to let alone at night,
Mother often declared.
He should have felt encouraged by the nearness of the
German Baptist Church but he was not, because the
building was not illumined, was cold and useless as a pile
of ruins on the ravine edge.
He was only ten years old. He knew little of death, fear,
or dread. Death was the waxen effigy in the coffin when he
was six and Great-grandfather passed away, looking like a
great fallen vulture in his casket, silent, withdrawn, no
more to tell him how to be a good boy, no more to
comment succinctly on politics. Death was his little sister
one morning whe he awoke at the age of seven, looked
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
into her crib, and saw her staring up at him with a blind,
blue, fixed and frozen stare until the men came with a
small wicker basket to take her away. Death was when he
stood by her high chair four weeks later and suddenly
realized she’d never be in it again, laughing and crying
and making him jealous of her because she was born. That
was death. And Death was the Lonely One, unseen,
walking and standing behind trees, waiting in the country
to come in, once or twice a year, to this town, to these
streets, to these many places where there was little light, to
kill one, two, three women in the past three years. That
was Death . . . .
But this was more than Death. This summer night deep
down under the stars was all things you would ever feel or
see or hear in your life, drowning you all at once.
Leaving the sidewalk, they walked along a trodden,
pebbled, weed-fringed path while the crickets rose in a
loud full drumming chorus. He followed obediently
behind brave, fine, tall Mother—defender of the universe.
Together, then, they approached, reached, and paused at
the very end of civilization.
The Ravine.
Here and now, down in that pit of jungled blackness
were suddenly all the things he would never know or
understand; all the things without names lived in the
huddled tree shadow, in the odor of decay.
He realized he and his mother were alone.
Her hand trembled.
He felt the tremble . . . . Why? But she was bigger,
stronger, more intelligent than himself, wasn’t she? Did
she, too, feel that intangible menace, that groping out of
darkness, that crouching malignancy down below? Was
there, then, no strength in growing up? No solace in being
an adult? No sanctuary in life? No fleshly citadel strong
enough to withstand the scrabbling assault of midnights?
Doubts flushed him. Ice cream lived again in his throat,
stomach, spine and limbs; he was instantly cold as a wind
out of December gone.
Reading Strategy
Interpret Imagery What imagery
does the author use to describe the
ravine? What senses does this
imagery appeal to?
D andelion Wine: C hapters 1–16
105
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Makes Life Good? What
meeting of the minds do you think
Douglas and Mr. Sanderson come
to about what makes life good?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 5
The old man sighed. A minute later, seated panting
quietly, he laced the tennis shoes to his long narrow feet.
They looked detached and alien down there next to the
dark cuffs of his business suit. Mr. Sanderson stood up.
“How do they feel?” asked the boy.
“How do they feel, he asks; they feel fine.” He started to
sit down.
“Please!” Douglas held out his hand. “Mr. Sanderson,
now could you kind of rock back and forth a little, sponge
around, bounce kind of, while I tell you the rest? It’s this: I
give you my money, you give me the shoes, I owe you a
dollar. But, Mr. Sanderson, but—soon as I get those shoes
on, you know what happens?”
“What?”
“Bang! I deliver your packages, pick up packages, bring
you coffee, burn your trash, run to the post office, telegraph
office, library! You’ll see twelve of me in and out, in and
out, every minute. Feel those shoes, Mr. Sanderson, feel how
fast they’d take me? All those springs inside? Feel all the
running inside? Feel how they kind of grab hold and can’t
let you alone and don’t like you just standing there? Feel
how quick I’d be doing the things you’d rather not bother
with? You stay in the nice cool store while I’m jumping all
around town! But it’s not me really, it’s the shoes. They’re
going like mad down alleys, cutting corners, and back!
There they go!”
Mr. Sanderson stood amazed with the rush of words.
When the words got going the flow carried him; he began
to sink deep in the shoes, to flex his toes, limber his arches,
test his ankles. He rocked softly, secretly, back and forth in a
small breeze from the open door. The tennis shoes silently
hushed themselves deep in the carpet, sank as in a jungle
grass, in loam and resilient clay. He gave one solemn
bounce of his heels in the yeasty dough, in the yielding and
welcoming earth. Emotions hurried over his face as if many
colored lights had been switched on and off. His mouth
hung slightly open. Slowly he gentled and rocked himself
to a halt, and the boy’s voice faded and they stood there
looking at each other in a tremendous and natural silence.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
D andelion Wine: C hapters 1–16
107
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–16
Respond and Think Critically
1. What does Tom become aware of the night that he goes to the ravine
with his mother? [Identify]
2. What is Lena Auffmann’s opinion about the Happiness Machine? On
what does she base her opinion? What realization does Leo Auffmann
have when he looks through his window? [Interpret]
3. Why, according to her husband, does Mrs. Bentley save things? What
does she finally do with her possessions and how does that make her
feel? [Analyze]
4. What character or characters remind you of people you know? In what
ways? [Connect]
5. What Makes Life Good? What are three memorable moments when
Douglas is aware of life’s goodness? [Infer]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background
on page 99. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–16
Literary Element Figurative Language
1. The author describes the ravine as “tensing,
bunching together its black fibers, drawing in
power from sleeping countrysides.” What do you
visualize from this metaphor?
2. To what does Grandfather compare the first
day of lawn mowing? What images support
this comparison?
Vocabulary Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the vocabulary word
correctly.
1. A. Without the ferrule, the spear would have broken
in two.
B. If you ferrule the pipe, it will not bend.
2. A. How many paraphernalia do you really need
to keep?
B. My room is loaded with paraphernalia.
3. A. Climb up into the ravine.
B. Climb out of the ravine.
4. A. My father is famous in our town for his revelation
about dolphins.
B. My father is famous in our town for his ability to
revelation about dolphins.
5. A. My grandmother’s serenely attitude allows her to
enjoy life.
B. My grandmother lives serenely and enjoys life.
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy Interpret Imagery
1. In Chapter 15, an ice cream truck comes around
a corner “like an elfin band.” To which of the five
senses does this simile appeal? [Analyze]
Leo Auffmann’s Happiness Machine did not affect his wife
the way he thought it would. In the preceding sentence
affect means “to produce an effect.” Affect also has other
meanings. For example: The child had a sullen affect after
being scolded by her mother. What do you think affect
means in the preceding sentence? What is the difference
between the two meanings? Look in a dictionary to check
your answer.
2. What sensory details does the author use
describe the sound of the Happiness Machine?
[Identify]
D andelion Wine: C hapters 1–16
109
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–16
Write with Style
Connect to Content Areas
Apply Figurative Language
Social Studies
Assignment One of the strongest elements of Ray
Bradbury’s prose style is his use of figurative
language. Bradbury’s story of summer in a small
town brims over with metaphors and similes. Think
about last summer. Write a paragraph about it that
uses metaphors and similes.
Assignment The year 1928, in which Dandelion
Wine is set, was a year of many historic firsts. Do
research to find out more about what happened in
1928. Then combine your findings with those of your
classmates to create a time line for that year.
Get Ideas Take three minutes and write every
image of summer that pops into your mind, including
places, events, and objects. Write quickly, just a
word or two per image. You should be able to come
up with at least fifteen images. Then read through
them and decide which one creates the strongest
emotional tug for you. Choose that image to write
about. Write the image in the center of a piece of
paper. Around it write images that strike you as
similar to the central image but that are in fact
very different.
Investigate Before meeting with classmates and
beginning your research, think about the categories
you might use to classify your information. Create a
chart like the one below.
Advances in
Science/Technology
Amelia Earhart
becomes the first
woman to fly
across the Atlantic
Ocean.
Advances in
the Arts
Walt Disney
introduces film
audiences to
Mickey Mouse.
Example:
Activity: Sleeping in the backyard at night
Metaphor: Tiny pinpricks of light in the velvety black
canopy above us
Similes: Like early explorers in a new land; As
foreign as a moonscape
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a
sentence that introduces your central place, event,
or object. Follow this with sentences that further
describe it, using at least one metaphor and
two similes.
Look at Language Don’t weigh your paragraph
down with weak images. Three very strong images
will work better than five or six weak ones.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
Other categories might include events in world
politics or important births and deaths.
Create Using your chart as a guide, research the
events of 1928. You may wish to use library
resources or an Internet search engine such as
Google. Add to your chart as you find more
information that you think should be included on the
time line. Then meet with your classmates and
compare charts. From this larger list of events, try
to find at least one major event for each month of
the year 1928.
Report You can create a poster version of your time
line or a word-processed document. Each member
of your group should read through the time line
carefully before the group turns in the final version.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 17–29
Connect to the Literature
In what ways would you say that change is a positive force? In what ways
is it negative?
Freewrite
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below using information in Build
Background.
Spend two or three minutes freewriting about change. You might want to
start by noting your feelings about change or by giving as many examples
as you can. Write without stopping and without worrying about grammar,
usage, or punctuation.
Build Background
Trolley Days
By the 1920‘s, automobiles and airplanes were changing the way people
traveled. Before these inventions, people walked, rode in horse-drawn
vehicles or bicycles, or traveled on local trolleys. A trolley is a wheeled
vehicle that runs on tracks laid on roads. Most trolleys were drawn by
horses or powered by steam, electricity, or cables. The trolleys ran on a
schedule and carried people for relatively short distances. Some trolleys
were beautiful machines, with brass or wooden trim, and windows that
opened to let in fresh air. However, they were slower than modern cars
and buses and often caused traffic jams. Gradually, trolleys were
abandoned as a common form of public transportation.
You will note that at one point in the next section of the novel, the
character who has been the Green Town trolley driver announces the last
trolley ride before the new bus service begins. This brief bit of information,
addressed to Douglas Spaulding and the other Green Town children,
signifies the end of an important period in their lives.
D andelion Wine: C hapters 17–29
111
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 17–29
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What Makes Life Good?
What do you think are the elements of a good life? For many people,
appreciating nature is one of life’s greatest pleasures. For others, laughter
and humor play a larger role. As you read the next section of the novel,
consider the various ways author Ray Bradbury expresses what makes life
good for the people of Green Town.
Literary Element Sound Devices
Sound devices are techniques used to create a sense of rhythm or to
emphasize certain sounds in writing. Some of the techniques that control
sound are
Repetition—the recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or
stanzas in a piece of writing.
Parallelism—the use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that
have similar grammatical form. Parallelism emphasizes items that are
arranged in the similar structures.
Alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds usually at the
beginning of words or syllables.
As you read the next section of the novel, listen for Ray Bradbury’s use of
sound devices, and think about how these techniques amplify the imagery
descriptive passages.
Reading Skill Analyze Style
When you analyze, you look at separate parts of something in order to
better understand the whole. Style is the way an author chooses and
arranges words and sentences. Diction, or word choice, use of imagery,
and sentence structure and length are a few of the factors that contribute
to a writer’s style.
Analyzing style is important because it forces you to
look more critically at a work of literature to understand
the author’s purpose in writing and attitude toward his
or her subject.
To analyze style, pay attention to the author’s use of
imagery and to the differences in the way the various
characters speak—and the way the narrator speaks
about them. As you read, think about how the elements
of diction and sentence length and structure work
together to create an overall stylistic effect. You may
find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one to
the right.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
Example
from text
“Doug,
what’s
up?”
Up?
Nothing’s
up!”
calamities [kə lam ə tēz] n. great
misfortunes; disasters
When natural calamities strike,
the nation’s relief organizations
get to work.
concoction [kon kok shən] n.
mixture of several ingredients
The health food drink was a
terrible concoction of wheat
juice, yeast, and cranberry juice.
desiccation [des i kā shən]
n. dryness
When you extract salt from
ocean water the desiccation
process turns it white.
infinitesimal [in fi nə tes ə məl]
adj. so small that it is
immeasurable
The hotel manager told the
tourists that their chances of
finding the beach open during a
hurricane warning were
infinitesimal.
ricochet [rik ə shā] v. to cause to
bounce back
A pinball machine forces the ball
to ricochet off various obstacles.
Style
Effect
Diction: informal
language
Sentence
structure: both
phrases and
sentences
Sentence length:
short, choppy
feeling of
excitement
or
expectation
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 17–29
Ray Bradbury is known for his evocative style—
the richness of his diction and imagery and the
complicated ideas he is able to convey while
maintaining an entertaining sense of drama. As
Example from text
“The earth shook: rat-a-tat, boom!
Rumble.”
you read the next section of the novel and come
to the examples listed in the chart below, fill in
the right-hand side of the chart to analyze the
author’s style.
How does this add to the author’s style?
Word choice and imagery appeals to sense
of hearing.
“the curtain coming down fast and the
women
weeping … 1910 … Boston … Variety Arts
Theatre … poor man … poor man …”
“It glided. It whispered, an ocean breeze.
Delicate as maple leaves, fresher than
creek water, it purred with the majesty of
cats prowling the noontide.”
“He fixed his bright, stuffed-fox, greenglass-eye gaze upon that wonderful
merchandise.”
“… Mr. Tridden told them how it had been
twenty years ago, the band playing on that
ornate stand at night, the men pumping air into
their brass horns, the plump conductor flinging
perspiration from his baton, the children and
fireflies running in the deep grass …”
“Tell me!”
“Brown!"
John turned away. “No, sir.”
“What you mean, no?"
“You’re not even close!”
“Douglas peered off at the horizon where
clouds filled the sky with immense shapes of
old gods and warriors.”
D andelion Wine: C hapters 17–29
113
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Sound Devices Identify an
example of parallelism in this
section. What does this use of a
sound device accomplish?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 17
Seems like the town is full of machines,” said
Douglas, running. “Mr. Auffmann and his Happiness
Machine, Miss Fern and Miss Roberta and their Green
Machine. Now, Charlie, what you handing me?”
“A Time Machine!” panted Charlie Woodman, pacing
him. “Mother’s, scout’s, Injun’s honor!”
“Travels in the past and future?” John Huff asked, easily
circling them.
“Only in the past, but you can’t have everything. Here
we are.”
Charlie Woodman pulled up at a hedge.
Douglas peered in at the old house. “Heck, that’s
Colonel Freeleigh’s place. Can’t be no Time Machine in
there. He’s no inventor, and if he was, we’d known about
an important thing like a Time Machine years ago.”
Charlie and John tiptoed up the front-porch steps.
Douglas snorted and shook his head, staying at the bottom
of the steps.
“Okay, Douglas,” said Charlie. “Be a knucklehead. Sure,
Colonel Freeleigh didn’t invent this Time Machine. But he’s
got a proprietary interest in it, and it’s been here all the
time. We were too darned dumb to notice! So long,
Douglas Spaulding, to you!”
Charlie took John’s elbow as though he was escorting a
lady, opened the front-porch screen and went in. The
screen door did not slam.
Douglas had caught the screen and was following
silently.
Charlie walked across the enclosed porch, knocked, and
opened the inside door. They all peered down a long dark
hall toward a room that was lit like an undersea grotto,
soft green, dim, and watery.
“Colonel Freeleigh?”
Silence.
“He don’t hear so good,” whispered Charlie. “But he
told me to just come on in and yell. Colonel!”
The only answer was the dust sifting down and around
the spiral stair well from above. Then there was a faint stir
in that undersea chamber at the far end of the hall.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 19
Literary Element
Oh, that glorious and enchanted first week—the magical
afternoons of golden light, humming through the shady
town on a dreaming, timeless river, seated stiffly, smiling
at passing acquaintances, sedately purring out their
wrinkled claws at every turn, squeezing a hoarse cry from
the black rubber horn at intersections, sometimes letting
Douglas or Tom Spaulding or any of the other boys who
trotted, chatting, alongside, hitch a little ride. Fifteen slow
and pleasurable miles an hour top speed. They came and
went through the summer sunlight and shadow, their faces
freckled and stained by passing trees, going and coming
like an ancient, wheeled vision.
“And then” whispered Fern, “this afternoon! Oh, this
afternoon!”
“It was an accident.”
“But we ran away, and that’s criminal!”
This noon. The smell of the leather cushions under their
bodies, the gray perfume smell of their own sachets
trailing back as they moved in their silent Green Machine
through the small, languorous town.
It happened quickly. Rolling soft onto the sidewalk at
noon, because the streets were blistering and fiery, and the
only shade was under the lawn trees, they had glided to a
blind corner, bulbing their throaty horn. Suddenly, like a jackin-the-box, Mister Quartermain had tottered from nowhere!
“Look out!” screamed Miss Fern.
“Look out!” screamed Miss Roberta.
“Look out!” cried Mister Quartermain.
The two women grabbed each other instead of the
steering stick.
There was a terrible thud. The Green Machine sailed on
in the hot daylight, under the shady chestnut trees, past
the ripening apple trees. Looking back only once, the two
old ladies’ eyes filled with faded horror.
The old man lay on the sidewalk, silent.
“And here we are,” mourned Miss Fern in the
darkening attic. “Oh, why didn’t we stop! Why did we
run away?”
Sound Devices Which sound
device does the author employ
here? What is its effect? How is Mr.
Quartermain’s exclamation different
from those of Miss Fern and Miss
Roberta? How does this small
difference affect the way you hear
the three exclamations?
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 17–29
115
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Style Compare the way
William speaks in this section with
the way Helen speaks. What does
this tell you about their
relationship?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 28
“You can’t predict death,” he said at last.
“For fifty years I’ve watched the grandfather clock in
the hall, William. After it is wound I can predict to the
hour when it will stop. Old people are no different. They
can feel the machinery slow down and the last weights
shift. Oh, please don’t look that way—please don’t.”
“I can’t help it,” he said.
“We’ve had a nice time, haven’t we? It has been very
special here, talking every day. It was that muchoverburdened and worn phrase referred to as a ‘meeting of
the minds.’” She turned the blue envelope in her hands.
“I’ve alway known that the quality of love was the mind,
even though the body sometimes refuses this knowledge.
The body lives for itself. It lives only to feed and wait for
the night. It’s essentially nocturnal. But what of the mind
which is born of the sun, William, and must spend
thousands of hours of a lifetime awake and aware? Can
you balance off the body, that pitiful, selfish thing of night
against a whole lifetime of sun and intellect? I don’t know.
I only know there has been your mind here and my mind
here, and the afternoons have been like none I can
remember. There is still so much to talk about, but we
must save it for another time.”
“We don’t seem to have much time now.”
“No, but perhaps there will be another time. Time is so
strange and life is twice as strange. The cogs miss, the
wheels turn, and lives interlace too early or too late. I lived
too long that much is certain. And you were born either
too early or too late. It was a terrible bit of timing. But
perhaps I am being punished for being a silly girl.
Anyway, the next spin around, wheels might function right
again. Meantime you must find a nice girl and be married
and be happy. But you must promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“You must promise me not to live to be too old, William.
If it is a all convenient, die before you’re fifty. It may take a
bit of doing. But advise this simply because there is no
telling when another Helen Loomis might be born. It
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
would be dreadful, wouldn’t it, if you lived on to be very,
very old and some afternoon in 1999 walked down Main
Street and saw me standing there, aged twenty-one, and
the whole thing out of balance again? I don’t think we
could go through any more afternoons like these we’ve
had, no matter how pleasant, do you? A thousand gallons
of tea and five hundred biscuits is enough for one
friendship. So you must have an attack of pneumonia
some time in about twenty years. For I don’t know how
long they let you linger on the other side. Perhaps they
send you back immediately. But I shall do my best,
William, really I shall. And everything put right and in
balance, do you know what might happen?”
“You tell me.”
“Some afternoon in 1985 or 1990 a young man named
Tom Smith or John Green or a name like that, will be
walking downtown and will stop in the drugstore and
order, appropriately, a dish of some unusual ice cream. A
young girl the same age will be sitting there and when she
hears the name of that ice cream, something will happen. I
can’t say what or how. She won’t know why or how,
assuredly. Nor will the young man. It will simply be that
the name of that ice cream will be a very good thing to
both of them. They’ll talk. And later, when they know each
other’s names, they’ll walk from the drugstore together.”
She smiled at him.
“This is all very neat, but forgive an old lady for tying
things in neat packets. It’s a silly trifle to leave you. Now
let’s talk of something else. What shall we talk about? Is
there any place in the world we haven’t traveled to yet?
Have we been to Stockholm?”
“Yes, it’s a fine town.”
“Glasgow? Yes? Where then?”
“Why not Green Town, Illinois?” he said. “Here. We
haven’t really visited our own town together at all.”
Reading Skill
Analyze Style What do you notice
about the length and structure of
the sentences in this section? How
do these stylistic elements relate to
other sections of the novel?
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 17–29
117
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Makes Life Good? What
does this passage say about what
makes life good for a person like
Colonel Freeleigh?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
118
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 25
And, thousands of miles away, in a southern land, in an
office in a building in that land, there was the sound of
footsteps retreating from the phone. The old man leaned
forward, gripping the receiver tight to his wrinkled ear that
ached with waiting for the next sound.
The raising of a window.
Ah, sighed the old man.
The sounds of Mexico City on a hot yellow noon rose
through the open window into the waiting phone. He
could see Jorge standing there holding the mouthpiece out,
out into the bright day.
“Señor . . .”
“No, no, please. Let me listen.”
He listened to the hooting of many metal horns, the
squealing of brakes, the calls of vendors selling red-purple
bananas and jungle oranges in their stalls. Colonel
Freeleigh’s feet began to move, hanging from the edge of his
wheel chair, making the motions of a man walking. His eyes
squeezed tight. He gave a series of immense sniffs, as if to
gain the odors of meats hung on iron hooks in sunshine,
cloaked with flies like a mantle of raisins; the smell of stone
alleys wet with morning rain. He could feel the sun burn his
spiny-bearded cheek, and he was twenty-five years old
again, walking, walking, looking, smiling, happy to be alive,
very much alert, drinking in colors and smells.
A rap on the door. Quickly he hid the phone under his
lap robe.
The nurse entered. “Hello,” she said. “Have you been
good?”
“Yes.” The old man’s voice was mechanical. He could
hardly see. The shock of a simple rap on the door was such
that part of him was still in another city, far removed. He
waited for his mind to rush home—it must be here to
answer questions, act sane, be polite.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 17–29
119
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 17–29
Respond and Think Critically
1. What does Douglas mean by the message he sends to Fern and
Roberta saying that he saw everything and everything’s all right?
[Interpret]
2. Why does Douglas consider John Huff the “only god living in the whole
of Green Town, Illinois, during the twentieth century”? How does
Douglas react when John leaves? Why do you think he does this?
[Analyze]
3. Helen Loomis says, “Time is so strange and life is twice as strange. . . .
It was a terrible bit of timing.” To what is she referring? Do you agree?
Give your reasons. [Evaluate]
4. In your opinion, is this section of the book sad, heartwarming, or
confusing? Explain. [Evaluate]
5. What Makes Life Good? Colonel Freeleigh takes Doug and his friends
on a journey back to the past. How do his memories affect the boys?
What role do you think memories play in making a person’s life good?
[Connect]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
98. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 17–29
Literary Element Sound Devices
1. Chapter 20 contains this sentence: “There
was a soft sigh of air; the door collapsed gently
shut, tucking up its corrugated tongue.” Identify
the alliteration in the sentence and describe
its effect.
2. Write a sentence about a moment you remember
from the section of the novel you just read. Use
examples of both alliteration and repetition in
your sentence.
Reading Skill Analyze Style
1. Toward the end of Chapter 21, Ray Bradbury
writes: “A series of rifle shots. Screen doors
banged one after the other, a sunset volley
across the street.” How does this idea reflect
what Douglas is feeling about his friend John
Huff? [Infer]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary word
that correctly completes the sentence.
calamities
concoction
desiccation
infinitesimal
ricochet
1. When the chemist added acid to the _____________ it
turned blue and began to bubble.
2. Nanotechnology is so small as to be _____________.
3. The _____________ process allowed the salted fish to
remain edible for weeks.
4. When my brother gets excited he does nothing but
_____________ around the house.
5. Of all the _____________ that could happen to my
grandmother, the one she feared most was losing her
home.
Academic Vocabulary
In Chapter 21, Douglas seems to equate friendship and
loyalty with permanence. In the preceding sentence equate
means to treat or represent as equal or comparable. To
become more familiar with the word equate, fill out the
graphic organizer below.
definition
2. Note the imagery in this excerpt from Chapter 23:
“Her eyes felt like wads of blazing cotton. Her
tongue tasted like a dust mop. Her ears were
belling and ringing away?” To what senses do
these images appeal? [Identify]
synonym
equate
antonym
sentence/image
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 17–29
121
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 17–29
Write with Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Sound Devices
Performance
Assignment Review the author’s use of sound
devices in the section of the novel you just read.
You will notice examples of alliteration and
repetition, including parallelism. You will also find
examples of onomatopoeia, or words and phrases
that sound like the things they represent. Examples
of onomatopoeia include click, buzz, bang, chug,
and so on. Write a descriptive passage that
conveys one of the main ideas you found in this
section. Include examples of alliteration, repetition,
and onomatopoeia.
Assignment With a partner or a small group of
classmates, perform a scene from this part of the
novel that contains mostly dialogue.
Get Ideas Reread the section of Chapter 21 in
which Doug, John, and the others play Statues.
Think about your own past and the sports, games,
and other activities you have enjoyed participating
in or watching during the summer. Make a list of
phrases that convey the sounds of these events.
Examples:
toes squishing in mud
the crack of the bat against the ball
the tinkling of the bell on a bike
the splash of water
the thud-thud of running footsteps
Give It Structure Begin your passage with a
repeated word or phrase.
Examples:
Ping, ping, ping! The pebble flew out of Grandpa’s
hand and skipped across the water three times.
“Go, go, go!” we yelled to Brett as he careened
from first to second base.
Continue writing your description, including your
feelings, sensory memories, and other impressions.
Look at Language Using sound devices depends
on your internal ear and your concise use of
language to connect with readers. To enhance your
diction and learn new words, you might want to
use a thesaurus.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
Prepare With your scene partner(s), choose the
scene you will perform from the novel—for
example, the one between Helen Loomis and
William Forrester, Chapter 17’s discussion between
Colonel Freeleigh and the boys, or the dialogue
between John Huff and Douglas Spaulding.
Together, decide which person will play each role.
Then read through the scene, adding movements as
you go. After you have read the entire scene,
decide if you need to cut or add dialogue or
movement to the scene. Make these changes and
read through the scene again. To more effectively
bring the characters to life, your group should
provide feedback on each other’s performances.
Create Choose an effective stage picture for the
opening of your scene. For example, in a scene
about Colonel Freeleigh, you might place the
colonel on a chair in the center and group the boys
around his feet. When you present your scene,
make sure you speak loudly enough to reach the
entire audience. Make sure your gestures and
posture reflect the character you are portraying.
Evaluate After the performance, get together with
your fellow performers and discuss how successful
your performance was. How might you have
improved it?
Use a chart like the one below to record your
group’s ideas.
What worked well
What needed
improvement
We created distinct
characters. (The
audience
recognized them.)
At times,
performers played
for laughs instead of
staying in character.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 30–40
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Connect to the Literature
Would you want to know what the future holds? Why or why not?
Discuss
With a partner, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of knowing your
future. How would that knowledge affect your present life? What if your
future were better than the present? What if the future were far worse?
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information from Build Background.
Build Background
For Your Amusement
An arcade is a long covered area, often containing shops. Amusement
arcades contain various games and machines that are designed for fun. In
older arcades, visitors would drop a penny, nickel, or dime into a machine
and—depending on the machine—they might view a short film, play a
game of skill, or watch a mechanical scene come to life. Some of the most
popular arcade machines were the ones that promised to tell the future.
These machines might simply print out a slip of paper, or they might be
more complicated. The most elaborate fortune-telling machines had lifesize mannequins inside wooden booths with glass windows. The
mannequins could look surprisingly real: they nodded, blinked, pointed,
handled such items as pens and cards, and even seemed to breathe.
Contemporary arcades most often feature computer and video games.
Video arcades, though high-tech, rely to a great extent on the same
human tendency as many of the old arcades—the desire to win.
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
123
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 30–40
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What Makes Life Good?
In the next chapters of the novel, Douglas becomes more aware of both
loss and his own mortality. He realizes that everyone dies. This reflects
one of the larger questions of the novel: how can one enjoy life knowing
that it will one day end? As you read this final section of Dandelion Wine,
consider how Ray Bradbury attempts to answer this question.
Literary Element Setting
Setting is the time and place during which a story takes place. The setting
can help create the story’s atmosphere or mood.
Although the overall setting of Dandelion Wine is the small Midwestern
community of Green Town during the summer of 1928, the story’s episodic
structure reveals many settings within this larger one—for example, the
ravine and the arcade. Each provides insights about the story’s themes.
As you read, think about how the setting adds to and helps illustrate the
themes of life and death, magic, change, and the passage of time.
Reading Strategy Connect to Personal Experience
To connect, you look for links between ideas or information. When you
connect to personal experience, you locate links between what you read
and your own experience.
Connecting to personal experience is important because it can help you to
become a more focused reader. Ideas and events in literature mean more
to you when you can connect them to feelings, thoughts, and impressions
of your own.
To connect to personal experience as you read, ask yourself:
• Have I been to places similar to the setting described by this writer?
• What experiences have I had that compare and contrast with what I
am reading?
• What opinions do I already have about this topic?
• What characters from my life remind me of the
Douglas plays with
characters in this selection?
friends, visits people
Use the graphic organizers on the next page or the one
at the right to help you make connections.
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
commotion [kə mō sh ən] n. noisy
disturbance or excitement
A raccoon got into the garbage
cans last night and made a
terrible commotion.
equilibrium [ēk wə lib rē əm] n.
state of balance, sometimes
emotional balance
After the marathon, some runners
complained of dizziness and loss
of equilibrium.
exhalation [eks hə lā shən] n. act
of letting air out of the lungs
After final exams many students
let out a long relieved exhalation.
overwrought [ō vər rσt] adj.
worked up to an unhealthy state
of excitement or nervousness
My dog gets overwrought
whenever I bring out the
vacuum cleaner.
Douglas does chores
with family
Summer
I _______________
124
apparition [ap ə rish ən] n.
something strange or unexpected
that comes suddenly into view;
ghost
What the boys mistook for an
apparition in white turned out to
be only Grandmother in her
flannel nightgown.
I _______________
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 30–40
In the chapters that follow, many interesting
events take place. As you read about these events,
use the chart below to consider how the
characters’ experiences and feelings relate to
Story detail
your own personal experience. The first column
lists the story details. In the second column,
describe how each detail corresponds to your
own experience.
My experience
Lavinia Nebbs walks home through the
ravine by herself.
Have you ever done something you knew
was dangerous?
Great-grandma dies.
Have you ever lost a loved one? How did
you feel?
Douglas doesn’t want to think about the
possibility of his own death.
Have you ever wanted to avoid thinking
about this subject? Why or why not?
Douglas goes to the Tarot Witch to find out
his future.
Have you ever wanted to know the answer
to the future? What did you do?
The children of Green Town pick out
“treasures” from Mr. Jonas’s wagon.
Have you ever gotten anything secondhand?
How did you feel about it?
Douglas gets sick with a very high fever.
Describe a time when you were very sick.
Douglas recovers from his illness.
Describe how it feels to be well after an
illness.
Douglas and his family have a festive dinner
together.
What are big dinners with friends or family
like in our experience?
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
125
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Setting What does this exchange
tell you about what it is like to live
in Green Town in general—and
about the characters of Lavinia and
Helen in particular?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 30
The sound of the deep warm dark ravine came near.
In a minute they stood before Helen’s house, looking at
each other for a long time. The wind blew the odor of cut
grass between them. The moon was sinking in a sky that
was beginning to cloud. “I don’t suppose it’s any use
asking you to stay, Lavinia?”
“I’ll be going on.”
“Sometimes——”
“Sometimes what?”
“Sometimes I think people want to die. You’ve acted
odd all evening.”
“I’m just not afraid,” said Lavinia. “And I’m curious, I
suppose. And I’m using my head. Logically, the Lonely
One can’t be around. The police and all.”
“The police are home with their covers up over their ears.”
“Let’s just say I’m enjoying myself, precariously, but
safely. If there was any real chance of anything happening
to me, I’d stay here with you, you can be sure of that.”
“Maybe part of you doesn’t want to live anymore.”
“You and Francine. Honestly!”
“I feel so guilty. I’ll be drinking some hot cocoa just as
you reach the ravine bottom and walk on the bridge.”
“Drink a cup for me. Good night.”
Lavinia Nebbs walked alone down the midnight street,
down the late summer-night silence. She saw houses with
the dark windows and far away she heard a dog barking.
In five minutes, she thought, I’ll be safe at home. In five
minutes I’ll be phoning silly little Francine. I’ll——
She heard the man’s voice.
A man’s voice singing far away among the trees.
“Oh, give me a June night, the moonlight and you . . .”
She walked a little faster.
The voice sang, “In my arms . . . with all your charms . . .”
Down the street in the dim moonlight a man walked
slowly and casually along.
I can run knock on one of these doors, thought Lavinia,
if I must.
“Oh, give me a June night,” sang the man, and he
carried a long club in his hand. “The moonlight and you.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
Well, look who’s here! What a time of night for you to be
out, Miss Nebbs!”
“Officer Kennedy!”
And that’s who it was, of course.
“I’d better see you home!”
“Thanks, I’ll make it.”
“But you live across the ravine. . . .”
Yes, she thought, but I won’t walk through the ravine
with any man, not even an officer. How do I know who the
Lonely One is? “No,” she said, “I’ll hurry.”
“I’ll wait right here,” he said. “If you need any help,
give a yell. Voices carry good here. I’ll come running.”
“Thank you.”
She went on, leaving him under a light, humming to
himself, alone.
Here I am, she thought.
The ravine.
She stood on the edge of the one hundred and thirteen
steps that went down the steep hill and then across the
bridge seventy yards and up the hills leading to Park
Street. And only one lantern to see by. Three minutes from
now, she thought, I’ll be putting my key in my house door.
Nothing can happen in just one hundred eighty seconds.
She started down the long dark-green steps into the
deep ravine.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
steps,” she counted in a whisper.
She felt she was running, but she was not running.
“Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
steps,” she breathed.
“One fifth of the way!” she announced to herself.
The ravine was deep, black and black, black! And the
world was gone behind, the world of safe people in bed,
the locked doors, the town, the drugstore, the theater, the
lights, everything was gone. Only the ravine existed and
lived, black and huge, about her.
“Nothing’s happened, has it? No one around, is there?
Twenty-four, twenty-five steps. Remember that old ghost
story you told each other when you were children?”
She listened to her shoes on the steps.
Literary Element
Setting What two major themes
does the setting of the ravine
emphasize in this section? Explain.
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
127
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Connect to Personal
Experience Taking into account
your own family and friends, do you
agree or disagree with what Greatgrandma says about the way
people go on living? Why?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 32
Douglas was crying.
She roused herself again. “Now, why are you doing
that?”
“Because,” he said, “you won’t be here tomorrow.”
She turned a small hand mirror from herself to the boy.
He looked at her face and himself in the mirror and then at
her face again as she said, “Tomorrow morning I’ll get up at
seven and wash behind my ears; I’ll run to church with
Charlie Woodman; I’ll picnic at Electric Park; I’ll swim, run
barefoot, fall out of trees, chew spearmint gum. . . . Douglas,
Douglas, for shame! You cut your fingernails, don’t you?”
“Yes’m.”
“And you don’t yell when your body makes itself over
every seven years or so, old cells dead and new ones
added to your fingers and your heart. You don’t mind that,
do you?”
“No’m.”
“Well, consider then, boy. Any man saves fingernail
clippings is a fool. You ever see a snake bother to keep his
peeled skin? That’s about all you got here today in this bed
is fingernails and snake skin. One good breath would send
me up in flakes. Important thing is not the me that’s lying
here, but the me that’s sitting on the edge of the bed
looking back at me, and the me that’s downstairs cooking
supper, or out in the garage under the car, or in the library
reading. All the new parts, they count. I’m not really dying
today. No person ever died that had a family. I’ll be around
a long time.
A thousand years from now a whole township of my
offspring will be biting sour apples in the gumwood shade.
That’s my answer to anyone asks big questions! Quick
now, send in the rest!”
At last the entire family stood, like people seeing
someone off at the rail station, waiting in the room.
“Well,” said Great-grandma, “there I am. I’m not
humble, so it’s nice seeing you standing around my bed.
Now next week there’s late gardening and closet-cleaning
and clothes-buying for the children to do. And since that
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
part of me which is called, for convenience, Great-grandma,
won’t be here to step it along, those others parts of me
called Uncle Bert and Leo and Tom and Douglas, and all
the other names, will have to take over, each to his own.”
“Yes, Grandma.”
“I don’t want any Halloween parties here tomorrow.
Don’t want anyone saying anything sweet about me; I said
it all in my time and my pride. I’ve tasted every victual
and danced every dance; now there’s one last tart I haven’t
bit on, one tune I haven’t whistled. But I’m not afraid. I’m
truly curious. Death won’t get a crumb by my mouth I
won’t keep and savor. So don’t you worry over me. Now,
all of you go, and let me find my sleep. . . . “
Somewhere a door closed quietly.
“That’s better.” Alone, she snuggled luxuriously down
through the warm snowbank of linen and wool, sheet and
cover, and the colors of the patchwork quilt were bright as
the circus banners of old time. Lying there, she felt as small
and secret as on those mornings eighty-some-odd years ago
when, wakening, she comforted her tender bones in bed.
A long time back, she thought, I dreamed a dream, and
was enjoying it so much when someone wakened me, and
that was the day when I was born. And now? Now, let me
see . . . She cast her mind back. Where was I? she thought.
Ninety years . . . how to take up the thread and the pattern
of that lost dream again? She put out a small hand. There. . .
Yes, that was it. She smiled. Deeper in the warm snow hill
she turned her head upon her pillow. That was better.
Now, yes, now she saw it shaping in her mind quietly, and
with a serenity like a sea moving along an endless and selfrefreshing shore. Now she let the old dream touch and lift
her from the snow and drift her above the scarceremembered bed.
Downstairs, she thought, they are polishing the silver,
and rummaging the cellar, and dusting in the halls. She
could hear them living all through the house.
“It’s all right,” whispered Great-grandma, as the dream
floated her. “Like everything else in this life, it’s fitting.”
And the sea moved her back down the shore.
Reading Strategy
Connect to Personal Experience
How does Great-grandma feel
about her impending death? Think
about an elderly person you know
well. What is his or her outlook on
life and death? Compare and
contrast this person’s point of view
with Great-grandma’s.
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
129
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Makes Life Good? What new
insights about what makes life
good do you think Douglas got from
having been sick?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 39
How do I thank Mr. Jonas, he wondered, for what he’s
done? How do I thank him, how pay him back? . . . Keep
the chain moving. Look around, find someone, and pass it
on. That was the only way. . . .
“Cayenne, marjoram, cinnamon.”
The names of lost and fabulous cities through which
storms of spice bloomed up and dusted away.
He tossed the cloves that had traveled from some dark
continent where once they had spilled on milk marble,
jack-stones for children with licorice hands.
And looking at one single label on a jar, he felt himself
gone round the calendar to that private day this summer
when he had looked at the circling world and found
himself at its center.
The word on the jar was RELISH.
And he was glad he had decided to live.
RELISH! What a special name for the minced pickle
sweetly crushed in its white-capped jar. The man who had
named it, what a man he must have been. Roaring,
stamping around, he must have tromped the joys of the
world and jammed them in this jar and writ in a big hand,
shouting, RELISH! For its very sound meant rolling in sweet
fields with roistering chestnut mares, mouths bearded with
grass, plunging your head fathoms deep in trough water so
the sea poured cavernously through your head. RELISH!
He put out his hand. And here was —SAVORY.
“What’s Grandma cooking for dinner tonight?” said Aunt
Rose’s voice from the real world of afternoon in the parlor.
“No one knows what Grandma cooks,” said
Grandfather, home from the office early to tend this
immense flower, “until we sit at table. There’s always
mystery, always suspense.”
“Well, I always like to know what I’m going to eat,”
cried Aunt Rose, and laughed. The chandelier prisms in the
dining room rang with pain.
Douglas moved deeper into pantry darkness.
“Savory . . . that’s a swell word. And Basil and Betel.
Capsicum. Curry. All great. But Relish, now, Relish with a
capital R. No argument, that’s the best.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
131
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 30–40
Respond and Think Critically
1. At the end of the book, when Douglas is ill, Mr. Jones says to him,
“Killing hot. And a long summer it’s been and too much happening, eh?”
What does Mr. Jones mean, and could he have been right? [Interpret]
2. What is Aunt Rose’s opinion of Grandma’s kitchen methods? What does
Aunt Rose do, and what is the effect of her actions? From this, what
can you conclude about the author’s attitude toward good cooks and
how they operate? [Analyze]
3. How many ketchup bottles were in the basement? What value do they
have for Tom? How does Grandfather’s attitude toward them differ from
Tom’s? [Recall]
4. Tom says that he will “remember what happened on every day of this
year, forever.” Grandfather says that as you get older, days blur
together. Which person is correct? Explain. [Evaluate]
5. What Makes Life Good? Why do you think some of the younger Green
Town residents are sad about the death of Lonely One? How does this
connect to the idea of what makes life good? Explain. [Infer]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
98. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 30–40
Literary Element Setting
1. Do you think the episodic structure of the novel
works well? Why or why not?
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary
word that correctly completes each sentence.
apparition
commotion
equilibrium
2. How does Douglas mark the passage of time over
the course of the summer of 1928?
exhalation
overwrought
1. “Here, here!” the policeman shouted to the crowd.
“What’s all this _____________?”
2. Being _____________ can have many negative
effects on the body.
3. Carla couldn’t believe her eyes when she thought
she saw a(n) _____________ floating at the top of
the stairs.
4. To be a tightrope walker, one needs a very strong
sense of _____________.
5. Proper _____________ is very important to all
athletes.
Reading Strategy Connect to
Personal Experience
1. What are some examples from real life that remind
you of Green Town’s situation with the Lonely One?
[Connect]
Academic Vocabulary
Discussing the Lonely One had become a tradition in
Green Town—it was part of living in the community.
Tradition means “an inherited or customary pattern of
thought or action.“ Do you have a special tradition in
your family or community? What is it, and how and why
did it get started?
2. In your experience, do people who share a
community respond to serious problems in the way
the people did in the novel? [Analyze]
D andelion Wine: C ha pters 30–40
133
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 30–40
Writing
Research and Report
Personal Response What did you think of the way
Literary Criticism
this book ended? Did you find the ending satisfying
or not? Give your reasons.
Assignment Use the Internet to find out more about
Ray Bradbury and his work. Bradbury is not only
hardworking but also versatile: he has written short
stories, novels, poems, screenplays, television
dramas, and even musicals. Look for interviews
with the author and critical analyses of his work.
Get Ideas Begin by making a list of specific
questions to answer. Each question should pertain
to your central topic: The Writings of Ray Bradbury.
Research As you try to find the answers to your
research questions, use the guidelines below to
help you evaluate the reliability of each Web site.
• The site should be affiliated with a reputable
organization.
• The writer of the Web content should have
credentials.
• Any Web site information should be verified with
at least one other reliable source.
As you find the answers to your research questions,
record them in a chart like the one below.
Question
Answer
Source
As you proceed, think about how the information
you are finding fits together. From these
connections, you will build the central idea of your
report. When you have completed your research,
reorganize the answers in a logical progression that
supports your central idea.
Report At the end of your report include a list of
correctly formatted citations for the Web sites you
consulted.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
Dandelion Wine
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers with
details from the text. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper, but jot down some notes first on the lines provided.
Just This Side of Byzantium
Ray Bradbury
Make Connections Bradbury writes: “I blundered
into creativity as blindly as any child learning to
walk and see.” Judging from what you have read
in the novel and in “Just This Side of Byzantium,”
what part does creativity have in Bradbury’s
writing?
Knoxville, Tennessee; Mango Juice
Nikki Giovanni; Pat Mora
Make Connections In both “Mango Juice” and
“Knoxville, Tennessee,” the speakers recall
summertime experiences. Contrast their methods
of remembering summers with Douglas Spaulding’s
method.
Homesickness
Brent Ashabranner
Make Connections In what ways are Ya Thong’s
feelings toward home similar to those of Douglas
Spaulding? What is different about Ya Thong’s
situation?
Dandelions: Survivors in a Challenging World
Jenepher Lingelbach, editor
Make Connections Which details in this article are
reflected in Dandelion Wine? Why might Bradbury
have ignored the other details?
Searching for Summer
Joan Aiken
Make Connections Both Aiken and Bradbury
write about summer. In what ways are their views
similar, judging from these works? Give reasons for
your answer.
D andel i on Wi ne
135
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: An American Childhood
A soft snowball hit the driver’s
windshield right before the driver’s face.
It made a smashed star with a hump in
the middle.
Often, of course, we hit our target,
but this time, the only time in all of life,
the car pulled over and stopped. Its
wide black door opened; a man got out
of it, running. He didn’t even close the
car door.
He ran after us, and we ran away
from him, up the snowy Reynolds
sidewalk. At the corner, I looked back;
incredibly, he was still after us. He was
in city clothes: a suit and tie, street shoes.
Any normal adult would have quit,
having sprung us into flight and made
his point. This man was gaining on us.
He was a thin man, all action. All of a
sudden, we were running for our lives.
Wordless, we split up. We were on our
turf; we could lose ourselves in the
neighborhood backyards, everyone for
himself. I paused and considered.
Everyone had vanished except Mikey
Fahey, who was just rounding the corner
of a yellow brick house. Poor Mikey, I
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
trailed him. The driver of the Buick
sensibly picked the two of us to follow.
The man apparently had all day.
He chased Mikey and me around the
yellow house and up a backyard path we
knew by heart: under a low tree, up a
bank, through a hedge, down some
snowy steps, and across the grocery
store’s delivery driveway. We smashed
through a gap in another hedge, entered
a scruffy backyard and ran around its
back porch and tight between houses to
Edgerton Avenue; we ran across Edgerton
to an alley and up our own sliding
woodpile to the Halls’ front yard; he kept
coming. We ran up Lloyd Street and
wound through mazy backyards toward
the steep hilltop at Willard and Lang.
He chased us silently, block after block.
He chased us silently over picket fences,
through thorny hedges, between houses,
around garbage cans, and across streets.
Every time I glanced back, choking for
breath, I expected he would have quit. He
must have been as breathless as we were.
His jacket strained over his body. It was
an immense discovery . . .
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the left,
which is excerpted from An American Childhood by Annie Dillard in
Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Figurative Language How does the language of the chase scene in An
American Childhood differ from that of Lavinia Nebbs’s terrifying walk
through the ravine in Dandelion Wine? How does each author achieve
a level of suspense?
WRITE ABOUT IT
One of the things that makes life
good is experiencing and
appreciating nature. Both Annie
Dillard’s An American Childhood
and Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion
Wine reflect this idea in different
ways. Compare and contrast one
way each author does this.
2. Sound Devices The two stories bring their scenes to life with amazing
clarity. Do you think Annie Dillard’s use of sound devices is like or
unlike Ray Bradbury’s? What are some of the similarities between their
styles? What are some of the differences? Explain.
3. Setting Although Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood takes place in
Pittsburgh in the early 1950s and Dandelion Wine is set in small-town
Illinois in 1928, there are some similarities between the two settings.
Compare and contrast how the setting affects the central characters in
both stories.
D andel i on Wi ne
137
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Review
Convince an Audience Write a book review of Dandelion Wine. In your
opinion, does the book appeal to contemporary teenage readers? Do you
think it is an important work of literature? Explain your point of view and
the reasons behind it in a book review. Use evidence from the novel to
support your ideas.
Prewrite You have already read Dandelion Wine, so you already know
whether or not you liked the book. But liking or disliking a book is not a
strong enough foundation for a well-reasoned review. Firm up your ideas
and opinions by skimming and scanning the novel to determine what your
controlling idea will be. Write a quick summary of the overall plot. From
there you can begin to set forth your own opinions on the themes, setting,
characters, and overall effect of the work.
Draft Create your thesis. After introducing the novel, you may wish to
include a rhetorical question (see Grammar Tip) to pull readers in to the
guiding idea of your review. Develop a logical sequence of information
based on the outline you created in your prewriting phase. You may refer
to plot events and character traits, or you may quote directly from the
novel. You may wish to create a chart like the one below to ensure that
your points are well supported.
Claim
Ray Bradbury’s novel is, to
some extent, about the
contradictions of life—life and
death, happiness and sadness,
change and continuance.
Evidence
Douglas experiences joy and
wonder when he realizes for
the first time that he’s alive.
Yet during that same summer,
several people he knows die
and another, his best friend,
moves away forever.
Revise As you review your first draft, make sure you have considered the
other side of the argument. Careful attention to the opposing viewpoint can
show an audience that your opinion is balanced and thoughtful.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• A book review is a form of
persuasive essay. In a book
review, a reviewer presents his or
her opinions about a work of
fiction or nonfiction. To be
effective, the opinions in any book
review must be well supported
with examples from the book itself.
Grammar Tip
Rhetorical Questions
A rhetorical question is a form
of interrogation that is used to
open or extend discussion rather
than to elicit a direct answer
from a respondent. In book
reviews and other persuasive
essays, rhetorical questions can
be used to introduce a subject
and then address it:
Will contemporary teenage
audiences find Dandelion Wine
to be compelling reading? To my
mind the answer is an
enthusiastic yes. The changes
Douglas Spaulding experiences
in his final preteen summer have
universal appeal.
Dragonwings
Lawrence Yep
D ragonw i ngs
139
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
Dragonwings
by Laurence Yep
“
It was an important moment in my life.
Perhaps the most important. I had never
seen my father, though I had often tried to
picture him from Mother’s and
Grandmother’s descriptions. His letters
were certainly warm enough, filled with his
worries about us and his longing to be back
home. But a man cannot be a father in a
letter.
”
—Moon Shadow, in Dragonwings
Young Moon Shadow faces a difficult
choice as he is given an opportunity to
meet his father for the first time. Moon
Shadow’s cousin, Hand Clap, has
returned to China from the United States
to visit family and friends. He has
brought with him a letter from Moon
Shadow’s father, who is now in San
Francisco. Moon Shadow’s father wants
his son to travel to the United States with
Hand Clap and join him in the “Land of
the Golden Mountain.”
Outsider Status Moon Shadow is
hesitant to leave his mother and
grandmother in China for a new life in
America. He has been told of the
“demons”—white people—in the United
States who killed his grandfather. The
white people forbid Chinese men to
bring their families to the United States.
The “demons” harass and beat Chinese
people without cause, though they most
often spare the children, for even “the
demons have some principles.”
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
But Moon Shadow knows there are
things one must do: “There was a certain
rightness in life—the feeling you got
when you did something the way you
knew you should.”
The Land of the Demons So begins the
journey of a young boy to meet the father
he does not know in a world of which he
knows little. In the United States, Moon
Shadow is an outsider learning his way
around a strange place with strange
customs, a strange language, and strange
people. The new world is not always a
gentle or wholesome one. Drugs are there
as well as danger and violence. The boy
is not totally alone, however. Other
Chinese immigrants are there too.
Through them, readers learn about the
traditional culture of Chinese immigrants.
Literary critic Marla Dinchak writes:
Chinese folklore, myths, and legends are
interwoven so readers not only sympathize
with Moon Shadow and the other Chinese,
but understand more of their culture and
traditions. That is true of most of Yep’s work,
for he not only tells a story but bridges a
cultural gap.
Moon Shadow’s father also is there to
guide his son, but the father has a dream
of his own—he dreams of building a
flying machine. His secret dream will
coincide with one of the most important
events in history.
Chinatown Dragonwings begins in
southern China in 1903. Most of the novel
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
takes place in San Francisco, California,
from 1903 to 1910. In 1850 only a few
hundred Chinese lived in California. Two
years later, 10 percent of the population
was Chinese. Today, the densely
populated Chinatown area of San
Francisco, home to the Tang community of
Moon Shadow and his father, is one of the
largest Chinese communities outside Asia.
Discrimination Many people came to
California because of the jobs associated
with the California Gold Rush. Life was
not easy. Most newcomers took simple
labor jobs, but as gold rush fever faded
and jobs became scarce, feelings of ill
will toward the Chinese soon followed.
The United States had long
discriminated against Asian immigrants.
In fact, the first law in American history
restricting immigration was directed
against Asians. Passed in 1862, the law
forbade American ships to transport
Chinese people to the United States. In
1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act
prohibited the entry of any Chinese
immigrants into the United States. Until
1936, Asians were required, by law, to
attend separate schools. The Chinese
Exclusion Act was not repealed until the
middle of World War II.
Many of the men who had come to
work in the United States after 1850
formed “bachelor societies” because
they were unable to bring their families.
The men sent money back to their
families in China, where there was little
work. When women were able to join
their husbands, Asian American families
often adapted to American customs and
lost touch with their traditions. In
Dragonwings Laurence Yep has tried to
give readers a sense of what these
traditions and customs were like.
Dialects and Standard Chinese
More people speak some form of
Chinese as their native language
than any other language in the
world. The major forms of
Chinese are often called
dialects, but they are really
separate languages. Although
the languages are related,
speakers of one “dialect” have
difficulty understanding
speakers of another.
Mandarin is the most widely
spoken language in China. It is
spoken in northern, central,
and western China. Wu, Min,
Kan, Hakka, Hsiang, and
Cantonese, or Yüeh, are spoken
in the southeastern part of the
country.
Efforts have been made to
standardize Mandarin Chinese.
These efforts have resulted in
what is called Modern Standard
Chinese, one of the official
languages of the United
Nations.
In the 1950s, the People’s
Republic of China gave official
standing to a new form of
English-type spelling called
Pinyin. All correspondence from
China is now in Pinyin, and
many governments, encyclopedias, and scholars use this
form. Pinyin was not created to
replace traditional Chinese
characters, but to help teach
pronunciation and create a
single spelling for the names of
persons and places.
Dragonw i ngs
141
MEET THE AUTHOR
Laurence Yep (1948– )
“
I wanted to show that Chinese
Americans are human beings upon whom
America has had a unique effect. I have
tried to do this by seeing America through
the eyes of a recently arrived Chinese boy,
and by presenting the struggles of his
father in following his dream.
”
—Laurence Yep, in the Afterword
to Dragonwings
As a boy, Laurence Yep was exposed to
many different cultures, but he did not
feel he could call any one of them his
own. His parents were of Chinese
heritage, though both grew up in the
United States, and his father owned a
grocery store in an African American
neighborhood in San Francisco. It was in
this neighborhood that Laurence grew
up, but he did not feel part of the
community. Yep was not exposed to the
culture of mainstream white America
until he entered high school.
Relating to Teen Readers Yep’s
experiences as a youth made him feel
like an outsider, which he believes
helped him as a writer:
Probably the reason that much of my writing
has found its way to a teenage audience is
that I’m always pursuing the theme of being
an outsider—an alien—and many teenagers
feel they’re aliens.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
Yep’s first novel, Sweetwater, was
published in 1973. The science fiction
story takes place on a planet named
Harmony, where a young man is one of a
group of relocated aliens. The group
struggles to find a place among the rich
colonists from Earth and the native
people of the planet. Racial tension,
jealousy, money, and social position
divide the groups.
A Kite-Making Father In 1975 Yep’s
second novel, Dragonwings, was
published. This novel established Yep as
a powerful voice for Chinese Americans.
His own father, a kite maker, was the
model for the character of Windrider. Yep
sees his book as “a way of stepping into
the shoes of members of my family.” But
his efforts as a writer are not just about
family, or even about how people find
their place in the world.
Laurence Yep has written many other
books and articles and has received
numerous awards. He lives with his
wife, Joanne Ryder, also a writer.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–4
Connect to the Literature
Think about a time when you were some place new and didn’t know your
way around or the customs that people there followed. What was the
experience like? What did you do?
Write a Journal Entry
Describe how it feels to be a stranger in a strange place.
Build Background
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Chinatown in San Francisco
Today, Chinatown spreads over more than twenty blocks of Nob Hill in San
Francisco, California. Established around the time of the Gold Rush of 1849,
San Francisco’s Chinatown is one of the largest and oldest Chinese
settlements outside Asia. When gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s
Mill, near California’s Sacramento River, thousands of Chinese immigrated
to the United States. Concerned that the large influx of immigrants would
cause employment problems, the San Francisco City Council passed antiChinese ordinances in 1870. These ordinances limited housing and
employment opportunities for Chinese immigrants.
In 1882 Congress passed the first of several Chinese Exclusion Acts. These
acts further restricted housing and employment opportunities for Chinese
immigrants. As a result of the ordinances and the act, the Chinese
American population of San Francisco decreased. Chinese immigrants
suffered further misfortune when the earthquake and fires that devastated
San Francisco in 1906 destroyed most of Chinatown. The area was rebuilt
and, to appease the anti-Chinese city officials, the “new” Chinatown
featured a unique East-meets-West architectural design.
In 1943 the Exclusion Acts were repealed, and Chinese immigrants were
allowed to become American citizens. Today, Chinatown is the second
most popular tourist attraction in San Francisco after the Golden Gate
Bridge. Its streets are filled with small shops and restaurants that reflect
the Chinese culture.
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
143
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1 –4
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What Influences You?
What influences the choices you make? Is it your parents or other adults
in your life? Is it the everyday world you live in? Or is it belonging to a
religious, ethnic, or other group? As you read Dragonwings, think about
what’s truly behind the things that Moon Shadow thinks, does, and says.
Literary Element Characterization
Characterization includes all the methods that a writer uses to develop
the personality of a character. This is generally done by
• What a character says
• What a character does
• What other characters say about a character
• What the narrator says about a character
When the narrator of a story tells you exactly what a character is like, this
is called direct characterization. When a character’s personality is
revealed through his or her words and actions and through what others
think and say about him or her, this is called indirect characterization.
Often writers use both direct and indirect characterization to develop a
character.
Characterization is important because it makes characters seem real and
believable. When you pay attention to how characters are developed in a
story, you will gain a better understanding of them.
As you read, pay attention to what the narrator says about the characters.
Ask yourself what a character’s actions and words reveal about his or
her personality. Think about what other characters say and think about
the character. Use the graphic organizer on the following page to record
your ideas.
Reading Skill Analyze Cultural Context
The customs, beliefs, relationships, and traditions that are typical of a
certain region and time period are the cultural context in a story.
Understanding the cultural context of a novel is important because culture
helps show characters, conflicts, and themes. The cultural context of
early Chinese immigration to the West Coast and life in a Chinese
American community is central to Dragonwings.
As you read, list details that suggest the cultural context of the novel. Use
a graphic organizer like the one to the right to help you.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
Vocabulary
amiably [ā mē ə blē] adv. goodnaturedly
Even when others were unkind,
Kai still reacted amiably.
dynasty [d¯ nəs tē] n. succession
of family members
All the rulers from the same
family created a dynasty.
heirlooms [ār looms] n.
treasured family possessions
Among the heirlooms from my
grandmother are a lace
tablecloth and a wedding ring.
insolent [in sə lənt] adj.
disrespectful; rude
When the child was insolent to
his parents, he was sent to his
room.
intuitive [in too ə tiv] adj.
instinctive; by hunch
Tina had not learned the theorem,
but she had an intuitive
understanding of it.
Details
The
characters
call
Americans
demons.
What They
Show
They think of
Americans
as evil spirits
or as their
enemies.
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1 –4
When Moon Shadow comes to America, he meets
new people in the Company. To keep track of these
characters, use the following chart. For each
Character and Trait
Hand Clap: likes to
exaggerate
character you encounter, make a note of his
personality or appearance and the method the
writer uses to reveal the character.
Example
“There was never a flea
that Hand Clap didn't call a
horse.”
Method of
Characterization
Other character’s words,
indirect characterization
Uncle Bright Star:
White Deer:
Lefty:
Black Dog:
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
145
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Characterization What do you
learn about Windrider on these
pages? Which indirect methods of
characterization are used?
146
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
As Father led me up the stairs, I forgot about the
demons, for I began to wonder again about his name,
Windrider. Every Tang man can have several names. He
has a family name and a personal name given to him at
birth. He can have another name given to him when he
comes of age, a nickname from his friends, and if he is a
poet, he can have a pen name. We are not like the demons,
who lock a child into one name from birth—with maybe a
nickname if he is lucky. We feel that a man should be able
to change his name as he changes, the way a hermit crab
can throw away his shell when it’s too small and find
another one.
When Father stopped before our door, I asked him,
“Why do they call you Windrider?”
“Wait,” he said. “You’ll see. It’s really a name I had
before I was born in this life.”
He pushed open the door. He waited almost shyly by
the doorway as I went inside. The room was only about ten
feet wide. By one wall were two mats and a trunk. A large,
long table filled the opposite wall, while shelves covered
the other two walls. There were piles of the strange, thick,
cloth-like paper of the demons on one corner of the table. (I
was used to the much thinner rice paper of the Tang
people.) Every other inch of space in the room was
crowded with small, strangely constructed machines whose
purpose I could not guess. I did not dare touch a thing. I
thought that each machine was like a magical bottle or box,
with demons waiting inside to burst out.
But then Father became as excited as a small boy. He
showed me each item, handling the strange machines as if
he had tamed whatever demons were trapped inside.
(Though, even so, if I had been left alone in that room, I
would have bolted.) . . .
Then Father showed me a device which he called an
electric light. It consisted of a stand in which was set a
globe of clear glass. Inside, filaments of burnt bamboo
perched like a black insect. The guts of the light—they
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
were really wires—led from the globe across the table,
vanishing into the jumble of machines.
Father dimmed the gaslight. “Watch this,” he said
eagerly. He examined the table, gave a grunt when he
found what he wanted, and turned a switch. I heard a
click. Suddenly the insect within the globe shone with a
light that was so bright and intense that it hurt my eyes,
and I cried out.
Father turned off the switch. “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t say anything, but Father realized I was scared
from the way I was shaking. He put his arm around me
and I felt his reassuring bulk. He waved his free arm
around at the room. “All of these things are only toys.
They’re harmless.”
“Because you learned the demons’ magic to protect you?”
Father smiled and laughed softly. “No. No. What’s here
belongs neither to us nor to the demons. It’s only a form of
a much greater and purer magic. It can do harm in the
hands of a wrong man and lash back on him; but the
superior man need not be afraid.”
But he could see from my face that I was not too sure
about the devices in the room. He sighed and scratched the
back of his head as if puzzled. “Won’t you take my word
for it, boy?”
“It’s hard to order someone to believe.” I added, “Sir.”
We both felt stiff and awkward.
Father spread his hands. “Oh, hell, boy. I don’t know
much about being a father.”
“I guess I don’t know much about being your son,” I
said slowly.
“Yes, well,” he nodded to me. “I guess we’ll have to
learn together then.” He sat down on the mat. “But I can
see I’ll have to tell you about my name. Then you’ll
understand why you should not be afraid.” He patted a
place beside him. I sat down there. He nodded
his head at the devices on the table. “All of these are part
of my name. The story was told to me by the Dragon King
himself.”
Literary Element
Characterization What do you
learn about Moon Shadow on these
pages? By what methods of
characterization do you learn it?
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
147
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultural Content How
does the setting reflect a culture
different from your own?
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
We stopped before a small, neat, three-story building
painted bright red and green. On the front of the building
was a huge sign on which were painted Tang people’s
symbols and demon words, announcing to the whole wide
world that this was the Company of the Peach Orchard
Vow. The demons always thought the name was funny.
Uncle let them laugh. It was Uncle who told me that the
Peach Orchard Vow was a famous vow, taken by the man
who became the god of war and his two sworn brothers, to
serve the people and help one another. On the door were
painted the names of the two door guardians who kept the
demons away. And on the windows were painted the
words for Long Life and Prosperity.
With a flourish, Uncle opened the front door for me and
ushered me inside. “A superior home for superior men,”
he said. Uncle was fond of the phrase “the superior man,”
which he said he had taken from the wise man Confucius.
I stepped in and looked around. The air inside smelled
of soap and food and sweat. The bottom floor was given
over to the laundry. . . .
On the walls above the ironing boards were strips of thick,
bright red paper with poems and sayings on them. Since the
words of the Tang people were more alive—more like
pictures, really—handwriting was more of an art form than
among demons. All the poems and the sayings were done in
lively, or lovely, hands. The most delicately written poem
had been done by Lefty when he still had his right hand. It
was a poem written by the Drunken Genius, Lee the White,
who drowned one night when he tried to embrace the moon
as it appeared on the lake. The poem went like this:
Upon my bed
Lies the bright moonlight
Like frost upon the earth.
Lifting my eyes,
I see the bright moon.
Closing my eyes,
I see home.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
The poem hung above Lefty’s ironing board.
There were other, more conventional pious sayings up
on the walls. Ones like: “Peace and prosperity upon this
store.” They had been written by a man who had belonged
to the Company before us. And there was one strip, faded
and smoke-smudged by time, which had been written by
one of the men who had founded the Company and who
was long since dead. The founder had written: “The three
virtues of the Stranger are to be silent, to be cunning, but
above all to be invisible.” Uncle told me that the warning
had been taken from one of the Middle Kingdom’s oldest
books, “Classic of Changes.”
All of us went up the stairs that led to the second floor.
This was used as a kitchen and relaxation room, where the
Company could read or gossip or play Mah-Jongg, the
game with tiles that is something like the demons’ card
game of gin rummy. On the third floor were our sleeping
quarters.
The dinner we had that night was the finest I had ever
had. White Deer was the cook. He was a devout Buddhist
who ate no meat and so few vegetables that I doubt if a
grasshopper could have lived on what he ate. Still, he was
one of the finest cooks around. . . .
At any rate, White Deer outdid himself that day. He
made duck with the skin parted and crisped and the meat
salty and rich and good. He had cooked squab in soy sauce
so that the skin and meat were a deep, deep brown all the
way to the bone. There was shark’s-fin soup, tasting of the
sea. There were huge prawns fried in a special butter that
gave them an extra fluffy coat. And on and on. But we
weren’t allowed to touch any of the courses until we had
the toasts.
Analyze Cultural Context What
evidence of a culture different from
yours do you find in this excerpt?
Consider art, religion, pastimes, and
food.
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
149
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you.
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Influences You? Who
influences Moon Shadow most—
his father or Uncle Bright Star?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
150
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
Father spread the magazine out before me. I saw a
series of drawings of a boxlike contraption. Father pointed
to the big letters beneath the picture. “This means the
demon flew.”
“Flew?” I said excitedly.
“That’s what it says. A pair of demon brothers by the
name of Wright flew in an ae-ro-plane.” . . .
“Were they given the wings by the Dragon King?” I
asked.
Father laughed. “No.” He tousled my hair affectionately.
“Not so they say. They repair bicycles. But what some
demon did, I can do.” His eyes had gone as deep as they
had when he had spoken of learning to fly on that strange
beach.
The others were down on the second floor where our
dining room-kitchen doubled as a gaming room in the
evenings, when the dishes had been cleared away. Only
Uncle was not excited by the demon magazine. He folded
his arms across his chest and pondered his next move at
the Tang people’s chess, which is slightly different from
demon chess (for one thing, there is a river across the
board). Finally, Uncle pushed a chariot forward and sat
back for White Deer to make his move. “It’s probably just
some fairy tale for children,” Uncle said. “You just haven’t
read it the right way.”
“No, no, it’s fact,” Father insisted.
“You can’t trust everything you read in the demons’
papers,” Uncle observed loftily. He was sitting in his
special treasure, a chair which the founder of the Company
had built and carved from teak wood brought all the way
from the Middle Kingdom. The head of the Company
always sat in that chair. Uncle treated his chair very much
like a throne in which no one else was allowed to sit. When
Uncle was settled into his chair, he did not so much speak
as make proclamations, so we knew better than to argue
with him at that time.
I could not understand why Uncle took such a stubborn
attitude against the fact that some demon had flown.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
151
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1 –4
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why isn’t Moon Shadow’s entire family in the United States? [Analyze]
2. What trouble does Black Dog get into? What problems might be behind
some of his troubles? [Synthesize]
3. In your opinion, why might Laurence Yep have put all English speech in
italic print? [Infer]
4. Why does Moon Shadow refer to white people as “demons”? Do you
think Moon Shadow will still feel this way after he has spent some time
in the United States? [Conclude]
5. What Influences You? Name two great influences on Moon Shadow’s
life in his new home. Explain your answer using details from the novel.
[Conclude]
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
142. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in the
novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1 –4
Literary Element Respond and Think Critically
1. What is Moon Shadow like? What is the main
method of characterization used to show his
traits? [Synthesize]
Vocabulary Practice
Write the boldfaced vocabulary word below that
correctly completes each sentence. If none of
the words fits the sentence, write none.
amiably
insolent
dynasty
intuitive
heirlooms
1. Felicia responded
didn’t trust what we said.
2. You learn about Windrider in part through the
narrator, as well as through Windrider’s words
and actions. How else do you learn about him?
[Analyze]
2. That trunk has been used for sixty years to
store those
.
3. At times, the girl was polite, but she could also
be
.
4. LiChen was
done the work.
to admit that she had not
5. Responding
friends.
is a good way to make
6. Jordan seemed to have an
the workings of her computer.
Reading Skill Analyze Cultural Context
1. How is Moon Shadow different from other
children living in California at the time when the
novel takes place? [Synthesize]
because she
7. The ruling
more than a century.
grasp of
had been unchallenged for
Academic Vocabulary
As narrator, Moon Shadow explains that “Mother
and Grandmother had decided to invest the money
Father sent us to buy more land and livestock.” Using
context clues, try to figure out the meaning of the
word invest in the sentence above. Write your guess
below. Then check your answer in a dictionary.
2. Explain why you think the novel is called
Dragonwings. [Synthesize]
D r agonwings: Chapters 1–4
153
AFTER YOU READ: C h a p t e r s 1 – 4
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write a Letter The “Land of the Golden Mountain”
turns out to be different from what Moon Shadow
expected. Write a letter from Moon Shadow to
another relative who wants to come to America.
Use the voice of Moon Shadow, as well as his
experiences and those of the Company, to prepare
the person for what he or she will and won’t find in
the United States.
Oral Report
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment A pecking order is a social
organization having definite levels of rank. In
Chapter 2, Laurence Yep discusses the pecking
order within the Company. He makes it clear who is
at the top, as well as where other members fall in
relation to the leader and to one another. Make your
own pecking order chart for the Company or for a
social organization in your life.
Prepare Sketch the pecking order you chose.
Decide how you will present it visually. You may use
a graphics or word–processing program, or create
original art work. Be sure your visual shows not
only rank but a sense of how decision-making and
other judgments might filter from the top of the
pecking order to its lowest members. Consider your
audience as you make choices such as type size
and font. Make sure that your visual will be clear
and readable to your entire audience. Next, prepare
an oral report to explain what your visual shows.
Organize your report from top, or highest rank, to
bottom, or lowest rank. Then add opening and/or
summary comments. Rehearse your oral report by
presenting it to a classmate.
Report As you present your visual and oral report
to the class, use these presentation techniques.
• Be sure to display your visual where everyone
can see it. Stand so that you do not block
anyone’s view of it.
• Look at your visual only when you are pointing to
or calling your audience’s attention to something
on it. The rest of the time, make eye contact with
your audience.
• Speak loudly enough for your audience to hear,
but do not shout.
Evaluate Write a paragraph assessing your work.
Decide how effective your visual was and why, how
well you incorporated your visual into your oral
report, and how well you got your ideas across to
your audience.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 5–8
Connect to the Literature
How do you get to know someone? One day you are complete strangers, and
after some time passes, you know a person well. How does this happen?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
List Steps
With a partner, make a list of steps that people often go through as they
get acquainted.
Build Background
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Opium Wars
Opium is a dangerous drug produced from the juice of the unripe opium
poppy. Opium and the other drugs that are made from the opium poppy
plant—morphine, codeine, and heroin—are highly addictive.
Opium was used for medicinal purposes as far back as A.D. 100. Toward
the middle of the 1600s, people began smoking opium in China. Many
became addicted. By the 1700s, China’s rulers recognized the problems
caused by opium. They began to take actions to stop cultivation of the
plant and to prohibit opium trade with the Western countries.
In the mid-1800s, the opium trade caused two wars between China and
Great Britain. The Opium Wars, as they were known, began when the
Chinese government attempted to stop the illegal importation of opium into
China by the British. China lost both wars. The Chinese government was
forced to sign a treaty that gave Hong Kong to the British and opened
several Chinese ports to British residence and trade. The importation of
opium was legalized.
D r agonwings: Chapters 5–8
155
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 5–8
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What Influences You?
When people come to live in a new place and culture, the people, places,
customs, and language of their past can be an enormous influence on
how they act in their new home. As you read, decide how much Chinese
culture influences what Moon Shadow thinks, says, and does.
Literary Element Allusion
An allusion is a reference in a literary work to characters, places, or
situations from other literary works, music, art, contemporary life, or
history. When readers recognize an allusion in a work, it can enrich their
understanding of the text. For instance, if a character in a work is
compared to Superman, a reader would likely instantly gain a greater
appreciation for the good or strong qualities of the character.
antiquated [an tə kwā tid] adj.
old; out-of-date
You have to start that antiquated
machine with a crank.
benevolence [bə nev ə ləns]
n. kindness; generosity
Giving away all her money to the
poor was an act of benevolence.
ironically [¯ ron i kəl lē] adv. with
double meaning; sarcastically
Josh said “great” ironically— he
didn’t mean it.
As you read, look for allusions to people, places, or ideas from Chinese or
Chinese American culture.
patronizing [pā trə n¯z in] adj.
snobbish; haughty
The patronizing man thought he
did us a favor by saying hello.
Reading Strategy Visualize
When you visualize, you create images, or pictures, in your mind as you
read. You use the author’s descriptions and details to imagine characters,
settings, and plot events.
tainted [tān tid] adj. poisoned;
disgraced
The dog sniffed the tainted meat
but would not eat it.
Visualizing helps you enjoy stories more because you imagine the sights,
sounds, smells, and feelings the author describes. When you visualize, you
are better able to understand and remember what you read.
Try these steps to visualize as you read.
• Pay attention to the sensory details that help you “see” the story.
• Try to imagine the scene as if it were taking place in a movie.
• Think about whether your images make sense with what you know
about the story.
Drawing a picture can help you practice visualizing. Make a graphic
organizer like the one shown below. List descriptive details, and then use
those details to sketch things you can see as you read.
Detail
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Detail
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Detail
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 5–8
Visualize the scene in the Whitlaws’ kitchen when
Moon Shadow presents the paper picture of the
Stove King. Use the space below to sketch the
room. Show where the characters and furnishings
might be within it. Add color to your drawing if you
like to show better what you see.
Whitlaw Kitchen
D r agonwings: Chapters 5–8
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INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Allusion There is an allusion to the
Listener on this page. How does it
help you understand that Miss
Whitlaw was different from the
person Moon Shadow expected?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 6
I think that the demoness had been waiting for us,
because Father had no sooner knocked once than she
opened the door. She was the first demoness that I had
ever seen this close up, and I stared. I had expected her to
be ten feet tall with blue skin and to have a face covered
with warts and ear lobes that hung all the way down to
her knees so that her ear lobes would bounce off the knees
when she walked. And she might have a potbelly shiny as
a mirror, and big sacs of flesh for breasts, and maybe she
would only be wearing a loin cloth.
Instead I saw a petite lady, not much bigger than Hand
Clap. She had a large nose—but not absurdly so—and a
red face and silver hair; and she wore a long dress of what
looked like white cotton, over which she had put a red
apron. The dress was freshly starched, and crinkled when
she moved and smelled good. She had a smile like the
Listener, She Who Hears Prayers, who refused release from
the cycle of lives until all her brothers and sisters too could
be freed from sin.
“Well,” she said. “Well.” I looked at her eyes and saw a
friendly twinkle in them that made her seem even less
threatening. There were demons, after all, who could be
kindly disposed. I suddenly felt calm and unafraid as I
stood before her.
My father nudged me. I bowed carefully and presented
our present. It was a paper picture of the Stove King, who
reported to the Lord of Heaven each year about what the
family had done—both the good things and the bad things.
It was customary each New Year’s to bribe the little Stove
King. Some families offered him cookies and tea, which he
could snack on during his journey to heaven. Others took a
more direct approach and smeared his face with honey. . . .
Father thought it might be a nice gesture to give the
picture to the demoness and I agreed, for the little Stove
King might take the demons’ ignorance into account and
give a good report for them; for the Stove King was
basically as kind and gentle a person as one was likely to
find among the gods.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
The demoness turned it over and over in her hands in
puzzlement until Father spoke. “He Chinee saint of kitchen.”
I doubt if the demoness would have had a “heathen” god
inside her kitchen but a holy man was a different matter.
“Well, isn’t that nice.” She smiled pleasantly and stepped
aside from the door. “Please, do come in.” . . .
But as the demon girl fetched the box of viewing cards, I
was looking at one corner of the room that was filled with
a blend of strange colors. I looked up to see that it was the
result of a window.
“Would you like to see our stained-glass window?” the
demoness asked gently.
I glanced at Father and he nodded, so I walked over to
it until I was about two yards away.
“You can take a closer look than that,” the demoness said.
It was a tall, rectangular window. On the outside there
was a border of flowers and vines made from bits of
colored glass set into a lead frame. But on the inner part of
the window there was a great green creature, breathing
yellow and red flames and biting at the spear that a silverclad demon thrust into him.
With a rustle of skirts, the demoness joined me.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at the green creature.
“A dragon,” she said. “You know. It’s a very wicked animal
that breathes fire and goes about eating up people and destroying
towns. St. George killed many of them.”
I looked at Father horrified, for these demons had
turned the story of dragons upside down if they thought
a holy man would kill them. But Father answered for me.
“Very interesting. We have dragons too.”
“Do you have a Chinese saint who did the same things as St.
George?” the demoness asked with obvious satisfaction.
“You should tell them the truth about dragons,” I told
Father.
“Maybe dragons in the demon lands are all as evil as
they believe.” Father shrugged. “At any rate, when you’re
someone’s guest, you don’t correct her no matter how
wrong she may be.
Literary Element
Allusion Explain how the allusion
to St. George helps you understand
some of the differences between
Miss Whitlaw’s culture and
Windrider’s culture.
D r agonwings: Chapters 5–8
159
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Strategy
Visualize What can you see in
your mind’s eye as you read this
page?
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 7
I had begun to think that the demons were not really so
bad, but that very evening I found out that there can be
some bad demons too. I was taking the trash out to the
trash barrels when I saw a demon boy lounging against the
wall of our alley. I was to find out later that he lived in the
tenement house next door. He was about two or three
years older than I was, and he was dressed in a gray shirt
without a collar. The shirt was of a good, if rough,
material. His hair was brown and his face was covered
with brown spots—freckles, Robin told me later.
I passed by him, when he kicked me in the backs of my
legs. I fell on my back, cracking my head against the
ground, the breath driven out of me. Our garbage pail
spilled out all over the alley. The boy leered down at me.
And above me, on the back landing of the tenement house
next door, I saw a half dozen boys begin to shout.
Ching Chong Chinaman,
Sitting in a tree,
Wanted to pick a berry
But sat on a bee.
I jumped to my feet and made the mistake of trying to
express my anger in the demon tongue. All I could come
up with was, “I no like you.”
The boys fell over one another laughing.
“You no likee me?” the boy asked mockingly. “I no likee
you.”
In my frustration, I began to curse him in the Tang
people’s language, using some of Uncle’s more memorable
curses. “I’m going to cut off your head,” I told him, “and
leave it in the gutter for the dogs to eat . . . .” I went on
from there, embroidering on the scene, but the boy
shinnied over the fence while the boys above him began to
make mock Tang-people sounds—sounds like “Wing-DuckSo-Long” and “Wun-Long-Hop” in rising and falling voices.
I could have bitten off my tongue. But I stood there, staring
at them, not wanting to let them chase me away. I felt
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INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
something soft and wet hit my leg. It was an old tomato.
They began to throw bits and pieces of garbage at me. Still
I stood there. Finally stones began falling around me. I
suppose they had collected the garbage and the stones
before they tried to get me. I felt a vague feeling of
triumph at having made them use their biggest weapons.
I turned slowly, as if I were not afraid of them but only
bored. A stone caught me in the small of the back. I
grunted, but I took my time despite the pain, remembering
how Red Rabbit had behaved that other time. Besides, I did
not want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. . . .
“Let go,” Father said. I did and the glider leaped out of
my hands three feet into the air and hovered indecisively.
Robin ran parallel to the surf line, her pigtails flying. The
glider was one of Father’s earlier models, without the
rudder controls. It was really like a big box kite in some
ways. Suddenly the sea winds caught the glider and lifted
it upward toward the sun, veering and soaring like a thing
alive, pulling stubbornly at the string. Robin had stopped
way down on the beach, a solitary little figure with the
waves washing her legs.
Father cupped his hands about his mouth. “Give it more
string,” he shouted to her. “Give it more string. It smells its
home.”
And Robin did. She had to, or it would have been lost.
Father went down then to fetch her hat. That long
afternoon we took turns flying the glider. First Robin. Then
me. Then even Miss Whitlaw.
“Flying is a rather exhilarating experience,” she confessed
to us. Her eyes were shining as a twist of her wrist sent the
glider dipping and then rising.
By the end of the day it was Father’s turn. I remember
how he stood on the beach, his pants rolled up as he highstepped, whooping and shouting, through the surf. Once
he stumbled and went down in the water, but he came
right back up, laughing and spluttering and spitting out
seawater. Triumphantly he held up the string to show us
he had held on to the glider.
Reading Strategy
Visualize Name five things you can
visualize as you read this scene.
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161
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you.
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Influences You? How does
Moon Shadow’s culture influence
him?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 7
I don’t mean to make myself sound like a goody-goody.
She was a demoness to me at that time, who lived in a
magical kind of lair. It was an adventure. It was a
challenge. And if I could remind her of some of the true
things about dragons that people ought to know but that
she seemed to have forgotten, well, that was to the good. I
went up to the demoness’ house in my clean tunic and
pants, my boots shined and my face scrubbed—and my
charm around my neck. She smiled quietly and prettily as
she had that first day. . . .
We drank our tea in a friendly kind of silence, and then
Miss Whitlaw picked up the box again. Her finger traced
the long sinuous curves of the golden dragon. “Oh, my,
isn’t it a”—it sounded like—“bu-dee-fu dragon?”
“Please?”
“Beautiful,” she repeated, and explained the word to me.
Once I understood her, I shook my head vehemently.
“No, no. It a . . .” I fumbled for the right word in the demon
language, but all I could come up with was, “a dragonee
dragon.”
Another thing to say for the demoness was her genuine
interest in learning about people as people. Where some idiot
like myself would have been smug and patronizing, the
demoness really wanted to learn. And like Father, she was not
afraid to talk to me like an equal. “I don’t think I understand.”
“Dragon do terrible thing, yes,” I said, struggling for the
right words. “But dragon, they do good thing too. Bring rain
for crops. They king among all . . . all reptile. They emperor of all
animal.”
And so on. I went on to tell the demoness everything my
Father had told me about dragons.
“Why, how marvelous,” the demoness exclaimed when I
was finished. “I never knew dragons did so much.”
“Maybe only bad kind go live here. You know, outlaw, that
respectable dragon no want.”
“Why, yes.” The demoness nodded. “That would make
sense. All the dragons I’ve read about haven’t been very pleasant
creatures.”
“No dragon pleasant. A dragon dragonee.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
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163
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 5 –8
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why must Moon Shadow and his father leave the Company? [Interpret]
2. How does Miss Whitlaw help Windrider come closer to achieving his
dream? [Analyze]
3. How does Yep make the Whitlaws seem different from other “demons”?
[Compare]
4. Does the growing friendship between Moon Shadow and his father and
the Whitlaws seem true to life? Why or why not? [Evaluate]
5. What Influences You? What person, event, or other value or idea do
you think influences Moon Shadow to hit Jack? [Conclude]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
155. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 5–8
Literary Element Allusion
1. Father often refers to the “superior man.” As
Chapter 2 explains, this is an allusion to wisdom
of Confucius. Why do you think Yep keeps
repeating this allusion throughout the novel?
[Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether each set of paired words has
the same or the opposite meaning.
1. antiquated and modern
2. benevolence and stinginess
3. ironically and sarcastically
4. patronizing and snobbish
2. How do the allusions in this novel help you learn
about Chinese culture? Name at least one
example to support your answer. [Analyze]
5. tainted and pure
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy Visualize
1. Describe what you see in the encounter that
takes place between only Black Dog and Moon
Shadow. [Apply]
That the Whitlaws are not like other demons is
evident from the first time that Moon Shadow and his
father meet them. In the preceding sentence, evident
means “clear or able to be understood.” Think about
why the contrast with other demons is evident. Then
fill in the blank for this statement: It is evident that
the Whitlaws are not like other demons because
2. Describe what you see in the scene when Moon
Shadow, his father, and the Whitlaws look up at
the night sky. [Apply]
D r agonwings: Chapters 5–8
165
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 5–8
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response How do you think the
relationship between Moon Shadow and his
father and the Whitlaws might affect Moon Shadow
in the future?
Speech
Assignment Getting to know people from a different
culture can provide unexpected—and sometimes
comic—moments. Write a persuasive speech in
which you give advice to people who are trying to
become part of a new culture or to people who are
dealing with newcomers to their culture. Use
examples from Dragonwings to explain and/or
support your ideas.
Prepare Choose your audience: newcomers or
people who will live with newcomers in their own
culture. Outline your speech, beginning with a hook
to engage your audience. One way to do that is by
identifying with them. Another way is by telling an
anecdote: a little story that introduces your topic
and makes the audience laugh, gasp, or reflect.
Then list three or four bits of advice for your
intended audience. Explain the advice with details
from Dragonwings, from your own experience, or
with other humorous, serious, or engaging
examples. Use ethical appeals, such as appeals to
your listener’s higher selves, and logical or
emotional appeals, such as points about how
understanding cultural differences enriches us all
and our nation.
Deliver Make eye contact with your audience.
Speak loudly and clearly so they can understand
you. Maintain a posture that makes you appear
friendly to your audience rather than stiff and
formal.
Evaluate Write an evaluative paragraph that
describes how well you addressed and interested
your intended audience; how appropriate your
advice was; how well you delivered your speech;
and how persuasive you believe you were.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 9–12
Connect to the Literature
What is the test of a new relationship? How do you know when you’ve
really become friends with someone?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Quickwrite
Write a short paragraph that defines the meaning of friendship.
Build Background
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
The Wright Stuff
In 1903 two small-town bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, stunned the
world. Orville and Wilbur Wright, who designed and made bicycles,
became interested in flight after reading about glider experiments. One
day Wilbur was watching buzzards fly and noticed that they must tilt, as
well as steer and climb, to use air efficiently.
When the Wrights built their first glider in 1899, it could do all these things.
Control wires could “warp” the wings to change shape and thus bank to
regain control if necessary. Between 1900 and 1902, the Wrights built
three experimental gliders. Then they designed propellers and a lightweight engine for a powered airplane.
On December 17, 1903, the Wrights’ flyer, powered by a gasoline engine,
took off with Orville at the controls. The flight lasted twelve seconds. A
later flight that day lasted fifty-nine seconds, and an age-old dream to fly
was realized.
Many people—including the U.S. Army—refused to believe the Wrights
had flown. Although the Wrights quickly offered their flyer to the army, it
took six years to get a contract signed.
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167
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 9–12
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What Influences You?
As you read, ask yourself, how do the latest ideas in science and
technology influence Windrider and Moon Shadow?
Literary Element Conflict and Resolution
Conflict is the central struggle between opposing forces in a story. An
external conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside
force, such as another person, nature, society, or fate. An internal conflict
exists within the mind of a character who is torn between opposing
feelings or goals. The resolution is the part of the plot that presents the
final outcome of the story. At that time, the plot’s conflicts are resolved
and the story ends.
Conflict is important in storytelling because it advances the plot, and
readers always hope for a satisfying—or at least interesting—ending or
resolution. Most plots are built around one or more conflicts.
As you read, ask yourself, what conflicts are the characters facing? How
might these conflicts be resolved? Use the graphic organizer on the
following page to record information.
Reading Skill Analyze Theme
When you analyze, you look at separate parts of something in order to
understand the whole thing. Theme is the central message or meaning of
the whole poem or story. Some themes are directly stated; others are
implied. A theme is often stated as a simple sentence such as “Honesty is
the best policy” or “Trust your instincts.” A theme is not the work’s
specific subject. It is a more universal message about life.
Analyzing theme helps you understand how the author gets his or her
message across. It helps you read more deeply. You go beyond
knowing what the work is about to understanding how it expresses
meaning.
To analyze a theme,
• read the whole work or large sections of it
• look for big ideas about how to live life that the work suggests
• identify where and how you learn those big ideas
As you read, ask yourself what message author Laurence Yep is
sending about life and how he sends it. You may find it helpful to use a
graphic organizer like the one at the right.
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Vocabulary
abominable [ə bom ə nə bəl] adj.
hateful; vile
We couldn’t wait to complete the
abominable job of picking up
trash.
desolate [des ə lit] adj. lonely;
ruined
No one would hear Maggie if she
called out in this desolate place.
indifferent [in dif ər ənt] adj.
uncaring; apathetic
Jamal cared deeply about the old
woman, but Dee was indifferent
to her.
monopolize [mə nop ə l¯ź] v. to
take over; to control
Those two boys monopolize every
conversation with their nonstop
chatter.
venerable [ven ər ə bəl] adj.
aged; worthy of reverence
The people bowed before their
venerable ruler.
Event
or
Scene
Message
How
Message
Is Sent
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 9–12
There are many conflicts in Dragonwings. Are they
all resolved at the end of the novel? Write the
resolution of the story in the center of the web
below. Use the other circles to record conflicts in
this section of the novel or from previous sections.
For each conflict that you believe is resolved at the
end of the novel, darken the dotted line leading from
the conflict to the resolution.
Resolution
D r agonwings: C hapters 9–12
169
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Conflict and Resolution Identify
the conflict in this passage.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
Father playfully tipped his hat forward so that it shaded
his eyes. “Yes, and you go on losing those new friends that
you make just like you lose the new house you build.
Don’t you want something better, purer, freer in this life?”
“I don’t think there is,” I said doubtfully.
Father pulled off his hat and smoothed his hair.
“I think an aeronaut is free. I think an aeronaut may be
the freest of all humankind.”
“But you don’t have an aeroplane.”
“I’ll build one.”
“And how will you live?”
“I’ll put on shows and people will pay to see just how
pure and free a man can live.” He bit his lips thoughtfully.
“I think this is my final test, Moon Shadow: the final and
truest measure of whether I’m worthy to become a dragon
again.”
I felt as lonely as I had that first day on the pier, looking
at the crowd of strange Tang men. I was not only losing
the Whitlaws, but Father as well.
“Why do you always have to change your life just when
it looks like you’re finally settling in?” I asked.
“Dragons are able to change shape, and so must I. Do
you understand?” Father glanced over at me. I dropped
my eyes. “Do you, Moon Shadow?” I still did not answer.
“Do you?”. . .
I did not say much to Father as we rode back to the Tang
people’s town. What could I say to a man whom I had
come to love and respect but who wanted to leave me?
That night Father got Uncle alone and I sat down by them.
Father turned to me. “Moon Shadow, you once asked me
who or what caused the earthquake. I don’t know. It could
have been the gods, or dragons, or demons, or it could
have simply been a natural event. It doesn’t matter,
supernatural or natural; it means the same: This life is too
short to spend it pursuing little things. I have to do what I
know I can and must do.”
Uncle banged his fist on the arm of his chair. “Not that
damn dream again.”
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“Dream or not, I can fly,” Father said matter-of-factly. “I
can build a flying machine.”
Uncle looked grim. “Even assuming you can build a
flying machine and then make money flying it, what will
you and your family eat while you’re building the
machine?”
“It’s time I thought of myself,” Father asserted.
Uncle was scandalized. “Supposing your father and
mother had thought that? Or suppose their fathers and
mothers had thought that before?”
“That’s cheating.” Father sagged in his chair and rested
his hands on his knees.
“A superior man admits the truth,” Uncle snapped. I
could see Father was beat. He hung his head for the
longest time, staring down at his hands. I could only think
of some immortal who had suddenly woken one morning
to find himself in a man’s body and realized he was being
punished. For the second time in my life, I made an
important decision to be with him.
“I want to fly too, Father,” I said.
“Stay out of this,” Uncle snapped.
“Pardon me, Uncle, but you brought me into this.” I
looked at Father again. “We should build the flying
machine. Maybe you can make a living doing it. And while
we’re building it, we’ll both get jobs. We’ll all manage
somehow.”
Father straightened a little. “Despite what everyone
says?”
“A superior man can only do what he’s meant to do,” I
said.
Uncle laughed scornfully. “Don’t give me that
nonsense.”
“He’s the only one I hear talking sense,” Father said.
“Don’t expect to come back here, either of you,” Uncle
warned us. He was hurt by our leaving him a second time.
“I won’t have anything to do with fools.”
“Please let me go with you, Father. I won’t be any
trouble at all, and you’ll need help.”
Father put his hand on my shoulder. “Yes. I know I’ll
need help. I was hoping you’d come along.”
Literary Element
Conflict and Resolution How does
the rest of this excerpt resolve the
conflict highlighted on the previous
page? What additional conflict
does it introduce?
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171
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Theme The theme shown
by this passage is a theme that has
appeared in many other places in
the novel? What is it?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
Sometimes I think there are scales in Heaven, and for
every good thing that happens in your life, Heaven
balances it with a bad thing. The Company had no sooner
warmed to Miss Whitlaw than other demons proved just
how malicious they could be. Three days later Father and I
were over visiting with Miss Whitlaw when we heard
the tramp and clatter of the demon soldiers.
“In here,” we heard a voice say.
The tent flap was raised by a young demon officer. One
of Miss Whitlaw’s demon neighbors was pointing at us.
“Come along, you two,” the young officer said. “We’re
moving you out.”
“All of us?” father asked incredulously.
“Just YOU, Chinamen,” the young officer said. “You sabe
me?”
Father’s hands clenched and unclenched, but behind the
young officer we could see a squad of demon soldiers.
They were not the same friendly ones who had given out
bread and taken care of the refugees. These soldiers all
wore the same stern, tense expressions and handled their
bayonetted rifles nervously, as if they were in the camp of
the enemy.
“I sabe,” Father said. “You must excuse,” he said to Miss
Whitlaw.
“Well, I don’t ‘sabe.’” Miss Whitlaw rose in magnificent
outrage. “How dare you come poking into my tent and
commanding my two friends to leave? How dare you tell the
Chinese to leave?”
The officer was taken aback. He became a little less
haughty. “Ma’am, those are the orders. The Chinamen have to
go.”
“Why? I daresay they make better neighbors than some other
folk whom I won’t name because I’m a Christian woman.” Miss
Whitlaw darted a poisonous glance at the demon who had
guided the soldiers over here. The demon shifted
uncomfortably on his feet.
“I’m . . . I’m sure, ma’am,” the officer said hastily. “But
they’ve got to go. I’m to take them bound up if necessary.”. . .
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
The squad was guarding other Tang people, who stood
with their gear on their backs or in wheelbarrows. We were
marched through the camp, with demons staring at us,
while the soldiers rounded up more and more Tang
people. When we got back to the main camp
of the Tang people, we found most of the tents already
struck. The Company was loading our stuff onto our
wagon. There were more soldiers there, standing with rifles
at the ready, waiting for some outbreak of rebellion. From
the way the demon soldiers acted, you would have
thought each of us had a knife up his sleeve.
A long procession of Tang people, many on foot,
marched along Van Ness Avenue past the gutted mansions
of the rich. What the earthquake had not destroyed, the
fires had. At the end of Van Ness, after several footwearying miles, we came to a warehouse. Except for Uncle,
myself, and Hand Clap, who rode on the wagon, the rest
of the Company had walked. Red Rabbit already had to
carry several wagonloads at the same time. Somehow he
did it.
But then, the very next day, we were moved to a parade
ground at an army fort near the entrance to the bay, the
Golden Gate. I can’t remember everywhere we moved, or
when. But I think Thursday morning we were moved to
the golf course at the Presidio, another army base slightly to
the east of the Golden Gate. It was as if the demons could
not make up their minds. . . .
Last year the demon officials of the city had tried to
move the Tang people out of our old area to a place called
Hunter’s Point in the southern part of the city, where some
Tang fishermen already had a camp. It was now rumored
that the demon officials were going to make us rebuild the
Tang people’s town not in our original location but down
at Hunter’s Point; and yet every other ethnic group in the
city was going to be allowed to return to its old homesite.
Reading Skill
Analyze Theme How does author
Laurence Yep reveal the theme of
this passage? For example, does he
use characters, events, or setting?
D r agonwings: C hapters 9–12
173
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you.
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Influences You? What
influences everyone’s words and
actions in this scene? How do you
know?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 4
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 12
Then Hand Clap, Lefty, and White Deer crowded around.
“Am I ever glad you’re here,” I said. “Poor Father—”
Uncle held up his hands. “We know. That’s why we came.”
“But how? Why?” I was bursting with a dozen questions
all at once.
“Why, to help you get that thing up to the top of the
hill,” Uncle said. “Why else would we close up our shop
and take a boat and climb this abominable hill, all on the
coldest, wettest day ever known since creation?”
“But you don’t believe in flying machines.”
“I still don’t,” Uncle said sternly. “But I still feel as if
I owe you something for what was done to you by that
man who once was my son. I’ll be there to haul your
machine up the hill, and I’ll be there to haul it back down
when it doesn’t fly.”
“We were all getting fat anyway,” White Deer said,
“especially Uncle.”
“It might be easier to rent a team of horses and a wagon
from a demon,” I warned.
“Who wants their wagons and their lazy horses?” Uncle
asked airily.
“But you have only one horse and we’ll need a team.”
Uncle swept his hand around the Company. “When a lot
of the demons’ fathers were too lazy to work their mines,
we took those mines over and made them pay by the sweat
of our brows and the ache in our backs. And when the
demons were too scared to go into the mountains to build
the paths for their trains, we went and dug up whole
mountains. Between Red Rabbit and us, we’ll carry your
flying machine to Heaven and back if we have to. Call it
our penance. We don’t want to come back in our next lives
as dogs because we felt no shame.” Uncle held me off at
arm’s length. “But look how tall you’ve grown.”
“And how thin,” White Deer said.
“And ragged,” Lefty fingered a patch on my pants.
“We’ve been doing all right,” I insisted.
“Well, you haven’t starved to death or broken your necks,”
Uncle observed, “which was more than I ever expected. Now.”
He clapped his hands together. “Come, I’m getting cold.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
D r agonwings: C hapters 9–12
175
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 9–12
Respond and Think Critically
1. How does the Company keep itself from being moved permanently out
of the city? [Analyze]
2. What conflict does Black Dog cause? [Interpret]
3. Have you ever experienced an emergency? How do you think you
would react to a major event like the one faced by the characters in
San Francisco? [Connect]
4. Were you satisfied with the response of Moon Shadow’s father to the
flight? Is this his last flight? How do you know? [Conclude]
5. What Influences You? What do you think is the most important
influence on Uncle Bright Star? Cite details from the novel to support
your answers. [Conclude]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 4
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on page
167. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTE R YOU READ: Chapters 9–12
Literary Element Conflict and Resolution
1. There are several conflicts in this novel. What do
you think is the most important one? Explain your
answer by referring to the events of the novel.
[Summarize]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify the context clues in the following
sentences that help you determine the meaning
of each boldfaced vocabulary word.
1. Throwing eggs at the old man’s house was an
abominable act.
2. After the hurricane hit, the streets were
desolate.
2. Describe the resolution of this novel. Which
conflict or conflicts are resolved? [Analyze]
3. The people were cold and hungry, but the
indifferent ruler did not take action.
4. Two students monopolize the discussion
while all the others are silent.
5. People called the queen venerable because
of her wisdom and generosity.
Reading Skill Analyze Theme
1. What do you think is the main theme of
Dragonwings? Explain your answer by referring
to specific ideas and events in the novel.
[Synthesize]
Academic Vocabulary
One of the main factors leading to the success of
the glider flight is Windrider’s technical ability. In
the preceding sentence, factor means “something
that contributes to a result or an ingredient.” Factor
also has other meanings. For example: You must
multiply by a factor of four. What do you think factor
means in the preceding sentence? What is the
difference between the two meanings?
2. Name two other themes you find in the novel.
[Analyze]
D r agonwings: C hapters 9–12
177
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 9–12
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write Storyboard Text Make a storyboard of the
events in this section that lead up to the climax of
the novel. A storyboard is a charting of the events
of the novel, just as they might appear in a movie or
video. Your storyboard should show main events in
the rising action as well as the climax. For each
scene, write a summary statement of the action. If
you want, create the images, too.
Connect to Content Areas
Jot down some notes here first.
Math Because earthquakes tend to recur
according to a cycle, graphing and charting them
are useful operations in sizing up risk. Learn more
about the technology of graphing and charting
earthquakes. Show what you have learned in a
computer-slide presentation for the class.
Investigate Use multiple sources to learn about
why and how people make earthquake graphs and
what they show. Use the Internet or your library
catalog to locate information. Identify and
determine the subject-specific meanings of any
technical terms related to earthquake graphing,
such as risk, magnitude, recurrence interval, and
fault length.
Create Create a computer-slide presentation with
three parts:
• a slide or slides explaining any technical terms
that your audience will need to understand your
report
• one or more examples of earthquake graphs,
with oral explanation of what they show and how
they were made
• a slide that credits your sources, including the
source of your graph(s)
Report Be sure to project your slides slowly and to
leave them up long enough for your audience to
completely absorb what they show. Speak loudly,
slowly, and clearly as you explain what each slide
shows.
17 8
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
Dragonwings
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s Literature Library
edition of this novel. Support your answers with details from the text. Write your answers
on a separate sheet of paper, but jot down some notes first on the lines provided.
Writing Dragonwings
Laurence Yep
Make Connections How did identifying his
audience help Yep to write Dragonwings?
from Chinese Kites
Wang Hongxun
Make Connections How might a knowledge of kite
design have helped the characters in Dragonwings
to build their airplanes?
Success at Kill Devil Hills
Becky Welch
Make Connections The Roman writer Seneca said,
“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of
greatness.” Do you agree with this statement? Why
or why not? How might this statement apply to
Windrider and the Wright Brothers?
from The Case of the Goblin Pearls
Laurence Yep
Make Connections Compare and contrast the
relationship of Auntie and Lily with the relationship
of Windrider and Moon Shadow.
Some Personal Recollections
Gerstle Mack
Make Connections How does Gerstle Mack’s
experience compare with Moon Shadow’s
experience?
D ragonw i ngs
179
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The War of the Wall
Me and Lou had no time for
courtesies. We were late for school. So we
just flat out told the painter lady to quit
messing with the wall. It was our wall,
and she had no right coming into our
neighborhood painting on it. Stirring in
the paint bucket and not even looking at
us, she mumbled something about Mr.
Eubanks, the barber, giving her
permission. That had nothing to do with
it as far as we were concerned. We’ve
been pitching pennies against that wall
since we were little kids. Old folks have
been dragging their chairs out to sit in
the shade of the wall for years. Big kids
have been playing handball against the
wall since so-called integration when the
crazies ‘cross town poured cement in our
pool so we couldn’t use it. I’d sprained
my neck one time boosting my cousin
Lou up to chisel Jimmy Lyons’s name
into the wall when we found out he was
never coming home from the war in
Vietnam to take us fishing. . .
Mama beckoned us over. And then we
saw it. The wall. Reds, greens, figures
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
outlined in black. Swirls of purple and
orange. Storms of blues and yellows. It
was something. I recognized some of the
faces right off. There was Martin Luther
King, Jr. And there was a man with
glasses on and his mouth open like he
was laying down a heavy rap. Daddy
came up alongside and reminded us that
that was Minister Malcolm X. The
serious woman with a rifle I knew was
Harriet Tubman because my grandmama
has pictures of her all over the house.
And I knew Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer
‘cause a signed photograph of her hangs
in the restaurant next to the calendar. . . .
”Read the inscription, honey,” Mrs.
Morris said, urging little Frieda forward.
She didn’t have to urge much. Frieda
marched right up, bent down, and in a
loud voice that made everybody quit
oohing and ahhing and listen, she read,
To the People of Taliaferro Street
I Dedicate This Wall of Respect
Painted in Memory of My Cousin
Jimmy Lyons
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the left,
which is excerpted from “The War of the Wall” by Toni Cade Bambara in
Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below. Use the exact
words of the text or explain events and ideas in the text to support your
answers.
Compare & Contrast
1. Characterization How do you find out about the character of the
narrator in the first paragraph? How is that similar to or different from
the way you find out about Moon Shadow?
WRITE ABOUT IT
Write some advice to the children
in “The War of the Wall” about
jumping to the wrong conclusions
about people. To support and
explain your advice, use examples
from Dragonwings that show how
people can make mistakes as a
result of lack of understanding.
2. Allusion What allusions do you find in this excerpt? How is the use of
allusions in this story like the use of allusions in Dragonwings?
3. Conflict and Resolution How do the conflict and resolution in this story
differ from the conflict and resolution in Dragonwings?
Dragonw i ngs
181
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Expository Essay
Compare and Contrast Theme One of the major themes of Dragonwings is
the immigrant experience and how it influences a person’s life. Identify a
literary work from Glencoe Literature with a similar theme. Compare and
contrast the two themes and how they are revealed.
Prewrite Make notes about how the immigrant experience is shown in
Dragonwings. Record scenes and bits of evidence, or quoted words and
phrases, that help reveal the theme. Reflect on how Yep shows the theme,
such as through actual historical events, problems and solutions, conflicts,
or details of the setting. Then do the same for the literary work from
Glencoe Literature.
Draft State the title and author of both works you will compare and lead
up to your thesis by making a general statement about the works or their
themes. End your introductory paragraph with a clear statement of your
thesis. Use your body paragraphs to demonstrate your understanding of
the themes of both works. Be sure to make detailed references to both
works, either by quoting them or carefully explaining what happens in
them, to support the points you make about each theme.
Revise As you revise, look for ways to link your quoted evidence to the
sentences that come before and after the quotations. For example, to
lead into a quotation, you might write, “One problem of the immigrant
experience is shown when
says
.” To lead out
of, or explain the same quotation, you might write, “These words
show
.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• To compare and contrast is to
discover and explain likenesses
and differences between two or
more things.
• A theme is the central message
about life in an essay or work
of literature. Like a thesis, a
theme is a controlling idea in
a work. Unlike a thesis, a theme
is almost always unstated.
Instead, the reader understands
the theme by thinking about the
overall meaning conveyed by
the work.
Grammar Tip
Italics
Italics are used to show book,
newspaper, movie, and other
titles. They also have other
special uses. One of these is the
use of italics to show foreign
words that are not common in
English:
“It has become de rigueur to be
tolerant of cultural differences,”
she said.
Use italics when you refer to a
word as a word:
De rigueur means the same as
proper or right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
I Am Mordred:
A Tale from Camelot
Nancy Springer
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om Camel ot
183
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
Nancy Springer
“
. . . People often ask me how I can
write novels for both children and adults.
I can’t understand why this should be such
a strange idea to them. The way any fiction
writer works is to get inside the main
character, to see through the character’s
eyes, to walk around in the character’s
skin for awhile—and when writing a
novel for children the main character is a
child, that’s all. Style, vocabulary, subject
matter, everything else follows naturally
once the fundamental act of imagination
takes place.
”
—Nancy Springer
Was there a real King Arthur? Historical
documents and archaeological remains in
England hint that such a leader may
have lived in the early 500s. According to
these sources, a Celtic chieftain named
Arthur fought against Germanic
invaders. A vast oral literature developed
around Arthur, and by the time the
stories were written down, truth and
fiction had been forever blended.
Questioning Legend In the Arthurian
tales, Mordred is infamous as the
illegitimate heir to Arthur’s throne.
Together with his aunt Morgan, he
convinces a number of knights of the
Round Table to join him in his fight
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
against King Arthur. But Mordred is
missing from the Arthurian tales that are
set in the period between his birth and
his entrance into court as Arthur’s rival.
It was Mordred’s absence from these
stories that first prompted Nancy
Springer to write “The Raven,” a short
story about Mordred’s life. Springer felt
that the presentation of Mordred in
earlier versions of the story as the unique
cause of the failure of Arthur’s glorious
ideals was perhaps undeserved. Her
novel asks readers to consider whether
Mordred deserves that blame. I Am
Mordred: A Tale from Camelot takes readers
inside Mordred’s mind so that they can
decide for themselves who caused
Camelot’s fall.
An Ageless Story Stories of Arthur and
his court had been passed down orally
for some years before Sir Thomas Malory
and other authors first published them.
Malory’s collection of tales, called
Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur),
came out in 1485. However, the stories
are set in a much earlier time. Arthur and
his knights are said to have lived around
the fifth or sixth century in Britain; the
earliest mentions of the legendary king
occur shortly after this period. But the
stories developed slowly, over several
centuries, adding characters drawn from
ancient Celtic stories (such as Gawain)
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
and traditional French tales (such as
Lancelot). People telling these stories
were looking back to a legendary golden
age of peace. That age—and Arthur—
probably never existed, but the legends
were more thrilling and more appealing
than reality for medieval listeners. Even
today, the stories are being written anew
and filmed in movies.
The Road to Knighthood
It wasn’t easy to become a
medieval knight. Boys began
training young with mock
weapons to build their strength
so that they could carry the
heavy armor knights wore. At
about age ten, a boy would be
taken into an influential lord's
household, where he would
serve the lord, learning humility
and how the household
operated. He sparred with other
boys his age and learned to
hawk, ride, and care for horses.
Finally, at fourteen, he could
become a squire to a knight,
learning about armor and real
weapons. Not until he was
about nineteen could he wear
armor and join in war games
on horseback.
First, however, the young man
underwent an initiation ritual.
In the morning, he put on his
best clothes, feasted with his
family, and presented himself
to his lord. Other knights
fastened on his spurs, and he
kissed his new sword. The
famous dubbing followed, and
though a knight's dubbing in
England is shown today as a
gentle tap on the shoulder
with the king's sword, in
medieval times it was often a
blow hard enough to send the
new knight sprawling. When the
ceremony was over, the knight
did what people who have
achieved a hard goal still do
today: he celebrated!
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om Camel ot
185
MEET THE AUTHOR
Nancy Springer (1948– )
“
. . . Once I had started writing books for
children, I finally started growing up.
”
—Nancy Springer, Authors and Artists for
Young Adults
Born on July 5, 1948, Nancy (Connor)
Springer was the only girl and youngest
child in her family. From a young age,
she felt presssure to do just what the
adults in her life said she should. “I was
miserably shy, and very small and
skinny, and of course I was picked on,”
she recalls. Springer spent her teen years
helping out in her parents’ business, a
small motel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
She found that reading works of fantasy
helped her escape from daily cares:
“Without quite knowing why, when
I was in my teens I started to daydream
a lot about heroes facing an evil, hostile
world. . . .”
An Avid Reader From an early age,
Springer “lived to read,” keeping
notebooks with lists of the books she had
read and new words she had learned
from them. But it wasn’t until after college
that she “dare[d] to really write.” Springer
taught high school for a year and then left
to raise a family. When the demands of
family life seemed pressing, she turned to
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
writing fantasy, just as she had turned to
reading it during her teen years.
Room for a Pony Like many children,
Springer always dreamed of having her
own horse, and her success as a writer
allowed her to buy her own horse when
she was thirty-three. Her experiences
with “this somewhat unruly animal”
gave her confidence and a new direction
in her writing:
[I] found myself writing books specifically for
children and young adults. The horse, for me,
was a key that let me back into my own
childhood in a more complete and realistic
way than my fantasy heroes had.
Exploring Mordred Springer first
explored Mordred’s tale in a short story
but was intrigued enough to develop the
story into a novel. She has since written a
companion volume, I Am Morgan le Fay:
A Tale from Camelot, to flesh out Morgan’s
tale as well. Springer has a rubber stamp
with her motto on it, a motto she says
has defined her life: “Conform, go crazy,
or become an artist.” She continues to
write novels, stories, and poetry that
explore how each person finds his or her
place in the world.
BEFORE YOU READ: Prologue–Chapter 4
Connect to the Literature
Recall a time when you learned something so unexpected and surprising
that it affected you deeply. How did you react when you heard it? Did the
information change your life in some way?
Write a Journal Entry
Write about the instance you just recalled or about a time when you had
momentous news to tell someone else. Is there a best way to tell
important news?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
Medieval Households
Most of Mordred’s story is set in the households of medieval nobility. Such
households were large and required many people to run them. The
seneschal, for example, was in charge of directing the servants and
keeping the accounts, while the steward made sure that the kitchen and
pantry were stocked and staffed. A lord had his retainers, men-at-arms in
his service, and a lady had ladies-in-waiting who met her personal needs.
Wealthy households sponsored bards, singers of tales who kept the family
history alive.
Outside the castle, crofters worked the fields and vineyards that provided
the household’s foods. All these people are part of the backdrop of this
tale. Most members of a noble household, including the knights and the
servants, ate together daily in the castle’s great hall. This method allowed
the nobles to pay off their servants with food and to foster loyalty and
goodwill in the household. But it was also a matter of practicality, as no
refrigeration methods existed at that time. If an animal was slaughtered,
it had to be eaten promptly to prevent spoilage.
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om C am elot: Prologue–C hapter 4
187
BEFORE YOU READ: Prologue–Chapter 4
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question How Can You Become Who You Want to Be?
Most people have hopes and dreams about who they will become and
how their lives will turn out. As you read the first section of I Am Mordred,
think about the specific actions young Mordred takes—and the actions
others take on his behalf—that mold and shape him. Ask yourself: Is
Mordred becoming the person he wants to be?
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
Point of view is the relationship of the narrator, or storyteller, to the story.
In a work with a first-person point of view, the story is told by one of the
characters, who refers to himself or herself as I.
In a first-person narrative, all information about the story’s characters and
events comes from the narrator. A skillful reader must determine how the
narrator’s experiences and opinions influence the telling of the story.
In I Am Mordred, the identity of the first-person narrator is clear from the title.
As you read this first section of the novel, think about how Mordred’s point of
view about the events of his life affects the way you interpret the story.
Reading Skill Make Generalizations About Character
When you make generalizations, you form a general rule or conclusion
based on particular facts and examples. When you make generalizations
about characters, you use the details the author provides to form a
general idea or conclusion about the characters.
Making generalizations about characters is important because authors
sometimes provide only limited details about a character. When you make
generalizations, you put those details together with what you already
know about the world and about human nature to understand the
character better.
To make generalizations about characters,
• pay close attention to details about the characters
• think about what you already know about the way people
behave
• connect what the author tells you with what you already
know
Once you have made a generalization based on this information,
ask yourself whether or not your generalization helps you
understand something more about the characters. You may find
it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one on the right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
What the
Author
Tells Me
cozen (kuz ən) v. to cheat;
deceive
The bully had to cozen others into
giving him their lunch money.
fealty (fē əl tē) n. deeply felt
loyalty
The workers had great fealty for
their boss after she gave them
all raises.
pretext (prē tekst) n. an open
purpose that hides a real but
secret purpose
I went to the store on the pretext
of buying eggs, but I really
wanted to buy candy bars.
rapt (rapt) adj. fascinated,
enthralled
Mr. Dowd gave a spellbinding
lecture to a rapt audience.
uncanny (un kan ē) adj.
suggesting supernatural or
mysterious powers at work
Brett has the uncanny ability to
disappear before doing his
Saturday morning chores.
What I
Already
Know
Generalization
ACTIVE READING: Prologue–Chapter 4
Mordred interacts with several parent figures in
the first part of the book, and each affects him in a
unique and significant way. In each circle below,
describe how the mother figure or father figure
behaves toward Mordred. On the line connecting
the circle to Mordred's name, write how Mordred
feels about that person.
Morgause
King Arthur
kind, proud of him,
welcomes him as his
son
Fishermother
Fisherfather
MORDRED
Lothe
Nyneve
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om C am elot: Prologue–C hapter 4
189
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View What
does this tell you about Mordred’s
assessment of his current skills and
his potential?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 2
Time went by. Another winter, deep with snow; the bard
did not return to Lothian that winter. Nor did Nyneve.
Another summer. Gawain turned fifteen and rode away, as
was customary, for Camelot, hoping to be knighted and
serve King Arthur. After that, Garet went as sour as
pickled cabbage. He would joust with me, for he usually
bettered me, but he stopped studying arithmetic and
letters with me. We rode out together hawking—he flew
the goshawk, I the smaller birds, the merlins, the hovering
kestrels—but he was a stormy stripling now and I was still
a child; we seldom liked each other.
Seasons passed. Nyneve did not come again to Lothian,
and I decided that she had forgotten me. Garet turned
fourteen and became wild with waiting, for in another
year he would go to Camelot and wear mail and fight and
smite helms and proudly bear a shield blazoned with the
device of Lothian: white, a quarter red, with eagles. I
turned eleven, nursing a secret fear that I was unworthy to
be a noble and King Lothe’s son. I did not like jousting. I
did not like sword fighting. Sometimes when I was
sleeping restlessly I dreamed of the sea, of the white gulls
wheeling and the herring flashing silver in the waves. If
some miracle were to happen and I were to wake up one
day no longer Mordred, Prince of Lothian, I would gladly
be a fisherman on the sea. Or a bard chanting songs of old
gods and heroes. Or even a sheepherder on the rocky hills,
spending my days with the sun and rain and the foxes and
meadowlarks. But I could tell these thoughts to no one; I
was a king’s son and I had to be a knight and a fighter.
Mock combat had taught me enough of fighting, so that I
dreaded the time when I would have to fight in earnest; I
knew I was a coward. Or so I thought until one summer day.
A hot day, so villainously hot that Gull and I were
spending it lying on the floor of one of the basement
storerooms. Gull was five years old then, a lovely pure
white brachet, strong backed, well sprung, sturdy legged,
hard of tooth and soft of temper, with the soulful eyes of a
bride. When she ran, her short legs churned and her long
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
ears flew, so that she seemed to skim the ground like a
white bird. She could run as fast as any scent-hound in the
pack. But this was Gull’s oddity: She had not yet whelped.
When she was not with me, she ran with the other castle
dogs, scent-hounds and sight-hounds and harriers; she
was no virgin. Like King Arthur’s Queen, Guinevere, Gull
was barren—so folk teased me. But I did not care if Gull
never bore pups.
We lay nose to nose—I could always count on Gull for a
wet, cold nose on a hot day—we sprawled on the cool dirt,
and I felt so much at peace that I must have dozed; I did
not hear Garet calling me or hear him stride in.
“Mor-dred!” He was in a temper. He kicked me in the
ribs—this was his customary way of lifting me off the
floor, with the toe of his boot—but then he did what he
had not done before, what he should not have done: He
kicked Gull.
She yelped, and a heat I had never felt before burned in
my chest, and I lunged up, caught him around the knees,
and toppled him.
He fell hard, for I had taken him by surprise. The fall
knocked the breath out of him, and before he could move I
pinned his arms with my shins and sat on his chest, hitting
him in the face—Gull watched with her floppy ears
hoisted in interest as I chastised him. I should not have
been able to do it—Garet stood a head taller than I and
two stone heavier—but an angel of rage was in me that
day. It was the day I learned to fight from the heart.
“Get off me, stinking brat!” Garet tried to jounce me off,
tried to wriggle free, but I settled my knees harder on his
shoulders and punched him in the eye.
“Bastard!” Garet almost wept with fury, for he was used
to being the one who beat me, not the other way around.
As he could not hit me with his fists, he flung words at me.
“Brat, you want to know why they put you in the boat?
Because you were supposed to die, stupid. That’s why
they put babies out to sea, to kill them when they’re
wrong. Like you.”
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View
Although Mordred does not
mention it directly, what personality
trait does his fighting back against
his brother reveal about him?
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INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Make Generalizations About
Characters What generalization
can you make about Morgan le Fay
based on what she says and does
here?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
Gull’s sober gaze made me think of the pool in the
Forest Perilous, and of Nyneve, and made me feel how far
I must stay from speaking of them to my aunt, to anyone.
But I had to answer something. I said, “I asked my mother
to show me how to scry in a mirror.” Some instinct made
me say “scry” boldly to Morgan le Fay; daring was less
dangerous than cringing in front of her.
“Why, Mordred!” She laughed, much diverted. “Scrying
is for women, don’t you know that? She would not show
you, would she?” My silence answered her. “I thought
not.” She laughed anew. “What do you want to find out,
Mordred? What did you want to see?”
Because her laughter stiffened my spine, I answered
boldly again. “I want to see my father. King Arthur.”
She laughed again, but this time low and dark. I
shivered, remembering the dark voices of the black hounds
in the night of the Forest Perilous. She stood regarding me
with glinting interest.
“I will teach you how to scry,” she said, and something
had put teeth in her tone.
She asked no more questions of me. I think that by
saying my father’s name I had answered all her questions.
Or else she saw more to be gained.
“Come,” she said with hard-edged sweetness, “is your
bitch quite finished? Let us go within.”
She took me to her chamber—I barely recognized the
place as Lothian, for it seemed that Morgan le Fay
journeyed nowhere without a great many draperies;
tapestries hung everywhere, masking the stone. I stared at
them, at twisted beasts stitched in thread of gold, but
Morgan le Fay brushed past them and ordered her
maidservant to find her a mirror. The girl brought her a
circle of polished metal from her baggage—bronze, or
perhaps brass. I had thought that Morgan le Fay would
have a silver mirror with a tooled border, like Queen
Morgause. Perhaps this one was her second best, for
traveling. She took it by its handle from the maid, sent her
out of the room with a gesture and closed the door. . . .
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
She blew out the candles, then placed the mirror on the
floor, where it lay like a small pool, shimmering in the
moonlight that sifted into the room through the high,
narrow windows.
“A moonless night would be better,” Morgan le Fay
said. “But it is dark enough.” She settled herself on the
bed—the ropes creaked under her weight, and the canopy
shifted. “Sit on the floor, Mordred, and look slantwise in
the mirror. Think of what you desire to see and let the
desire fill you. Then be still and gaze without blinking
until you see nothing that is in this room.”
I could not have seen my own bony face in the mirror if
I tried. That small circle of metal lay like a mystery, all
shadows and intimations. I stared, and lost sense of time,
and the shadows began to swirl, and in the shifting
dimness I saw the sheen of gold—and then—it was he,
King Arthur, I knew it by the coiled druid vine work of his
crown. He stood with his back to me, on some lonely
shore, staring out to sea. I saw his wine-red cloak, his
broad shoulders, his curling hair nearly as golden as his
crown, and in a moment he would turn, my father, I would
see more, I would see—his face—
But as if feeling a cold shadow fall upon me I felt the
presence of Morgan le Fay in the room with me; could she
see what I was seeing?
I did not know. There was too much I did not know
about her. Where did she live? How did she come to travel
like a queen? Where were her husband, her children? Did
she have none? Had she killed them?
That thought came out of nowhere. It made me blink,
and the vision of my father, King Arthur, vanished before
he could turn his face to me.
Stiffly I struggled to my feet. “What did you see?” asked
Morgan le Fay.
“Nothing, my lady. I saw nothing.” My heart was a
white stag leaping in my chest; I would share nothing of
my father with her. “I—I am weary, my lady. By your
leave.” I bowed to her and bolted, running to my chamber.
My dreams that night were of Arthur, King Arthur, Very
King, looking out to sea.
Reading Skill
Make Generalizations About
Characters What generalization
can you make about the “magic”
it takes for Mordred to do the
scrying?
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ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Can You Become Who You
Want to Be? How has Garet’s
information changed Mordred’s
ideas about himself?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
I lay there. I did not want to move. If I moved I would
have to begin to comprehend what Garet had told me.
Gull padded up to me and stood over me, her silky ears
hanging in my face. She whined. She licked my nose.
I sat up and took her head between my shaking hands
and looked into her eyes—honey-sweet eyes, soft eyes,
eyes like brown pools of sorrow—as if they were the only
safe place in the world.
I saw Nyneve looking back at me.
In Gull’s eyes.
Nyneve, wearing her green gown and baldric and
golden dagger, her eyes sorrowful, like Gull’s.
After what Garet had said, words that had struck me
down like a blow from a broadsword, my first experience
of scrying did not stagger me much. There was Nyneve,
that was all, making my heart watery; at the sight of her I
whimpered like a pup. I could not speak.
Nyneve spoke to me. I heard the words in my mind.
Courage, Mordred, she said. It is all true, yet it is all false. Have
courage. I am coming to you.
Courage, she said.
I needed courage, and I wanted it; I lacked it. I did not
have enough courage to face King Lothe at supper. Though
I felt little for him, still, to think that he was not my father
after all—I could not face him or my own thoughts. I kept
to my chamber.
King Arthur, my father? Every day, almost, I heard
someone say Thank the goodliness of our blessed King
Arthur. . . . but if our blessed King was my father and
he had tried to kill me, I hated him. I hated him. With a
black flame burning in my heart I hated him.
I hated King Arthur.
But—but King Arthur was good. The people said so, the
bards said so. Prince of kings, jewel of kings, flower of
kings, they hailed him. If I hated King Arthur, then I must
be what Garet had said, devil spawn. Evil.
I was the child of the King and his—his sister? My
stomach heaved at the thought. Evil.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
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AFTER YOU READ: Prologue–Chapter 4
Respond and Think Critically
1. Tad clearly loves Fishermother. Why does he not cry when Nyneve
takes him away from her? Why have his feelings changed by the end of
the chapter? [Interpret]
2. How does Gull react to Mordred’s aunt Morgan, and what does the
brachet’s reaction make you suspect about her? [Infer]
3. How do Gawain and Garet treat Mordred? Are the fights the boys have
merely the rivalries that most siblings experience, or do the halfbrothers have other reasons to be at odds? [Analyze]
4. What prompts Garet to tell Mordred the devastating truth about Arthur?
Do you agree with Mordred that harsh words can hurt worse than
physical blows? Why or why not? [Connect]
5. How Do You Become Who You Want to Be? At the end of Chapter 4,
how does Mordred’s attitude change about who he wants to become?
Why? [Infer]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on page 184. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Prologue–Chapter 4
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
1. Why do you think Mordred proclaims over and
over again the words “I am Mordred”? [Infer]
2. How do you think Mordred’s story would be
different if it were told from the point of view of
another character? Choose one character to use
in your answer. [Interpret]
Vocabulary Practice
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly
the same meaning as another word. Match each
boldfaced vocabulary word below with its
synonym. Use a thesaurus or dictionary to check
your answers.
cozen
fealty
pretext
rapt
uncanny
captivated
mysterious
deceive
ploy
fidelity
Academic Vocabulary
Nyneve tells Mordred that he will one day
interpret King Arthur’s actions toward him very
differently. Think about something you interpret
differently today than you did several years ago.
In your opinion, what accounted for the change in
your interpretation?
Reading Skill Make Generalizations
About Character
1. What do the Fishermother and Nyneve have in
common? What generalization can you make
about Mordred based on his relationship with
them? [Generalize]
2. What generalization can you make about the two
kinds of people in Mordred’s life to this point in
the novel? [Identify]
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AFTER YOU READ: Prologue–Chapter 4
Writing
Research and Report
Write a Letter Imagine that you are Mordred and
you have just learned that King Arthur is your father.
Write a letter to King Arthur telling him that you
know he is your father. What will you say to him?
What will you ask him? Remember you are writing
to a king who has not yet met you and who has the
astonishing power to sentence people to death.
Once you have completed this letter, write a
response to it from King Arthur’s point of view. Try
to use language similar to the dialogue in the novel.
Visual Media/Presentation
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment In these chapters and throughout the
novel, Mordred describes parts of the castles he
inhabits. Find out more about these fortresslike
buildings by using reference texts or an Internet
search engine to research an example of an
existing castle as the basis for a visual
presentation.
Get Ideas Think about how you want to create your
visual presentation. Perhaps you will want to relate
it to various castles you have read about in I Am
Mordred. Recall the terms you have come across so
far in the novel: keep, portcullis, caer, barbican,
great hall, mews, and bastion. What do these words
mean? Find out, write the definitions, and then use
them as research guides.
Research There are many ruined and restored
castles throughout Europe. On the Internet and in
text sources such as David Macauley’s Castle, you
will find excellent photos, drawings, and
information. Find a picture or pictures of a
representative castle. You will need to locate both
interior and exterior views. Try to find reproducible
examples of each of the architectural components
you have learned about in the novel. This may
require you to combine views of several different
castles. If so, remember to identify each castle by
its name and location.
Prepare When you have located all your pictures
and information, consider the best method by which
to present it. For example, you may wish to create a
poster with the copy of the castle exterior in the
center surrounded by insets of various architectural
details. Letter your labels carefully to ensure your
viewers’ comprehension of the graphics.
Present Take your viewers on a “walk through the
castle.” Use a pointer to reference the various
architectural components. As much as you can,
relate these components to what your classmates
already know from reading I Am Mordred.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 5–10
Connect to the Literature
Think of a time when you or someone else set a challenging goal for you.
What is the most challenging goal you have ever reached?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Share an Experience
Think about what it takes to overcome obstacles in the way of reaching a
goal. Do you need help from others? Must you face failures and setbacks
and go on? Compare your ideas with a classmate’s, and then share them
with the class as a whole.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
BUILD BACKGROUND
The Quest for the Holy Grail
Pelleas leaves Nyneve on a quest to seek the Holy Grail, and Mordred
seeks his own grail, in a figurative sense. What was the Grail? The word
simply means a kind of dish, usually a goblet or bowl. People in medieval
England believed that the Grail was the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last
Supper and that it held drops of Jesus’s blood. According to myth, the Grail
came to England when one of Jesus’s worshippers traveled there. It could
heal body and soul, but only the pure of heart could see it. For the
legendary Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Grail was the
holiest of missions, a religious goal shared by nearly all of them. Today, the
term holy grail means a nearly impossible but much-desired goal. For
instance, medical researchers might say that the grail they seek is a
vaccine to prevent cancer.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 5–10
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question How Can You Become Who You Want to Be?
Whom do you admire? How did that person become who he or she is
today? What goals will you set to help you become the person
you want to be?
As you read the next section of the novel, ask yourself how the people
around Mordred help him or hinder him in becoming the person he
wants to be.
Literary Element Symbol
A symbol is any object, person, animal, place, or event that represents
something else, usually something abstract. Symbolism is the use of
images to represent internal realities.
Identifying symbols in a literary work helps you understand the author’s
purpose and themes.
There are many symbols in I Am Mordred. They appear, for example, in
Mordred’s interactions with birds and with water. Even the birthmark
behind Mordred’s ear is a symbol, a repeated reminder of his difficult fate.
As you read the next six chapters of the novel, look for these and other
symbols that provide keys to the story’s meaning. Use the graphic
organizer on the next page to help you.
Reading Skill Analyze Historical Context
When you analyze, you look at the separate parts of something in order to
better understand the whole. When you analyze historical context in a
story or play, you look for clues to the broader political and social issues
of the day.
Analyzing historical context in a literary work helps you fill in the blanks
and better understand the cultural and social backdrop of the time you are
reading about. This in turn affects your interpretation of the characters
and their actions.
To analyze historical context in a literary work, readers must interpret
background clues about the social issues of the time during which the
work takes place. As you read, the next section of I Am Mordred, think
about how the social and political aspects of medieval times are reflected
in King Arthur’s court. You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer
like the one at right.
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Vocabulary
boon (boon) n. a favor given in
answer to a request; a blessing
When the automobile was
invented, some people thought it
was a boon—others called it a
curse.
cosset (kos it) v. to pamper
My mother would cosset us when
we were little, but now that we’re
grown up, she’s stricter.
expediency (iks pē dē ən sē) n. an
action that sets aside a principle
in order to achieve a goal
It was political expediency to
pass a law that placed fewer
limits on polluting factories.
paragon (par ə on) n. a model
or example of perfection or
excellence
Aunt Mae was a paragon of
virtue who worked for the
betterment of the poor.
sumptuous (sump choo əs) adj.
very costly, luxurious
The drapes are made of
sumptuous blue velvet.
Knights
Sir Gawain,
Sir Lancelot,
Sir Galahad,
Sir Torre,
etc.
Historical
Context
Operated by
a strict code
of conduct,
had to be
loyal to the
king, were
referred to as
“Sir”
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 5–10
Author Nancy Springer’s tale takes Mordred
through several very different settings, each one
symbolizing something significant in his life.
Setting
Describe each setting below and tell what it
symbolizes for young Mordred. If you cite exactly
worded examples from the text, put them in quotes.
Description
the sea
What It Symbolizes
Youth and innocence, later
his heritage and curse
Lothian
Camelot
the Forest Perilous
Caer Morgana
isolated but beautiful, a
luxurious castle held
together by Morgan’s spells
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INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Symbol What clue does this
description provide about Camelot
as a symbol in Mordred’s life?
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 6
I could not sleep that night for dreaming of King
Arthur. I would keep the vow I had sworn to Gawain,
to be silent; it would be better that way. . . .
In the morning I dressed in my best clothing: tunic of
bleached cambric and tabard of quilted indigo silk, blue
cap, blue leggings, boots—and knew it to be not nearly
good enough. Gawain and Garet took me to the kitchen,
but I could not eat. Gawain jested with his serving fork,
but I could not smile. When he had eaten, he led me
through a maze of passageways—this castle was as
bewildering in its way as the Forest Perilous, this Camelot.
Vast and towering and labyrinthine. But not green-shadow
dim; even inside, Camelot shone white. The courtyard,
where Gawain led me, glowed with sunlight.
In the sunlight sat a blind harper, an old man in a
simple robe of brown homespun, playing on his harp and
chanting a ballad:
… Down in yonder green field
Lies a knight slain under his shield.
His hounds lie down at his feet
To guard him in his final sleep.
His hawks fly a watch so fierce
No carrion bird dares to come near.
Down there comes a fair red doe
Great with fawn, weighted with sorrow.
She kissed him on his bloody head.
She carried him to his earthen bed.
She buried him in day’s first light.
She was dead herself by gray twilight.
May the gods give every knight
Such hawks, such hounds, such a lady love . . .
The wonder of the song rang through me, yet made me
cold. Might the gods give me life rather than such a death,
I thought, but then I put the thoughts away from me in
shame. A coward’s thought.
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INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
The blind harper chanted on, his eyes staring as milk
white as the towers of Camelot, as white as his beard.
On his shoulder there perched a raven, a wise bird with
a great black heavy bill that made me think of an
executioner’s ax. The harper did not see me walking by, of
course, but the raven saw me and croaked, “Branded,
branded! Red-handed!” Those who had gathered to hear
the harper laughed at its cheekiness, but I shivered, for
I felt as if it spoke straight to me.
Yet—yet there was no reason for me to feel that way.
I was King Arthur’s son.
Firming my face, lifting my head, I followed Gawain
into the great hall with Gull pattering at my heels.
Even now, after all the years, I remember the great hall
of Camelot, that aspiring vaulted hall hung with many
tapestries embroidered in threads of red, royal blue, gold.
I remember the tapestries: a white stag leaping, a red
dragon, a lady in a garden of blue roses, many others. But
that morning I saw nothing of their splendor, for my heart
pounded like a war stallion charging and I could not think
of anything but him, my father. At last.
Blinking in the muted light, I looked for a throne. I saw
none.
Yet I knew him at once. King Arthur.
There he sat at his place upon the rim of the Round
Table, and by that time he had ruled for more years than
I was old. Yet he turned toward me the face of a young
man at the height of his powers. No gray dulled the bronze
of his beard or his hair curling crisp under his golden
crown. He held his chin high as he scanned me with the
sea-gray eyes of a visionary. He looked wise, regal, strong,
fierce, and fair, an eagle among men, all that a King should
be, and what was more to me, he was a man any
daydreaming boy would choose as a father.
Such awe and longing washed through me that I could
barely stand; weakness as much as courtesy made me fold
to my knees at his side. He looked at me quizzically, then
up at Gawain, who had not kneeled.
Literary Element
Symbol What does the raven
symbolize for Mordred? How do
you know?
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INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Historical Context What
can you tell about the knights’ code
of chivalry from this conversation?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 7
From the moment that Pellinore rode in with King
Lothe’s head at his knee, it was plain to Gawain and Garet
that Pellinore had to be killed. It was equally plain to them
that I would help them. And as Pellinore was a knight of
the Round Table, he could not be challenged; he would
have to be ambushed.
“But that’s three against one,” I said.
“What do I care?” In our chamber, Gawain sat drinking
his sixth or seventh mug of hard mead; he glared at me,
half weeping, half savage. He had seen King Lothe’s head.
Garet had not seen it; Garet sat more sober.
“But—if this Pellinore killed your father as he says he
did, in fair combat—”
Only the table and his own drunkenness kept Gawain
from lunging at me. “Fair?” His flushed face jutted toward
mine like a gargoyle. “Fair fight, to wear our father’s head
as a trophy?” It had fallen to me to go to Pellinore and see
if I could get Lothe’s head back, for burial, but he had
already fed it to the kennel dogs, he said. A paragon of
chivalry, Pellinore. “I plan to haul him from the horse and
tie him to a tree—”
I did not want to hear this. “But that’s murder.”
“Murder?” Gawain surprised me; he leaned back and
began to laugh. “Why, we’ll all be murderers together, then.
Show me someone in the world who is not a murderer. I’m
a murderer, our mother, Morgause, is a murderer, our aunt
Morgan is a murderer, our uncle King Arthur—”
“Gawain!” Garet protested.
“You’re drunk,” I said.
“You don’t believe me? What else do you call it when he
kills thirty-nine others trying to kill you?”
“Gawain!” Garet stood to hush him. I, also, got up, not
knowing where I was going. I stood there, my heart
stuttering like my mouth. “Wh-wh-what?”
“Babies,” Gawain snarled. I could not tell what he was
saying, whether our mother, Morgause, had killed babies—
which she might have, I had sometimes wondered, our
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
baby sisters all dead—or whether he was calling Garet and
me babies, or—I was not sure he had said what I thought I
had heard; he had said something of King Arthur—
“Gawain,” Garet warned, “speak no more, not a single
word.”
Gawain did not obey, of course. “And your precious
Nyneve,” he barked at me, blurring the words, “she’s a
murderer too.”
He was drunk. Not worth answering. I turned my back
on him and walked out of our chamber.
I went looking for Nyneve and found her, not in her
tower, but by the central fountain in Queen Guinevere’s
garden—the one place in Camelot where Gull was not
allowed to follow me. It was a peaceful place, that garden,
full of order and symmetry, quite unlike the twisted
wilderness outside the castle walls. A high square of hedge
enclosed it for shade and silence, and inside, straight
white-cobbled paths ran under trellises of roses—any churl
can grow violets, but a noble garden fosters great roses,
red and white, and beds of lilies and carnations. Fruit trees
stood in the garden too, apple, pear, pomegranate, their
fruit hanging as yellow and red and heavy as the flowers.
And in the trees, golden cages held linnets and blackbirds
and nightingales. I felt bad for the birds—would not
sweetly singing birds have winged to those trees without
being caged there? Still, it was a royal garden, a jewel
among gardens, heady with roses, a fitting haven for the
Queen. Few folk were allowed there, but Nyneve was a
favored courtier, and so was I. King Arthur cosseted me,
and so, perforce, did the Queen.
On the soft turf by the fountain, Nyneve sat gazing into
the water even though it stirred constantly and she would
see nothing there. After encountering Pellinore, she had
made her way to water for comfort, I knew, just as I had
made my way to her.
Reading Skill
Analyze Historical Context Given
what you have learned about the
political and social systems of the
medieval court, why do you think
most people were banned from the
queen’s garden? Why do you think
Nyneve and Mordred are allowed
to enter the garden?
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205
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Can You Become Who You
Want To Be? How does Mordred’s
saying no in such a situation help
him become a better person?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
20 6
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 7
“Have a whack at him, Mordred!” Gawain cried.
He and Garet had done just as they had said they
would. They had overpowered Pellinore, stripped him
of his armor, slapped his face to shame him, and tied him
to an oak in the Forest Perilous as I, their squire, held the
horses. Now they were killing him in painful ways. And
Gawain was offering me a turn.
“Go ahead!” He thrust at me the pommel of his bloodied
sword.
I shook my head. I could not look at him.
“What,” Garet put in, “you don’t like this game?”
Gawain complained, “Be a man, Mordred!”
That lout Pellinore was a man, I will give him that. He
had not begged, he would not speak except to curse, and
he had not yet cried out. Tied to the tree, bleeding, he stood
with his head up, glaring like a wild boar.
“Last chance!” Gawain persisted in wanting to share
with me his bloody deed, offering me the sword, his
gloved hand stained dark and wet.
“No,” I whispered. I said it again somewhat more
strongly. “No. Your father was not my father.”
At the tree, Pellinore barked out a harsh laugh. Gawain
whirled and struck him hard across the face with the flat
of the blade. “Coward,” Garet accused me.
True enough. If I were not such a coward, I would not
have come with them at all.
“How do you ever expect to be a knight?” grumbled
Gawain, disgusted with me.
They turned their backs on me and—and they went on
with it. I wish to say no more. Standing back, clutching three
pairs of reins, I lowered my eyes and would not watch—but
heard their blades thudding into flesh. I heard the screams—
toward the end, Pellinore could not help but scream.
When he fell silent, I looked up. That was a mistake.
I had not known there was so much blood in a man.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
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207
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 5–10
Respond and Think Critically
1. Mordred does not want Nyneve to leave, but he thinks “it might be
better if I depended less on her advice.” Why does he say this, and
what does it tell you about his personality? [Analyze]
2. What sorts of obstacles must Mordred overcome to fulfill his quest?
Why is the last sight he sees in the Forest Perilous the most frightening
to him? [Evaluate]
3. Arthur tells Mordred, “there’s small freedom in being King. Most often a
King does not what he wishes, but what he must.” What do you think
Arthur is trying to say to Mordred? Why does Mordred misunderstand
Arthur’s intent? [Infer]
4. Mordred calls the sea “my enemy” who “had taken me away from . . .
my mother, starved me, . . . tried to kill me. Why, then, does he go first to
the sea? What does it symbolize for him? [Interpret]
5. How Do You Become Who You Want to Be? When he is with the
fisherman and his son, Mordred is glad they do not call him Tad or
Mordred or “my lord.” Why do you think he prefers being called
nothing? [Infer]
20 8
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
186. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in the
novel?
AFTE R YOU READ: Chapters 5–10
Literary Element Symbol
1. What is the significance of the sea to Mordred?
In what way is the sea a symbol of his father?
[Interpret]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the
vocabulary word that correctly completes
eachsentence.
boon
expediency
sumptuous
cosset
paragon
1. Gus is an athlete and a
health.
of good
2. When we left Marian’s ranch, she told us with
tears in her eyes that our visit had been a
real
.
2. What symbol did Morgan le Fay use to show
Mordred the meaning of fate? [Identify]
3. There was no sense of fair play in the
committee’s decision—it had simply handled
the matter with
.
4. “The lobster feast was truly
as butter dripped down my chin.
Reading Skill Analyze Historical Context
1. Do you think it would have been physically
comfortable to live in a castle like the one
belonging to Morgan le Fay? Why or why not?
Use details from the story to support your
answer. [Conclude]
5. Mother birds seem to
for a very brief period.
,” I said
their young
Academic Vocabulary
With anger as his fuel, Mordred finds himself able
to dominate his foes in battle. Using context clues,
try to figure out the meaning of dominate in the
previous sentence. Write your guess below. Then
check your answer in a dictionary.
2. Do you think by the end of Chapter 10 Mordred
has become more or less like a knight of the
Round Table? Explain your answer. [Evaluate]
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om C am elot: C hapters 5–10
209
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 5–10
Write with Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Figurative Language
Debate
Assignment As you know, a symbol is any object,
person, animal, place, or event that means more than
what it appears to be. Think about the challenges you
have faced in your life. Write a description of one of
these challenges, using symbols to reveal what it
was, why it was important, and how you met or did
not meet it.
Assignment You will notice as you read I Am Mordred
that only queens and wealthy women had mirrors at
this time, and their mirrors did not reflect as
accurately as mirrors do today. Most people never
saw their own faces and bodies except when
reflected in still water. How would not knowing how
you look change the way you think of yourself and
others? Divide into two teams and conduct a debate
on whether contemporary life would be better or
worse without mirrors.
Get Ideas Skim the first ten chapters of I Am Mordred
to find the symbols that have the most impact on
Mordred’s life. Do you have a place you are both
attracted to and repelled by, as Mordred is by the sea?
Do you have a special friend or mentor who symbolizes
the good things in your life, as Nyneve does for
Mordred? If you had a coat of arms—a symbol that
defined you—what might it be? Create a chart like the
one below to list your personal symbols.
Personal Qualities
Talents: acting,
guitar, painting
Personal Traits:
warm, friendly, loyal,
fair quick tempered,
tough, thought
before action
Possible Symbol
musical notes,
comedy and
tragedy masks,
paintbrush or
palette
scales of justice,
clasped hands
Give It Structure Don’t clutter your description of the
challenge with too many symbols. Choose one or two
that clearly say something about who you are and the
challenge you faced.
Look at Language Instead of choosing symbols that
are well known (such as a heart as a symbol of
romantic love), think in terms of your personal themes
to create symbols that have meaning for you. Choose
words that reflect that meaning.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 5
Prepare For one day, or perhaps a weekend, take care
to avoid all mirrors, even when you get dressed in the
morning. Keep track of the number of times you would
have looked in the mirror on a normal day.
Using your mirror-free experience as an example,
organize your thoughts into arguments and evidence.
Begin by making a chart to include all your important
points. Fill out a second column to reflect the
arguments your opponents will use to counter you.
Argument
Counterargument
Banning mirrors
would make people
less concerned
with personal
appearance.
If mirrors were
banned, there
would be no
rearview mirrors in
cars and trucks.
Debate Use your chart to help defend your points with
specific ideas. Listen carefully to your team members
and your opponents. Nothing sinks a debate more
quickly than lashing out and insulting the opposition.
Evaluate Write a paragraph in which you assess both
your own and your team’s performance.
BEFOR E YOU READ: Chapter 11–Epilogue
Connect to the Literature
Have you ever heard a rumor that caused people to laugh at or avoid
another person?
Make a Web
With your classmates, explore the emotions that center on gossip. Why
would a person spread a rumor? What sorts of reactions are common to
malicious rumors? How can someone stop a rumor from circulating?
Arrange your ideas in a web on the board.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
Malory’s Arthurian Legend
Over the years there have been many literary interpretations of the
legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. One of the most
popular of these, written by Sir Thomas Malory (1405–1471), was Le Morte
d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur). In Malory’s interpretation, when Arthur
made Guinevere his queen, Guinevere’s father gave them the Round Table
as a wedding gift. Arthur decided this table would be the place where his
knights would convene; he reasoned that if no one sat at the head of the
table, there would be fewer quarrels over hierarchy. At the end of Malory’s
version, Arthur, a beloved but troubled monarch, left Britain to take part in
a distant battle, leaving Mordred in charge of Camelot. But the evil,
scheming Mordred had dark plans of his own, and Arthur was soon
obliged to come back to reclaim his court. This led to Arthur’s final battle
on Salisbury Plain, during which he killed Mordred but was also seriously
wounded himself. Malory’s version of Arthur’s fate is not conclusive; it
ends with Arthur on a boat bound for Avalon.
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211
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapter 11–Epilogue
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question How Can You Become Who You Want to Be?
Some people believe that their lives are, to one extent or another, guided
by fate. Others believe they themselves are solely responsible for
becoming who they want to be. What do you think?
As you read the final section of I Am Mordred, think about the role fate
plays—and the role Mordred himself plays—in shaping the person
Mordred becomes.
Literary Element Legend
A legend is a traditional story, often based on history and an actual
person. Like folktales and myths, legends belong to the oral tradition—
that is, they are passed by word of mouth from one generation to the next.
While some legends are about people who actually lived, these people
become larger-than-life heroes as the stories are told again and again.
Legends sometimes contain magic or elements of the supernatural.
Legends can often also express the values of a culture.
Despite the magical events of the Arthurian legend, author Nancy
Springer has tried to bring verisimilitude to her version of the legend.
Verisimilitude is the appearance of being true. Readers get a real sense
of what life was like in long-ago England.
As you read the final section of I Am Mordred, note the amazing events
and larger-than-life people who exist in its world. Try to identify the beliefs
and values by which the people in the legend operate.
Reading Skill Interpret Plot Events
When you interpret plot events, you use your own understanding of the
world to decide what the sequence of events or ideas in a selection mean
and how those events relate to the work’s overall theme.
aghast (ə ast) adj. shocked;
struck by horror
Everyone looked aghast when
Aunt Pat took her dentures out
and put them on the dinner table.
alchemy (al kə mē) n. a
mysterious transformation, such
as common metals being turned
into gold
As if by alchemy, our once ugly
kitchen had turned into a real
showplace.
droll (drōl) n. whimsical or odd
humor
Some people find that stand-up
comic droll, but to me his jokes
aren’t funny at all.
sardonically (sar don ik lē) adv.
disdainfully mocking
The mysterious visitor stood on
the doorstep, sardonically
smiling.
transfigured (tranz fi yərd) v.
transformed outwardly for
the better
Time has transfigured that
spindly-legged colt into a
stunning chestnut mare.
Climax
Ri
sin
g
Ac
ti
on
212
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 5
on
Exposition
ti
Ac
As you read the final section of I Am Mordred, try to interpret each turn of
the plot. You may find it helpful to use graphic organizers like the one on
the right and on the next page.
g
lin
Fal
Interpreting plot events is important because it forces readers to become
more interactive with the work. Ask yourself what the writer is really
trying to say through the events of the story.
Resolution
ACTIVE READING: Chapter 11–Epilogue
As Mordred follows his quest, he finds or is given
several possible solutions to the problem of his evil
destiny. Use the chart below to interpret the
corresponding plot events. Each solution is listed in a
circle. On the arrow line, explain your interpretation
of why the solution does not work, and in the box,
describe Mordred’s reaction to the failure.
a life spent in love
with Lynette
a simple life as a
woodcutter or hunter
simply doing good,
as when he releases the
captive hawk
giving his soul to Arthur
for safekeeping
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213
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Legend What does the discussion
between Nyneve and Mordred tell
you about the social status of
women during medieval times?
How does Nyneve feel about her
status? Is this an example of
verisimilitude?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 11
Nyneve sat up and scowled at me. “You of all men
should understand. You have felt yourself to be a chattel of
your so-called fate; is not a woman a chattel of her low
estate? Morgan le Fay rules her lands as ably as any lord in
the realm, but King Arthur will not title her or admit her to
his council.”
But King Arthur was right. The idea of titling a woman
was laughable. “Why, what would he call her? Lord
Morgan?”
Nyneve did not answer, but merely gazed at me levelly
and asked, “Have you found that for which you quest?”
She stopped my laughter in my throat. How did she
know of my quest? And what was she trying to tell me?
“No,” I replied, feeling fear coil in the hollow of my
chest, “I have found nothing.” Speaking with my
fisherfather had not helped me. Speaking with Morgan
le Fay had only made things worse. I felt my fate riding
like a serpent on my shoulders, winding tighter around
me day by day.
“And for what did you come here? To speak with me?”
I understood her then. She was saying that I needed
her—a woman—to be my ally. She angered me, but I saw
the falcon on her shoulder and pitied her, so I said nothing
of my anger. “I came to thank you for saving my life,”
I told her quietly, “and to see if you are all right.”
That surprised a soft sound out of her, a sigh that might
almost have been a sob. After a moment she said with
something of her old gentle merriment, “You’re welcome.
And what will you do about it if I am not all right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dear Mordred.” She had never spoken to me so
tenderly. “There is nothing you can do. But since you are
here, you should seek audience with the Lady of the Lake.
Perhaps she can help you find what you are seeking.”
I slept that night in an airy pavilion on Avalon shore,
and the next day the maidens fed me flowers by the
plateful, amaranth and lilies and columbine and asphodel.
It seemed not at all odd to eat flowers. In that one day my
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
wounds healed as if they had never been. Then I slept
again in the pavilion with Gull by my side.
In the afternoon of the next day, Nyneve came for me.
“Are you ready?”
I stood up and buckled on my sword so as to appear
before the Lady of the Lake as a knight and a warrior. But
Nyneve stood smiling—I remembered that selfsame smile
from when she had first greeted me, nearly ten years
before—and shaking her head at me.
“Mordred,” she said, “you’d do better to put that aside,
with your shield and helm and mail. Better to put off your
boots and spurs too.”
“And go barefoot?”
“Assuredly. Don’t you remember? We took away all
those toys once before, ladywater and I, in the river below
Caer Morgana.”
I stood with my hand on my sword hilt, my mouth
sagging open, gawking at her.
She said, “What made you in such a hurry to take up
arms again? Or ever? You could have been once more a
carefree churl, a lad with a little white dog, both of you
lying in the sun. You could have gone off and picked wild
cherries. You could have built yourself a hut and lived
there and been a woodcutter, and Gull could have caught
you rabbits to eat. Why didn’t you?”
Such thoughts had never occurred to me. It made my
heart ache that they had not, but I firmed my mouth and
let my face show her nothing. “I’m a true noble, as you
once said.”
“Yes, and that little X behind your ear, it is a dark, dark
bird flying lower every day. Put off your boots and your
sword if you wish to speak with my liege lady.”
I did so, and followed her to the verge of the lake. Very
still, the water gleamed a deep, glassy green in the evening
light. Lilies floated with their yellow throats open to the
sky, their petals stark white against the dark water and the
velvet-green lily pads. I saw no castle, no court, no lady.
I looked around. “Where is she?”
“She is everywhere. To speak with her, you must go to
sleep in the lake.”
Literary Element
Legend What core beliefs does
Nyneve try to make Mordred
understand before he visits the
Lady of the Lake? How is this
different from the male-dominated
world Mordred inhabits?
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215
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Interpret Plot Events By now you
have become familiar with the
events that have shaped Mordred.
What do you think has led him to
feel such empathy for the caged
hawk? How does this tie in to the
larger theme of the story?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 13
There in the middle of the tangled wildwood grew a
walled garden, like Queen Guinevere’s garden in Camelot
but not square; the stones and hedges of this wall stood in
a great circle. I rode in—it was so great a garden that one
could ride in on horseback. Roses grew as tall as trees
there, and fruit trees interlaced like druid vine work into
lattices and arches and pavilions, and yew bushes stood in
shapes of peacocks, their tails bright with red and blue
berries. Fountains of gold rose as tall as castle towers. In
every way it was more splendid and fair than any garden
I had seen or imagined. And over it all the sweetness of the
harp music spread like the perfume of the roses, notes like
petals falling.
Then, at the very center of the circular garden, I saw a
great spiral cage standing. And in it, a hawk, playing with
its beak upon the golden and silver wires that enclosed it
as if upon the harp of Taliesin himself.
I had found the harper.
It was so humbling a marvel that I dismounted, and put
aside my shield and helm, and left my horse behind. With
Gull padding beside me I walked closer, gazing.
Intent upon his music, the hawk paid no attention to
Gull and me. He was not hooded or leashed or belled, only
caged as if he were a linnet, a starling—it had always hurt
my heart to see the caged birds in gardens, imprisoned for
the sake of their music, and the hawks standing blind and
silent in the mews. It seemed somehow not only a hurtful
thing but a shameful thing to make a prisoner of such a
proud bird as a hawk, even a small hawk, an ordinary
pigeon hawk such as this one, with his slate-gray back, his
tawny breast streaked with brown. He carried his head
erect above his square shoulders. His fierce dark eyes
glanced through me as if I were a bug to be killed and
eaten, nothing more. As a boy in Lothian I had learned
falconry with such a hawk on my arm.
With the curved tip of his blue-black beak, and with
his curved black claws, he plucked music from the bars
of his prison.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
I stood gazing with Gull by my side, and the harp notes
flew up wild and free all around me—as a boy I had
unhooded hawks and watched them fly, free and hungry,
and felt joy as keen as a knife in my chest. If the hawks
would not come back to the lure I was glad, even though it
meant a punishment for me; I flew my hawks badly so that
they might fly away. I understood this harper hawk defying
his cage with music, with notes that soared, golden, silver
winged, singing joy, happiness, freedom. How brave a spirit
he must be. I knew what it was to be a prisoner, trapped in
despair. All creatures should be free, and fate should snip
itself and die. If I had wings I would fly away.
As if be could hear me thinking, the hawk paused in his
harping and looked at me.
He looked at me this time, not through me, his gaze as
deep as a well. As never before I saw a falcon’s nearly
human eyes, dark as the dark of the moon between pallid
yellow eyelids, under a frown of gray feathers. He opened
his beak soundlessly. I saw his thick blue tongue, so
different from mine.
I took three steps, unlatched the door of the cage, and
opened it wide.
A whir of pointed wings—he flew at once, as swiftly as
only a falcon can fly. In an eye blink he darted above the
treetops. With my head tilted back I watched as he circled
once, then vanished eastward with a high, wild cry.
I lowered my gaze. “Well, Gull,” I murmured, patting
her. . . .
I looked around at twining plum trees, at snickering
fountains, at tawny roses climbing to the sky, all golden in
sunset light. Even without the music of the mystic harper,
this was a garden surpassing beauty. “Let’s stay here
tonight,” I said to Gull. I sat down on the soft turf patted
my faithful brachet and watched her grin and pant in
reply. I pressed my nose to her wet nose and stared crosseyed at her. She licked me under the chin and I grinned;
I felt happy. Maybe that was the answer to my quest, just
to do good and be happy. Maybe there was no need to go
on looking for Merlin.
Reading Skill
Interpret Plot Events From what
you know of the story’s plot so far,
who do you think the harper hawk
might actually be?
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217
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Can You Become Who You
Want to Be? How has Mordred
achieved his goal of being
acknowledged by King Arthur?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
218
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 15
King Arthur stood facing me. “Mordred,” he whispered,
the single word, my name.
I did not answer.
The blind harper took his place and struck his harp,
chanting strange words in the druidic tongue.
King Arthur lifted his hands to his heart, cupping
between them the casket, the small silk-lined coffer of pure
gold in which he would receive whatever might fly from
my chest.
If I had to take my soul out of my body and give it to someone
for safe-keeping . . .
It had to be someone whom I trusted.
He waited.
It did not take long. It was far easier than I expected, far
easier than it would have been for anyone less worn and
alone than I. Without even a need to say good-bye I felt it
leave me, I felt it fly, I felt self take wing. Before, there had
been the slow constant ache of my struggle with fate. As
soul took flight, there was a sharper pang, as if my thin,
taut body were a harp string, plucked. Then there was a
simple, welcome nothingness, a soundless peace, and near
my face I saw the white moth fluttering in the night.
King Arthur awaited it with a pale face but steady hands
to cherish it for my sake. Though to tell the truth, once I
was rid of the troublesome thing I no longer cared whether
he cherished it or not. I let my arms fall to my sides. The
stillness within me welled deep, so deep I could float on it,
as if on the lake of Avalon. All was peaceful and silent and
floating, like water lilies. Nothing mattered to me. Nothing.
Dancing on the dark air went my soul, no larger than a
dandelion puff, hardly as substantial as cloud wisp.
With relief as vast as the sea, I watched it go. But then—
before it reached my liege, I heard a harsh noise I did not at
first recognize, and a clacking sound. And it was gone.
My white wisp of soul. Gone.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om C am elot: C hapter 11–Epi l ogue
219
AFTER YOU READ: Chapter 11–Epilogue
Respond and Think Critically
1. On the way back to Tintagel, how does Mordred react to challenges in
his way? Why is he no longer afraid of being called a coward?
[Analyze]
2. How will Mordred’s life improve after he gives up his soul? When Arthur
speaks to the soulless Mordred, the king “bowed his headed blew out
the candle. What might the snuffed candle symbolize? [Infer]
3. To what extent does Merlin’s prophecy about Arthur and Mordred come
true in the end? What does the epilogue suggest about the fate
Mordred felt he could not escape? [Interpret]
4. How does Mordred’s very name cause trouble for him wherever he
goes? Nyneve tells him not to be ashamed of his name, which means
“noble counselor.” Why, then, does he call himself the Knight of the
White Brachet when he is with Lynette? [Evaluate]
5. How Do You Become Who You Want to Be? Do you think Mordred
escaped the fate that had been prophesied? Explain your answer.
[Interpret]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on page 184. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapter 11–Epilogue
Literary Element Legend
1. What are some characteristics of a legend that
can be found in I Am Mordred ? Use events from
the story in your answer. [Analyze]
2. What other legends have you read or heard?
Compare and contrast them with this version of
the legend of King Arthur. [Synthesize]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the words in each pair have the
same or opposite meaning.
1. aghast
thrilled
2. alchemy
transformation
3. droll
humorless
4. sardonically
contemptuously
5. transfigured
worsened
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Interpret Plot Events
1. What overall theme is revealed by the final
action Mordred takes in the book? [Infer]
The philosophy of the Lady in the Lake is that all the
world’s problems can be solved through love, not
war and killing. In the preceding sentence,
philosophy means “point of view about life.” How
would you describe your own personal philosophy?
2. Do you think the ending of the book is hopeful?
Why or why not? [Respond]
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om C am elot: C hapter 11–Epi l ogue
221
AFTER YOU READ: Chapter11–Epilogue
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response Nancy Springer wrote of I Am
Mordred: “I was thinking as I wrote of modern
teens, assumed guilty, deprived of constitutional
rights the moment they enter a school door,
discriminated against in ways that no other
American has to tolerate. . . . I was thinking of
young people in general when I dedicated the book
‘to oddlings everywhere.’” Is Springer’s opinion
about teens extreme? Are all teens oddlings? Write
a paragraph in which you agree or disagree with
Springer’s position.
Literature Groups
Assignment Springer says that while writing the
novel, she “found a whole new meaning to the
words self-fulfilling prophecy.” Find out what that
term means, and then discuss with your group how
the idea affects people’s lives. Is Mordred a victim
of a self-fulfilling prophecy? What causes his failure
to resist his fate? With a small group of classmates,
discuss these issues in terms of your experiences.
Then try to reach a consensus on the questions as
they relate to Mordred’s life.
Prepare Before you meet with your group, skim
through the part of Chapter 2 in which Garet tells
Mordred the truth about the prophecy. How does
the news change Mordred? Then think about a time
when you told yourself that a negative outcome
would occur. Create a chart like the one below.
Mordred’s Event
Mordred finds out
about the
prophecy.
Responses: feels
cursed, guilty,
afraid, worthless
Outcome: fulfills
prophecy
My Event
I was afraid I’d
flunk a math test.
Responses:
Outcome:
Discuss When you meet with your group, listen
carefully to the views of others. Deliver your own
views in a strong clear voice, and use specific
examples from your chart.
Report If you reach a consensus within your group,
select one member to state it orally to the class. If
no consensus was reached, select two members
with opposing views and have each of them state
the reasoning behind their point of view.
Evaluate Write a brief paragraph evaluating your
report.
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WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
I Am Mordred
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in
Glencoe’s Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your
answers with details from the texts. Write your answers on a
separate sheet of paper, but jot down some notes first on the
lines provided.
Boudicca
Milton Meltzer
Make Connections Compare and contrast Boudica
and Arthur as monarchs.
Eldorado
Edgar Allan Poe
Make Connections Both Mordred and the knight in
the poem make a questing journey. Compare and
contrast the cause of each character’s failure.
from The Legend of Tarik
Walter Dean Myers
Make Connections The color black is symbolic in
both novels. Mordred chooses to wear black as his
quest fails, and Tarik is known throughout his world
as the black knight. What does the color stand for in
each novel?
A Call to Armor
Robert K. Elder
Make Connections When Mordred takes the armor
from Sir Dalbert, he asks for his help in mounting his
horse. (Sir Dalbert refuses, of course.) Given the
pictures here and what you have learned of armor
from the book, why can Mordred not mount by
himself? What must he do with the armor once Sir
Dalbert is dead?
from Camelot 3000
Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland
Make Connections In the novel and the comic
book, King Arthur is noble. Compare Arthur’s
treatment of his knights, including Mordred,
in the novel with his treatment of Tom and Merlin in
Camelot 3000.
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om Camel ot
223
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The Teacher Who Changed My Life
There, she drilled us on grammar until
I finally began to understand the logic
and structure of the English language.
She assigned stories for us to read and
discuss; not tales of heroes, like the
Greek myths I knew, but stories of
underdogs—poor people, even
immigrants, who seemed ordinary until
a crisis drove them to do something
extraordinary. She also introduced us to
the literary wealth of Greece—giving me
a new perspective on my war-ravaged,
impoverished homeland. I began to be
proud of my origins.
One day, after discussing how writers
should write about what they know, she
assigned us to compose an essay from
our own experience. Fixing me with a
stern look, she added, “Nick, I want you
to write about what happened to your
family in Greece.” I had been trying to
put those painful memories behind me
and left the assignment until the last
moment. Then, on a warm spring
afternoon, I sat in my room with a
yellow pad and pencil and stared out the
window at the buds on the trees. I wrote
that the coming of spring always
reminded me of the last time I said
goodbye to my mother on a green and
gold day in 1948.
I kept writing, one line after another,
telling how the Communist guerrillas
occupied our village, took our home and
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food, how my mother started planning
our escape when she learned that the
children were to be sent to re-education
camps behind the Iron Curtain and how,
at the last moment, she couldn’t escape
with us because the guerrillas sent her
with a group of women to thresh wheat in
a distant village. She promised she would
try to get away on her own, she told me
to be brave and hung a silver cross
around my neck, and then she kissed me.
I watched the line of women being led
down into the ravine and up the other
side, until they disappeared around the
bend—my mother a tiny brown figure at
the end who stopped for an instant to
raise her hand in one last farewell.
I wrote about our nighttime escape
down the mountain, across the
minefields, and into the lines of the
Nationalist soldiers, who sent us to a
refugee camp. It was there that we
learned of our mother’s execution. I felt
very lucky to have come to America, I
concluded, but every year, the coming of
spring made me feel sad because it
reminded me of the last time I saw my
mother.
I handed in the essay, hoping never to
see it again, but Miss Hurd had it
published in the school paper. This
mortified me at first, until I saw that my
classmates reacted with sympathy and
tact to my family’s story.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read with the literature selection at the
left, which is excerpted from “The Teacher Who Changed My Life”
by Nicholas Gage in Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Narrator and Point of View Nick and Mordred, the narrators of “The
Teacher Who Changed My Life” and I Am Mordred, have several traits
in common. Name these traits and describe the common themes that
unite the two points of view.
WRITE ABOUT IT
Sometimes becoming the person
you want to be means relying on
other people for help. Both I Am
Mordred and “The Teacher Who
Changed My Life” reflect this idea
in different ways. Compare and
contrast the two authors’ methods
in a paragraph.
2. Symbol What might be a good symbol to represent Nick in “The
Teacher Who Changed My Life”? Compare and contrast it with one of
the symbols that represents Mordred.
3. Legend I Am Mordred is a tale that spins off from an ancient legend
about King Arthur, the Knights of Round Table, and Camelot. In some
ways, “The Teacher Who Changed My Life” has some of the basic
elements of legend. What elements do both stories share?
I A m M or dr ed: A Tale fr om Camel ot
225
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Expository Essay
Evaluate Theme In I Am Mordred, young Mordred grapples with a
question that has fascinated philosophers for centuries: Is a person’s life
ruled by a predetermined fate or do free will and the ability to choose
guide a person’s existence? What do you think? In an essay, evaluate how
well the author presented Mordred’s struggle with this question. Support
your idea with examples from the text.
Prewrite Plan carefully before you begin to write. It is a good idea to skim
the novel and make a list of important events, their causes, and the
immediate and eventual effects. Which events simply happen to Mordred?
Which ones does he himself bring about? As you skim, you might find it
helpful to keep track of your ideas in a chart like the one below.
Grammar Tip
Events Beyond
Mordred’s Control
Mordred is put in a boat and
left to die at sea.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• Theme is a message about life
that that author wants to convey,
usually in a statement (Love hurts,
not Love).
• To evaluate is to make a reasoned
judgment or form an opinion
about a topic. When you evaluate,
you provide evidence to support
your opinion. In this task you are
not just telling how the author
presents the theme, but how well
she does it.
Events Caused by Mordred
Mordred goes to Camelot to
try to meet his father and
change his fate.
Once you have completed your chart, use the information as the basis of a
thesis for your essay. What overall point do you think the information adds
up to? In what order will you present the information to best make that
point?
Draft Identify the most significant events and ideas in I Am Mordred. Then
consider how each of them plays into the work’s larger theme of fate
versus self-determination. Don’t worry if you feel there is gray area in the
novel. The fact that readers must decide what they think of the events is
part of what makes the work complex and interesting.
Revise When you have completed your draft, exchange papers with a
classmate. Review each other’s work carefully. Does the writer express
viewpoints in a coherent way? Are the statements well supported by the
text? Give your classmate detailed oral feedback. Accept the same from
your classmate and revise your work accordingly.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
Usage
Watch out for homonyms, words
that are pronounced alike but
may have very different
meanings. Many writers often
confuse and misuse homonyms.
For example, all ready is an
adjective. It means “all
prepared.”
Correct:
We had gotten all ready to get
on the plane when our flight was
canceled.
Incorrect:
We should all ready have been
on the plane.
Already is an adverb that means
“before” or “previously.”
Correct:
Our flight was already canceled
by the time we arrived at the
airport.
Incorrect:
We are already to forget the
whole thing.
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The Time Machine
and The War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells
The T im e M achine and The War of t he Worl ds
227
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
The Time Machine
H. G. Wells
“
Indeed, the whole story can be regarded
as an extended allegory on the theme of the
exploitation of man by man.
”
—J. R. Hammond, An H. G. Wells
Companion, 1979
H. G. Wells is known today as the father
of modern science fiction. Well-known
writers of the time read and admired
Wells’s works. Joseph Conrad called Wells
a “realist of the fantastic,” hitting upon the
two concepts in the currently used term
science fiction. George Orwell believed that
“the minds of all of us, and therefore the
physical world, would be perceptibly
different if Wells never existed.”
A Time of Great Change Wells began
developing his ideas for The Time
Machine during the late 1880s and early
1890s. These last years of the nineteenth
century were a time of great change.
New means of travel were being
developed. Industrialism was growing
rapidly, and with it flourished factories
and new kinds of machines that were
previously unimaginable.
Wells and the avid readers of his fiction
were fascinated by what the future
might hold. Where would all these
strange new inventions take them?
What would society and humanity
become? Wells’s fascination led him so
far as to wonder what it would be like
to travel into the future and find out
the answers to these questions. In
writing The Time Machine, he created
a machine that could travel through
time as well as space.
A Future Version of the Present The
story unfolds in two different times,
although the setting is the same in each
time period. Some of the story takes
place in nineteenth-century England.
The bulk of the story, however, takes
place in the year a.d. 802,701. Most of
the evidence of the earlier time has
disappeared, although enough
landmarks and dilapidated ruins remain
that the Time Traveller is able to
recognize his new location as being a
future version of the present one.
The Future of the Universe
Scientists do not know what the
universe will be like in the
remote future, billions of years
from now. Two theories
dominate their speculations.
One theory is that the cosmos
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will continue to expand until the
galaxies and stars die and the
universe becomes a cold, dark,
barren place. Another view is
that the universe will begin to
contract. According to this view,
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 6
temperatures will become hotter
and hotter until everything is
fused together in a “big
squeeze.”
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
The War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells
“
When we read Wells’s The War of the
Worlds we are reading, then, not simply a
novel but the beginning of a genre.
”
—James Gunn, in the Afterward to an
edition of The War of the Worlds
When Wells wrote The War of the Worlds
in 1898, he was living in Woking,
England. To make the story realistic, he
walked around Woking, making notes on
people and places to be destroyed in the
story. He wrote to a friend, “I’m doing
the dearest little serial for Pearson’s new
magazine, in which I completely wreck
and destroy Woking—killing my
neighbors in painful and eccentric
ways—then proceed via Kingston and
Richmond to London, which I sack,
selecting South Kensington for feats of
peculiar atrocity.”
The First Tale of Martian Invasion
Wells’s imagination of the invasion by
Martians was highly inventive and
original. At the time he wrote, interplanetary space travel was far in the
future. Wells was the first writer to create
a tale of invasion by aliens. Thereafter,
the survival of the human race against an
attack by invaders from outer space
became a standard element in science
fiction. Wells has been called the father of
science fiction because, with his
publication of The War of the Worlds, The
Time Machine, and other scientific
romances (as they were known at the
time), he established the genre as readers
know it today.
An Accurate Portrayal The story takes
place at the end of the nineteenth
century. Woking is a district in England
about twenty-five miles southwest of
London. A railroad line connects the two
locations. Wells’s portrayal of Woking as
a quiet residential area surrounded by
countryside is accurate. Not far away is
the Thames River, a gentle river flowing
through the English countryside.
Terrifying a Nation
In 1938 in the United States,
Orson Welles broadcast over
the radio a play based on H. G.
Wells’s The War of the Worlds.
Many listeners panicked,
thinking Earth really was being
invaded by Martians. Don
Freeman, who attended
rehearsals for the radio play,
said, “It seemed merely a good
joke, though it turned out to be
the performance in which he
scared half the nation out of its
skin with the Martian invasion.”
The T im e M achine and The War of t he Worl ds
229
MEET THE AUTHOR
H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
“
Personally I have no use at all for life as
it is, except as raw material. It bores me to
look at things unless there is also the idea of
doing something with them. . . . It is
always about life being altered that I write,
or about people developing schemes for
altering life.
”
—H. G. Wells, Something about the
Author, Volume 20
By the time of his death in 1946, Herbert
George Wells had become a wealthy and
famous author of novels, short stories,
essays, and critical works. In his works,
he exhibited an uncanny knack for
foretelling future scientific developments,
including robots and chemical warfare.
Wells introduced his readers to the
possibilities of the future—both positive
and negative.
Rising Above His Circumstances Born to
lower-middle-class parents in 1866, Wells
grew up in his struggling family’s small
china shop near London. He received a
less-than-adequate education, and at age
fourteen, because of his family’s financial
woes, he was apprenticed to a curtainmaker. This “driving, systematic,
incessant” work caused him to view with
envy other boys who were able to go to
school. But lack of schooling did not
prevent him from learning:
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[My apprenticeship stiffened] my naturally
indolent, rather slovenly, and far too genial
nature into a grim rebellion against the
world—a spurt of revolt that enabled me to
do wonders of self-education. . . . If I had been
the son of a prosperous gentleman I should
never, I am sure, have done anything at all.
Wells escaped the hated life of draper’s
apprentice when, at the age of eighteen,
he was awarded a scholarship to the
Normal School of Science in London.
There he studied biology under T. H.
Huxley, a champion of Charles Darwin
and a noted scientist, whose views on
evolution greatly influenced Wells’s
imagination. The social and biological
evolution of humanity would form a longrunning theme in Wells’s works. He began
to imagine the future and to write about
it, publishing his first work, “A Tale of the
Twentieth Century,” before he was twenty.
Achieving Utopia Over time, Wells’s
emphasis in writing shifted to history,
philosophy, and politics. Wells was also a
supporter of socialism, a system in which
all people share labor, profits, goods, and
services. Although Wells believed that
humanity could achieve utopia through
evolution and scientific advances, he
grew discouraged in this belief in later
life, partly in response to the world wars.
BEFORE YOU READ: The Time Machine
Connect to the Literature
What do you think the world will be like a million years from now?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Quickwrite
Jot down your thoughts about how the future of a million years from now
might be different from the present time. How will society be structured?
How will people live their daily lives? How will they relate to one another?
What will cause these changes?
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
Utopian Societies
A utopia is a society whose inhabitants exist in perfect conditions. Writers
from Plato to H. G. Wells and others have tried to imagine what a utopian
society would be like. Some people have even experimented with the
creation of utopian societies. In fact, the United States was home to a
number of utopian communities during the 19th century, including the
Shaker communities of the eastern seaboard and the Harmonists of
Pennsylvania and Indiana. Such communities were often formed by
religious separatists seeking a simpler and more humane way of life. The
Shakers created beautiful handcrafted wood furniture and woven cloth
with a distinctive style all its own. However, sustaining this simpler way of
life in the face of the progressive push of the modern world proved difficult,
and most utopian societies were disbanded after a period of years. As you
read about the Time Traveller’s encounters with the Eloi and the Morlocks,
think about what the author is implying about utopian societies.
T h e T im e M achine and The War of the Wor lds: The Time Machi ne
231
BEFORE YOU READ: The Time Machine
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Why Share Stories?
Since the beginning of human history, whether around a fire, in a church, or
within a close family circle, people have found it necessary to tell their
stories. Today, people have many ways to communicate over great distances
and small, and yet the need for sharing stories has never disappeared.
As you read The Time Machine, consider the reasons behind why the Time
Traveller feels it is so important to share his story with his friends and
colleagues.
Literary Element Flashback
A flashback is an interruption in a chronological narrative that tells about
something that happened before that point in the story or before the story
began. A flashback gives readers information that helps to explain the
main events of the story.
In The Time Machine, a character known only as the Time Traveller shares
with a group of friends the news of his strange new invention, a time
machine. A week later, the story he tells them takes the form of a
flashback retold by one of the dinner guests, as it covers events that
happened between the occasions when the men dined together. As you
read The Time Machine, notice how the author uses the idea of time both
literally and thematically.
Reading Strategy Activate Prior Knowledge
When you activate prior knowledge about literature, you use information
and ideas that you already possess in order to make sense of new
information and ideas in your reading.
Activating prior knowledge is important because reading is an interactive
process between you and a writer. When you use your own knowledge
and experience and combine it with words on a page, you create meaning
in the selection.
To activate prior knowledge as you read, ask yourself
• What do I know about this topic?
• What experiences have I had that compare or contrast with
what I am reading?
• What characters from life or literature remind me of the
characters or narrator in the selection?
You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one
at the right.
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anachronism [ə nak rə niz əm] n.
something that is out of its proper
place in history
The play was set in the 1950s, so
it was a strange anachronism
when one character entered
talking on a cell phone.
deliquesce [del ə kwes ] v. to
melt away
As the majority of the party
guests began to deliquesce, the
conversation got quieter and
quieter.
plausible [plô zə bəl] adj.
believable
“You’re going to need a plausible
excuse, young man,” Mrs.
Borchard told her son, pointing at
her watch angrily.
recondite [rek ən d¯t] adj. beyond
the grasp of ordinary
understanding
The algebra professor was losing
patience as he cried, “This
problem is not recondite, ladies
and gentlemen!”
temerity [tə mer ə tē] n.
foolishness, recklessness
Everything was fine until the
moment when young Oliver Twist
had the temerity to ask for more
porridge.
What the Author
Tells Me
What I
Already Know
ACTIVE READING: The Time Machine
The Time Traveller notices many differences
between the Eloi and the Morlocks. As you read, jot
down details about each race. Use your prior
knowledge of other works of literature, film, and
television to discuss such creatures as these in
terms of their traits and similarities and differences.
Eloi
childlike
Morlocks
apelike
T h e T im e M achine and The War of the Wor lds: The Time Machi ne
233
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Flashback Why do you think the
author chose to tell the Time
Traveller’s story as a flashback as
opposed to taking readers along on
the journey with him?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
“There was the sound of a clap of thunder in my ears. I
may have been stunned for a moment. A pitiless hail was
hissing round me, and I was sitting on soft turf in front of
the overset machine. Everything still seemed grey, but
presently I remarked that the confusion in my ears was
gone. I looked round me. I was on what seemed to be a
little lawn in a garden, surrounded by rhododendron
bushes, and I noticed that their mauve and purple
blossoms were dropping in a shower under the beating of
the hail-stones. The rebounding, dancing hail hung in a
cloud over the machine, and drove along the ground like
smoke. In a moment I was wet to the skin. ‘Fine
hospitality,’ said I, ‘to a man who has travelled
innumerable years to see you.’
“Presently I thought what a fool I was to get wet. I
stood up and looked round me. A colossal figure, carved
apparently in some white stone, loomed indistinctly
beyond the rhododendrons through the hazy downpour.
But all else of the world was invisible.
“My sensations would be hard to describe. As the
columns of hail grew thinner, I saw the white figure more
distinctly. It was very large, for a silver birch-tree touched
its shoulder. It was of white marble, in shape something
like a winged sphinx, but the wings, instead of being
carried vertically at the sides, were spread so that it
seemed to hover. The pedestal, it appeared to me, was of
bronze, and was thick with verdigris. It chanced that the
face was towards me; the sightless eyes seemed to watch
me; there was the faint shadow of a smile on the lips. It
was greatly weather-worn, and that imparted an
unpleasant suggestion of disease. I stood looking at it for a
little space—half a minute, perhaps, or half an hour. It
seemed to advance and to recede as the hail drove before it
denser or thinner. At last I tore my eyes from it for a
moment, and saw that the hail curtain had worn
threadbare, and that the sky was lightening with the
promise of the sun.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“I looked up again at the crouching white shape, and
the full temerity of my voyage came suddenly upon me.
What might appear when the hazy curtain was altogether
withdrawn? What might not have happened to men? What
if cruelty had grown into a common passion? What if in
this interval the race had lost its manliness, and had
developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and
overwhelmingly powerful? I might seem some old-world
savage animal, only the more dreadful and disgusting for
our common likeness—a foul creature to be incontinently
slain.
“Already I saw other vast shapes—huge buildings with
intricate parapets and tall columns, with a wooded hillside dimly creeping in upon me through the lessening
storm. I was seized with a panic fear. I turned frantically to
the Time Machine, and strove hard to readjust it. As I did
so the shafts of the sun smote through the thunderstorm.
The grey downpour was swept aside and vanished like the
trailing garments of a ghost. Above me, in the intense blue
of the summer sky, some faint brown shreds of cloud
whirled into nothingness. The great buildings about me
stood out clear and distinct, shining with the wet of the
thunderstorm, and picked out in white by the unmelted
hailstones piled along their courses. I felt naked in a
strange world. I felt as perhaps a bird may feel in the clear
air, knowing the hawk wings above and will swoop. My
fear grew to frenzy. I took a breathing space, set my teeth,
and again grappled fiercely, wrist and knee, with the
machine. It gave under my desperate onset and turned
over. It struck my chin violently. One hand on the saddle,
the other on the lever, I stood panting heavily in attitude to
mount again.
“But with this recovery of a prompt retreat my courage
recovered. I looked more curiously and less fearfully at
this world of the remote future. In a circular opening, high
up in the wall of the nearer house, I saw a group of figures
clad in rich soft robes. They had seen me, and their faces
were directed towards me.
Literary Element
Flashback How are these plot
events affected by the story’s
flashback structure?
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INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Activate Prior Knowledge How
does this description relate to other
things you have read or seen about
the possible future changes to the
earth’s environment?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 5
“I cannot convey the sense of abominable desolation
that hung over the world. The red eastern sky, the
northward blackness, the salt Dead Sea, the stony beach
crawling with these foul, slow-stirring monsters, the
uniform poisonous-looking green of the lichenous plants,
the thin air that hurts one’s lungs: all contributed to an
appalling effect. I moved on a hundred years, and there
was the same red sun—a little larger, a little duller—the
same dying sea, the same chill air, and the same crowd of
earthy crustacea creeping in and out among the green
weed and the red rocks. And in the westward sky, I saw a
curved pale line like a vast new moon.
“So I travelled, stopping ever and again, in great strides
of a thousand years or more, drawn on by the mystery of
the earth’s fate, watching with a strange fascination the
sun grow larger and duller in the westward sky, and the
life of the old earth ebb away. At last, more than thirty
million years hence, the huge red-hot dome of the sun had
come to obscure nearly a tenth part of the darkling
heavens. Then I stopped once more, for the crawling
multitude of crabs had disappeared, and the red beach,
save for its livid green liverworts and lichens, seemed
lifeless. And now it was flecked with white. A bitter cold
assailed me. Rare white flakes ever and again came
eddying down. To the north-eastward, the glare of snow
lay under the starlight of the sable sky and I could see an
undulating crest of hillocks pinkish white. There were
fringes of ice along the sea margin, with drifting masses
further out; but the main expanse of that salt ocean, all
bloody under the eternal sunset, was still unfrozen.
“I looked about me to see if any traces of animal life
remained. A certain indefinable apprehension still kept me
in the saddle of the machine. But I saw nothing moving, in
earth or sky or sea. The green slime on the rocks alone
testified that life was not extinct. A shallow sandbank had
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
appeared in the sea and the water had receded from the
beach. I fancied I saw some black object flopping about
upon this bank, but it became motionless as I looked at it,
and I judged that my eye had been deceived, and that the
black object was merely a rock. The stars in the sky were
intensely bright and seemed to me to twinkle very little.
“Suddenly I noticed that the circular westward outline
of the sun had changed; that a concavity, a bay, had
appeared in the curve. I saw this grow larger. For a minute
perhaps I stared aghast at this blackness that was creeping
over the day, and then I realized that an eclipse was
beginning. Either the moon or the planet Mercury was
passing across the sun’s disk. Naturally, at first I took it to
be the moon, but there is much to incline me to believe that
what I really saw was the transit of an inner planet passing
very near to the earth.
“The darkness grew apace; a cold wind began to blow
in freshening gusts from the east, and the showering white
flakes in the air increased in number. From the edge of the
sea came a ripple and whisper. Beyond these lifeless
sounds the world was silent. Silent? It would be hard to
convey the stillness of it. All the sounds of man, the
bleating of sheep, the cries of birds, the hum of insects, the
stir that makes the background of our lives—all that was
over. As the darkness thickened, the eddying flakes grew
more abundant, dancing before my eyes; and the cold of
the air more intense. At last, one by one, swiftly, one after
the other, the white peaks of the distant hill vanished into
blackness. The breeze rose to a moaning wind. I saw the
black central shadow of the eclipse sweeping towards me.
In another moment the pale stars alone were visible. All
else was rayless obscurity. The sky was absolutely black.
“A horror of this great darkness came on me. The cold,
that smote to my marrow, and the pain I felt in breathing,
overcame me.
Reading Strategy
Activate Prior Knowledge Based
on your prior reading, or viewing of
films about time travel, what might
the author be describing here?
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237
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Share Stories? Why do you
think the Time Traveller told the
story to his colleagues and friends
on the evening before his final
disappearance?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: THE EPILOGUE
I determined to go next day and see the Time Traveller
again. I was told he was in the laboratory, and being on easy
terms in the house, I went up to him. The laboratory,
however, was empty. I stared for a minute at the Time
Machine and put out my hand and touched the lever. At
that the squat substantial-looking mass swayed like a bough
shaken by the wind. Its instability startled me extremely,
and I had a queer reminiscence of the childish days when I
used to be forbidden to meddle. I came back through the
corridor. The Time Traveller met me in the smoking room.
He was coming from the house. He had a small camera
under one arm and a knapsack under the other. He laughed
when he saw me, and gave me an elbow to shake. “I’m
frightfully busy,” said he, “with that thing in there.”
“But is it not some hoax?” I said. “Do you really travel
through time?”
“Really and truly I do.” And he looked frankly into my
eyes. He hesitated. His eyes wandered about the room. “I
only want half an hour,” he said. “I know why you came,
and it’s awfully good of you. There’s some magazines here.
If you’ll stop to lunch I’ll prove you this time travelling up
to the hilt, specimen and all. If you’ll forgive my leaving
you now?”
I consented, hardly comprehending the full import of his
words, and he nodded and went on down the corridor. I
heard the door of the laboratory slam, seated myself in a
chair, and took up a daily paper. What was he going to do
before lunchtime? Then suddenly I was reminded by an
advertisement that I had promised to meet Richardson, the
publisher, at two. I looked at my watch, and saw that I
could barely save that engagement. I got up and went
down the passage to tell the Time Traveller.
As I took hold of the handle of the door I heard an
exclamation, oddly truncated at the end, and a click and a
thud. A gust of air whirred round me as I opened the door,
and from within came the sound of broken glass falling on
the floor. The Time Traveller was not there.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
T h e T im e M achine and The War of the Wor lds: The Time Machi ne
239
AFTER YOU READ: The Time Machine
Respond and Think Critically
1. What is the Palace of Green Porcelain and why goes the Time Traveller
go there? How does the Time Traveller’s visit to the palace lead to his
getting back his time machine and, in turn, his return to the present?
[Evaluate]
2. What does the Time Traveller see in the future when he leaves the Eloi
and the Morlocks? Why might the author have included this
description? [Infer]
3. What evidence does the Time Traveller have of his journey? Why do
you think most of the men do not believe the Time Traveller’s tale?
[Analyze]
4. What do you think Wells is saying about utopias? Explain whether you
think it would be possible to create a utopia today. Why or why not?
[Connect]
5. Why Share Stories? Do you think things might have turned out
differently if the Time Traveller’s friends and colleagues had believed
his story without question? [Infer]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on page 228. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: The Time Machine
Literary Element Flashback
1. How would you describe the timeframe of this novel?
[Describe]
2. What surprise is revealed in the very last sentence
of the epilogue? [Analyze]
Reading Strategy Activate Prior Knowledge
1. How did your prior knowledge help you to
understand the response of the Time Traveller’s
colleagues to his story? [Connect]
Vocabulary Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the vocabulary word
correctly.
1. A. My mother asked me to help her deliquesce the
butter in the pan.
B. When subjected to great heat, water will
deliquesce into steam.
2. A. Jim isn’t plausible very often—he wears colors
that don’t match.
B. Jane’s story wasn’t too plausible—she said
she was at the store, but I could see that she’d
never left the living room.
3. A. Jonathan had the temerity to stick his hand
right into the snarling dog’s cage!
B. My aunt Susan gets very temerity when she’s
nervous.
4. A. The principal was completely recondite to the
students—they simply couldn’t grasp it.
B. Whenever I feel recondite, I try to study harder.
5. A. Grandpa likes to wear clothes from the 1970s,
but he’s no mere anachronism.
B. My anachronism family has strong ties to our
past.
Academic Vocabulary
2. What other stories or films have you experienced
that feature nonhuman characters like Weena or the
other Eloi and Morlocks? [Connect]
According to the Time Traveller, society ceases to
function in a productive way when there is nothing left
to strive for, because people become lazy and
intellectually stunted. In the previous sentence, function
means “operate or work.” Do you agree with this
assessment of society’s chances of survival in the face
of luxury and leisure time? What clues can you find in
your own life to support your answer?
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241
AFTER YOU READ: The Time Machine
Writing
Research and Report
Write a New Ending Write a new ending for the
novel that describes the Time Traveller’s last
voyage. Does he travel into the future or the past?
What does he see, and what does he do? Why does
he never return?
Literary Criticism
Jot down some notes here first.
Prepare Read the following quotation about Wells’s
work from English Literature 1900 to the Present by
Arthur H. Bell, Donald Heiney, and Lenthiel H.
Downs:
Assignment Evaluate literary criticism about H. G.
Wells’s work and write a short response in which
you explain whether or not you believe the criticism
applies to The Time Machine.
“Wells’s scientific fantasies demonstrate a thorough
foundation in physics and biology; they are the work
of a gifted novelist who was forced to labor in his
youth as a science teacher and writer of scientific
textbooks.”
Think about the novel you have just finished. Would
you say that The Time Machine is a good example
of a work that displays a thorough foundation in
physics and biology? Determine your position. Craft
a thesis statement, and gather details from the
novel and your own prior knowledge to support your
argument.
Report When you present your report, make eye
contact with your audience, speak loudly and
enunciate clearly, and maintain good posture. If
there are questions at the end, answer them in a
modulated tone of voice and try to avoid becoming
defensive or emotional. Remember that questions
are simply the audience’s way of clarifying the
information they are hearing.
Evaluate Write a paragraph evaluating your report
and your presentation techniques. Accept oral
feedback from your classmates.
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BEFORE YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book One
Connect to the Literature
Recall a time when you were in a huge crowd of people. How do you think
you would have reacted if something had caused the crowd to panic?
Discuss
Share with the class your ideas about mass panic. What kinds of events
can cause mass panic? How does mass panic generate more panic? How
might mass panic be avoided?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
The Mystery of Mars
Several events inspired Wells to write The War of the Worlds. First,
Germany was beginning to unify and gather its armed forces, causing
many people to predict war. Also, a few years earlier Mars had been
positioned especially close to Earth, and an Italian astronomer had
reported seeing channels on its surface. Because the word for channels
in Italian is canali, people mistakenly translated it as canals in English.
Consequently, people feared Mars had life forms capable of constructing
canals. Finally, another astronomer reported seeing a mysterious light on
Mars in 1894.
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BEFORE YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book One
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Why Share Stories?
Some stories are shared for entertainment’s sake. Others contain
important information or messages about life. In a novel such as The War
of the Worlds, both of these aspects of storytelling come into play.
As you read the first section of the novel, ask yourself what overall
purpose Wells might have had in writing it.
Literary Element Description
Description is writing that seeks to convey the impression of a setting, a
person, an animal, an object, or an event by appealing to the senses.
Almost all writing, fiction and nonfiction, contains elements of description.
H. G. Wells uses vivid description to bring to life a world altered by a strange
invasion. Although many of the events and creatures he describes exist only
in imagination, Wells grounds these elements in a reality that draws readers
in and allows them to invest in the story. As you read Book One of the novel,
notice the quality and the quantity of the concrete details, simple, specific
details that tell who, what, when, and where, and sensory details that
appeal to the five senses. Use the graphic organizer on the next page to
help you.
Reading Strategy Interpret Author’s Meaning
When you interpret an author’s meaning, you look for clues in the text and
use your own knowledge of the world and of literature to form your
understanding of the underlying meanings.
Interpreting the author’s meaning is important because without your own
interpretation you lack a primary tool with which to understand the events
of the story and the actions of the characters.
To interpret the author’s meaning in a literary work,
you must read interactively and ask yourself questions
about the material. For example:
• Why did this event take place? What is its larger
significance to the story?
• What do I know about this situation or character
already?
• Why did the author choose to tell it in this way?
• What is the message I can take away from this?
You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like
the one at the right.
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common [kom ən] n. open public
land
While crossing the village
common, a group of tourists
stopped to look at a statue of a
local hero.
complacency [kəm plā sən sē] n.
smugness, a sense that one is
above harm
My uncle’s complacency while
his house was burning down
made me know something was
wrong.
conflagration [kon flə rā shən]
n. huge, destructive fire
We looked across at the
destroyed building, which was
engulfed by the conflagration.
Gorgon [or ən] n. in Greek
mythology, any of three sisters
with snakes for hair
Hedy’s first piano teacher was so
strict that everyone called her the
Gorgon.
indefatigable [in di fat ə ə bəl]
adj. untiring, determined
Myron doesn’t care if he wins,
but when it comes to finishing the
race, he is indefatigable.
Event
Question
The
Narrator
sends his
wife to
Leatherhead
and returns
to Maybury.
Why doesn’t
he stay with
her?
My
Interpretation
ACTIVE READING: The War of the Worlds: Book One
In Book One, the narrator slowly reveals details
about the Martians. As you read Book One, make
notes in the chart below about the concrete and
sensory details in the descriptions of the Martians’
spacecraft, their physical appearance, weapons,
and actions.
Spacecraft
Physical Appearance
large, dark eyes
Weapons
Martians
Actions
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INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Decription Identify some of the
sensory details on this page.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 12
I gave a cry of astonishment. I saw and thought nothing
of the other four Martian monsters; my attention was
riveted upon the nearer incident. Simultaneously two other
shells burst in the air near the body as the hood twisted
round in time to receive, but not in time to dodge, the
fourth shell.
The shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. The hood
bulged, flashed, and whirled off in a dozen tattered
fragments of red flesh and glittering metal.
“Hit!” shouted I, with something between a scream and
a cheer.
I heard answering shouts from the people in the water
about me. I could have leaped out of the water with that
momentary exultation.
The decapitated colossus reeled like a drunken giant;
but it did not fall over. It recovered its balance by a
miracle, and, no longer heeding its steps and with the
camera that fired the Heat-Ray now rigidly upheld, it
reeled swiftly upon Shepperton. The living intelligence, the
Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the
four winds of heaven, and the Thing was now but a mere
intricate device of metal whirling to destruction. It drove
along in a straight line, incapable of guidance. It struck the
tower of Shepperton Church, smashing it down as the
impact of a battering ram might have done, swerved aside,
blundered on, and collapsed with tremendous force into
the river out of my sight.
A violent explosion shook the air, and a spout of water,
steam, mud, and shattered metal shot far up into the sky.
As the camera of the Heat-Ray hit the water, the latter had
immediately flashed into steam. In another moment, a
huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore but almost scaldingly
hot, came sweeping round the bend upstream. I saw
people struggling shorewards, and heard their screaming
and shouting faintly above the seething and roar of the
Martian’s collapse.
For a moment I heeded nothing of the heat, forgot the
patent need of self-preservation. I splashed through the
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
tumultuous water, pushing aside a man in black to do so,
until I could see round the bend. Half a dozen deserted
boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of the waves.
The fallen Martian came into sight downstream, lying
across the river, and for the most part, submerged.
Thick clouds of steam were pouring off the wreckage,
and through the tumultuously whirling wisps I could see,
intermittently and vaguely, the gigantic limbs churning the
water and flinging a splash and spray of mud and froth
into the air. The tentacles swayed and struck like living
arms, and, save for the helpless purposelessness of these
movements, it was as if some wounded thing were
struggling for its life amid the waves. Enormous quantities
of a ruddy-brown fluid were spurting up in noisy jets out
of the machine.
My attention was diverted from this death flurry by a
furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our
manufacturing towns. A man, knee-deep near the towing
path, shouted inaudibly to me and pointed. Looking back,
I saw the other Martians advancing with gigantic strides
down the riverbank from the direction of Chertsey. The
Shepperton guns spoke this time unavailingly.
At that I ducked at once under water, and, holding my
breath until movement was an agony, blundered painfully
ahead under the surface as long as I could. The water was
in tumult about me, and rapidly growing hotter.
When for a moment I raised my head to take breath and
throw the hair and water from my eyes, the steam was
rising in a whirling white fog that at first hid the Martians
altogether. The noise was deafening. Then I saw them
dimly, colossal figures of grey, magnified by the mist. They
had passed by me, and two were stooping over the
frothing, tumultuous ruins of their comrade.
The third and fourth stood beside him in the water, one
perhaps two hundred yards from me, the other towards
Laleham. The generators of the Heat-Rays waved high,
and the hissing beams smote down this way and that.
Literary Element
Description What concrete details
are included in the excerpt?
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INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Interpret Author’s Meaning What
do you think the author is saying
about human nature in this
description?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 7
For my own part, I remember nothing of my flight
except the stress of blundering against trees and stumbling
through the heather. All about me gathered the invisible
terrors of the Martians; that pitiless sword of heat seemed
whirling to and fro, flourishing overhead before it
descended and smote me out of life. I came into the road
between the crossroads and Horsell, and ran along this to
the crossroads.
At last I could go no further; I was exhausted with the
violence of my emotion and of my flight, and I staggered
and fell by the wayside. That was near the bridge that
crosses the canal by the gasworks. I fell and lay still.
I must have remained there some time.
I sat up, strangely perplexed. For a moment, perhaps, I
could not clearly understand how I came there. My terror
had fallen from me like a garment. My hat had gone, and
my collar had burst away from its fastener. A few minutes
before, there had only been three real things before
me—the immensity of the night and space and nature, my
own feebleness and anguish, and the near approach of
death. Now it was as if something turned over, and the
point of view altered abruptly. There was no sensible
transition from one state of mind to the other. I was
immediately the self of every day again—a decent,
ordinary citizen. The silent common, the impulse of my
flight, the starting flames, were as if they had been in a
dream. I asked myself had these latter things indeed
happened? I could not credit it.
I rose and walked unsteadily up the steep incline of the
bridge. My mind was blank wonder. My muscles and
nerves seemed drained of their strength. I dare say I
staggered drunkenly. A head rose over the arch, and the
figure of a workman carrying a basket appeared. Beside
him ran a little boy. He passed me, wishing me good
night. I was minded to speak to him, but did not. I
answered his greeting with a meaningless mumble and
went on over the bridge. . . .
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
There were two men and a woman at the gate.
“Eh?” said one of the men, turning.
“What news from the common?” I said.
“Ain’t yer just been there?” asked the man.
“People seem fair silly about the common,” said the
woman over the gate. “What’s it all abart?”
“Haven’t you heard of the men from Mars?” said I; “the
creatures from Mars?”
“Quite enough,” said the woman over the gate.
“Thenks”; and all three of them laughed.
I felt foolish and angry. I tried and found I could not tell
them what I had seen. They laughed again at my broken
sentences.
“You’ll hear more yet,” I said, and went on to my home.
I startled my wife at the doorway, so haggard was I. I
went into the dining room, sat down, drank some wine,
and so soon as I could collect myself sufficiently I told her
the things I had seen. The dinner, which was a cold one,
had already been served, and remained neglected on the
table while I told my story.
“There is one thing,” I said, to allay the fears I had
aroused; “they are the most sluggish things I ever saw
crawl. They may keep the pit and kill people who come
near them, but they cannot get out of it. . . . But the horror
of them!”
“Don’t, dear!” said my wife, knitting her brows and
putting her hand on mine.
“Poor Ogilvy!” I said. “To think he may be lying dead
there!”
My wife at least did not find my experience incredible.
When I saw how deadly white her face was, I ceased
abruptly.
“They may come here,” she said again and again.
I pressed her to take wine, and tried to reassure her.
“They can scarcely move,” I said.
Reading Strategy
Interpret Author’s Meaning How
does the narrator know this about
the Martians?
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249
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Share Stories? What does the
author seem to be saying about
why the story of the war with the
Martians did not travel more
quickly across England?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 14
The Martians, alarmed by the approach of a crowd, had
killed a number of people with a quickfiring gun, so the
story ran. The telegram concluded with the words:
“Formidable as they seem to be, the Martians have not
moved from the pit into which they have fallen, and,
indeed, seem incapable of doing so. Probably this is due to
the relative strength of the earth’s gravitational energy.” On
that last text their leader-writer expanded very comfortingly.
Of course all the students in the crammer’s biology
class, to which my brother went that day, were intensely
interested, but there were no signs of any unusual
excitement in the streets. . . .
In London, also, on Saturday night there was a
thunderstorm, and my brother reached Waterloo in a cab.
On the platform from which the mid-night train usually
starts he learned, after some waiting, that an accident
prevented trains from reaching Woking that night. The
nature of the accident he could not ascertain; indeed, the
railway authorities did not clearly know at that time. There
was very little excitement in the station, as the officials,
failing to realize that anything further than a break-down
between Byfleet and Woking junction had occurred, were
running the theatre trains which usually passed through
Woking round by Virginia Water or Guilford. They were
busy making the necessary arrangements to alter the route
of the Southampton and Portsmouth Sunday League
excursions. A nocturnal newspaper reporter, mistaking my
brother for the traffic manager, to whom he bears a slight
resemblance, waylaid and tried to interview him. Few
people, excepting the railway officials, connected the
breakdown with the Martians.
I have read, in another account of these events, that on
Sunday morning “all London was electrified by the news
from Woking.” As a matter of fact, there was nothing to
justify that very extravagant phrase. Plenty of Londoners did
not hear of the Martians until the panic of Monday morning.
Those who did took some time to realize all that the hastily
worked telegrams in the Sunday papers conveyed. The
majority of people in London do not read Sunday papers.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
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AFTER YOU REA D: The War of the Worlds: Book One
Respond and Think Critically
1. From whose point of view does the narrator describe the events in
London? Why might the author have chosen to present the plot in this
manner? [Analyze]
2. How do Londoners’ reactions to the invasion change over time? What
does the narrator describe their ultimate reaction as “the beginning of
the rout of civilization, of the massacre of mankind”? [Evaluate]
3. Once the Martians deploy their fighting machines, how do they carry
out their invasion? How does this strategy serve to demoralize rather
than destroy mankind? [Infer]
4. Why do you think the general population of England was at first so
complacent about the Martians? Explain whether you think people in
America might have the same attitude toward a similar event today.
[Infer]
5. Why Share Stories? Do you think it is important to share stories of
violent or terrifying events that occur in places far from our homes?
Why or why not? [Connect]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
230. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book One
Literary Element Description
1. What, in your opinion, makes the author’s physical
description of the Martians’ war machines so
effective? [Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary
word that correctly completes the sentence.
common
conflagration
indefatigable
2. Choose a paragraph from Book One that you feel is a
good example of description. Explain your choice.
[Evaluate]
Reading Strategy Interpret Author’s Meaning
1. At the beginning of the novel, how do you interpret
the author’s meaning about the humans’ lack of
preparedness for the Martian attack? [Recall]
complacency
Gorgon
1. The ____________ is one of the most terrifying
creatures in mythology.
2. I have never run a marathon, but I am
____________ when it comes to playing
basketball.
3. Gerald feels that Pam’s continued ____________
about her salary is keeping her from making
enough money to live on.
4. The most relaxing spot on the entire campus is a
little park known as the student ____________.
5. The blaze started out as a tiny spark in the
basement, but it grew to a vast ____________.
Academic Vocabulary
The humans’ research about the possibility of life on
Mars has clearly been woefully inadequate; the
Martians, on the other hand, seem to have found out all
the weaknesses of the humans. Using context clues, try
to figure out the meaning of the boldfaced word in the
sentence above. Check your guess in a dictionary.
2. Would you say that the novel is a “cautionary tale”?
Why or why not? [Evaluate]
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AFTER YOU REA D: The War of the Worlds: Book One
Write with Style
Connect to Content Areas
Apply Description
Art
Assignment Description is largely made up of
sensory and concrete details. Sensory details
appeal to the five senses. Concrete details are
simple, specific physical details. Concrete details
can make your writing memorable by creating
language and images that are familiar to readers.
Write a paragraph in which you describe an
incident from Book One of The War of the Worlds,
using a series of concrete images.
Assignment Chapter 4 of the novel explains in
detail the appearance of the Martians. What mental
images did these passages create for you? Use art
supplies or computer art software to create your
own rendition of a Martian, based on details from
the novel.
Get Ideas Select the part of the novel you wish to
write about. It should be a fairly descriptive
passage. Reread the passage and take notes about
the events. Then close the book and write a few
brief sentences that come to your mind to describe
the events. Do not try to remember exact wording
from the novel. The idea is to come up with
concrete images of your own.
• The river had become a raging torrent.
• A row of trees burst into flames.
• People were engulfed by boiling water.
Investigate First make a list of the physical features
of the Martians, as depicted in the novel. Use a
chart like the one below.
Facial Features
Movements
round head
V-shaped drooling
mouth
enormous eyes
no chin or brows
oily, brown skin
clumsy, heavy
painful looking
difficulty breathing
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a topic
sentence stating your main idea, which is in this
case, the event you chose from the novel. Follow
with sentences that provide key concrete details.
End with a sentence that leaves the reader
wondering what will happen next.
Now think about what is not mentioned in the text.
Fill in the blanks in your imagination. For example,
does the Martian have
• hair?
• fingernails or claws?
• a particular facial expression?
Look at Language Effective concrete details
depend on concise word choices. Use a thesaurus
to help you find just the right words for your images.
Your goal is to make the reader imagine or reexperience the event you are wish to portray.
Make a list of other features you would like to
include in your rendering.
Create Using art supplies or computer software, recreate the Martian you have envisioned. Take your
time and be sure you incorporate details from both
the text and your imagination. Label the various
features.
Report Present your work to the class. Use a
pointer to indicate the drawing’s various features
you have created.
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BEFORE YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book Two
Connect to the Literature
Recall an occasion when you had to spend time with a person whom you
did not like. How did you handle the situation?
Write a Journal Entry
In your journal, describe the situation and explain how you treated the
person you didn’t like. How did you feel about your actions?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important ideas from Build
Background.
Build Background
The first readers of The War of the Worlds knew little or nothing of robotic
technology. In fact, the word robot was not invented until over twenty
years after the book was published. In 1920, the Czech writer Karel Capek
created the term robot based on the Czech word robota, which means
forced labor. Today robots are computer-controlled tools that can perform
many functions, such as welding automobiles or assembling machine
parts. They typically feature some kind of motor system that allows them
mobility, a sensor that allows them to interpret certain environmental
factors, a power supply (usually battery or electric power), and a
computerized brain that controls their various functions. The purpose of
these machines is to replicate human behavior.
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BEFORE YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book Two
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question Why Share Stories?
Sharing stories can make people afraid, give them hope, make them laugh,
teach them new things, and make them remember what they already
know. As you read Book Two of The War of the Worlds, think about how
the narrator and the other characters use storytelling to understand what
has happened to them.
Literary Element Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of curiosity, uncertainty, or even dread about what is
going to happen next. Writers increase the level of suspense in a story by
giving readers clues about what might happen. This is called
foreshadowing. Usually the suspense builds to a final climax, or turning
point, before ending in a resolution. In Book Two of The War of the
Worlds, suspense builds as the narrator is trapped inside a house next to
a Martian encampment. As you read, ask yourself, how does Wells use
foreshadowing to build suspense? Use the graphic organizer on the next
page to help you see how clues build suspense.
Reading Skill Identify Problems and Solutions
When you identify problems and solutions in what you read, you look for
the various obstacles the characters face and consider the various ways
those obstacles might be overcome.
Identifying problems and solutions in what you read is important because
it is one of the ways you learn about the characters. By identifying how
the characters solve their problems, you can gain key insights about the
plot and theme as well.
To identify problems and solutions and examine how conflicts and
obstacles are overcome, look for text clues including such words and
phrases as need, attempt, help, aid, and obstruction. Ask yourself what
obstacles stand in the characters’ way. Then predict what the characters
will do to overcome the obstacles. You may find it helpful to use a graphic
organizer like the one below.
Problem
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Solution
circumspection [sur kəm spek
shən] n. caution; careful
consideration
After much circumspection, the
guard opened the door and let us
enter.
entrails [en trālz] n. inner organs,
guts
We all felt sickened by the sight
of the vulture picking at the dead
raccoon’s entrails.
fortnight [fort n¯t] n. two weeks
The cruise will take a fortnight—
that’s thirteen days and fourteen
nights on the Pacific Ocean!
integument [in te yə mənt] n.
outer covering, shell
The cheaply made tent didn’t
provide much integument against
the wind and rain.
putrefactive [pū trə fak tiv] adj.
rotting and foul-smelling
Apparently a mouse had died
inside the walls of the old house,
because there was a distinctly
putrefactive odor.
ACTIVE REA DING: The War of the Worlds: Book Two
In Book Two, the narrator slowly reveals details
about the Martians that add to the suspense. As
you read Book Two, make notes in the chart below
about the Martians’ spacecraft, their physical
appearance, weapons, and actions.
red weed spreads
over countryside
Suspense
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INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Suspense What event does the
author foreshadow with the
narrator’s growing conflict with the
curate? How does this help to build
the story’s suspense?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK TWO, CHAPTER 4
It was on the sixth day of our imprisonment that I
peeped for the last time, and presently found myself alone.
Instead of keeping close to me and trying to oust me from
the slit, the curate had gone back into the scullery. I was
struck by a sudden thought. I went back quickly and
quietly into the scullery. In the darkness I heard the curate
drinking. I snatched in the darkness, and my fingers
caught a bottle of burgundy.
For a few minutes there was a tussle. The bottle struck
the floor and broke, and I desisted and rose. We stood
panting and threatening each other. In the end I planted
myself between him and the food, and told him of my
determination to begin a discipline. I divided the food in
the pantry into rations to last us ten days. I would not let
him eat any more that day. In the afternoon he made a
feeble effort to get at the food. I had been dozing, but in an
instant I was awake. All day and all night we sat face to
face, I weary but resolute, and he weeping and
complaining of his immediate hunger. It was, I know, a
night and a day, but to me it seemed—it seems now—an
interminable length of time.
And so our widened incompatibility ended at last in
open conflict. For two days we struggled in undertones
and wrestling contests. There were times when I beat and
kicked him madly, times when I cajoled and persuaded
him, and once I tried to bribe him with the last bottle of
burgundy, for there was a rainwater pump from which I
could get water. But neither force nor kindness availed; he
was indeed beyond reason. He would neither desist from
his attacks on the food nor from his noisy babbling to
himself. The rudimentary precautions to keep our
imprisonment endurable he would not observe. Slowly I
began to realize the complete overthrow of his intelligence,
to perceive that my sole companion in this close and sickly
darkness was a man insane.
From certain vague memories I am inclined to think my
own mind wandered at times. I had strange and hideous
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
dreams whenever I slept. It sounds paradoxical, but I am
inclined to think that the weakness and insanity of the
curate warned me, braced me, and kept me a sane man.
On the eighth day he began to talk aloud instead of
whispering, and nothing I could do would moderate his
speech.
. . . He talked with his voice rising slowly, through the
greater part of the eighth and ninth days—threats,
entreaties, mingled with a torrent of half-sane and always
frothy repentance for his vacant sham of God’s service,
such as made me pity him. Then he slept awhile, and
began again with renewed strength, so loudly that I must
needs make him desist.
“Be still!” I implored.
He rose to his knees, for he had been sitting in the
darkness near the copper.
“I have been still too long,” he said, in a tone that must
have reached the pit, “and now I must bear witness. Woe
unto this unfaithful city! Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe! To the
inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the
trumpet—”
“Shut up!” I said, rising to my feet, and in a terror lest
the Martians should hear us. “For God’s sake—”
“Nay,” shouted the curate, at the top of his voice,
standing likewise and extending his arms. “Speak! The
word of the Lord is upon me!”
In three strides he was at the door leading into the
kitchen.
“I must bear my witness! I go! It has already been too
long delayed!”
I put out my hand and felt the meat chopper hanging on
the wall. In a flash I was after him. I was fierce with fear.
Before he was halfway across the kitchen I had overtaken
him. With one last touch of humanity I turned the blade
back and struck him with the butt. He went headlong
forward and lay stretched on the ground. I stumbled over
him and stood panting. He lay still.
Literary Element
Suspense How does the author’s
use of short, choppy sentences add
to the suspense?
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259
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Identify Problems and
Solutions What immediate problem
does the narrator have in this
passage? How does he solve this
problem?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK TWO, CHAPTER 5
My first act before I went into the pantry was to fasten
the door between the kitchen and the scullery. But the
pantry was empty; every scrap of food had gone.
Apparently, the Martian had taken it all on the previous day.
At that discovery I despaired for the first time. I took no
food, or no drink either, on the eleventh or the twelfth day.
At first my mouth and throat were parched, and my
strength ebbed sensibly. I sat about in the darkness of the
scullery, in a state of despondent wretchedness. My mind
ran on eating. I thought I had become deaf, for the noises
of movement I had been accustomed to hear from the pit
had ceased absolutely. I did not feel strong enough to crawl
noiselessly to the peephole, or I would have gone there.
On the twelfth day my throat was so painful that, taking
the chance of alarming the Martians, I attacked the creaking
rain-water pump that stood by the sink, and got a couple of
glassfuls of blackened and tainted rain water. I was greatly
refreshed by this, and emboldened by the fact that no
enquiring tentacle followed the noise of my pumping. . . .
It was early on the fifteenth day that I heard a curious,
familiar sequence of sounds in the kitchen, and, listening,
identified it as the snuffing and scratching of a dog. Going
into the kitchen, I saw a dog’s nose peering in through a
break among the ruddy fronds. This greatly surprised me.
At the scent of me he barked shortly. . . .
I crept forward, saying “Good dog!” very softly; but he
suddenly withdrew his head and disappeared.
I listened—I was not deaf—but certainly the pit was
still. I heard a sound like the flutter of a bird’s wings and a
hoarse croaking, but that was all.
For a long while I lay close to the peephole, but not
daring to move aside the red plants that obscured it. Once
or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog
going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and
there were more birdlike sounds, but that was all. At
length, encouraged by the silence, I looked out.
Except in the corner, where a multitude of crows hopped
and fought over the skeletons of the dead the Martians had
consumed, there was not a living thing in the pit.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
I stared about me, scarcely believing my eyes. All the
machinery had gone. Save for the big mound of greyishblue powder in one corner, certain bars of aluminum in
another, the black birds, and the skeletons of the killed, the
place was merely an empty circular pit in the sand.
Slowly I thrust myself out through the red weed, and
stood upon the mound of rubble. I could see in any
direction save behind me, to the north, and neither
Martians nor signs of Martians were to be seen. The pit
dropped sheerly from my feet, but a little way along the
rubbish afforded a practicable slope to the summit of the
ruins. My chance of escape had come. I began to tremble.
I hesitated for some time, and then, in a gust of
desperate resolution, and with a heart that throbbed
violently, I scrambled to the top of the mound in which I
had been buried so long.
I looked about again. To the northward, too, no Martian
was visible.
When I had last seen this part of Sheen in the daylight it
had been a straggling street of comfortable white and red
houses, interspersed with abundant shady trees. Now I
stood on a mound of smashed brickwork, clay, and gravel,
over which spread a multitude of red cactus-shaped plants,
knee-high, without a solitary terrestrial growth to dispute
their footing. The trees near me were dead and brown, but
further a network of red thread scaled the still living stems.
The neighboring houses all had been wrecked, but none
had been burned; their walls stood, sometimes to the
second story, with smashed windows and shattered doors.
The red weed grew tumultuously in their roofless rooms.
Below me was the great pit, with the crows struggling for
its refuse. A number of other birds hopped about among
the ruins. Far away I saw a gaunt cat slink crouchingly
along a wall, but traces of men there were none.
The day seemed, by contrast with my recent
confinement, dazzlingly bright, the sky a glowing blue. A
gentle breeze kept the red weed that covered every scrap
of unoccupied ground gently swaying. And oh! the
sweetness of the air!
Reading Skill
Identify Problems and
Solutions Why do you think the
narrator feels so elated at the end
of this chapter?
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261
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Why Share Stories? Once the
Martian invasion is over, how
would you describe its overall
affect on the world? In the end,
why do you think the narrator had
to share this story?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: BOOK TWO, CHAPTER 10
The broadening of men’s views that has resulted can
scarcely be exaggerated. Before the cylinder fell there was a
general persuasion that through all the deep of space no
life existed beyond the petty surface of our minute sphere.
Now we see further. If the Martins can reach Venus, there
is no reason to suppose that the thing is impossible for
men, and when the slow cooling of the sun makes this
earth uninhabitable, as at last it must do, it may be that the
thread of life that has begun here will have streamed out
and caught our sister planet within its toils.
Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my
mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed bed of the
solar system throughout the inanimate vastness of sidereal
space. But that is a remote dream. It may be, on the other
hand, that the destruction of the Martians is only a reprieve.
To them, and not to us, perhaps, is the future ordained.
I must confess the stress and danger of the time have left
an abiding sense of doubt and insecurity in my mind. I sit
in my study writing by lamplight, and suddenly I see again
the healing valley below set with writhing flames, and feel
the house behind and about me empty and desolate. . . .
I go to London and see the busy multitudes in Fleet
Street and the Strand, and it comes across my mind that
they are but the ghosts of the past, haunting the streets that
I have seen silent and wretched, going to and fro,
phantasms in a dead city, the mockery of life in a
galvanized body. And strange, too, it is to stand on
Primrose Hill, as I did but a day before writing this last
chapter, to see the great province of houses, dim and blue
through the haze of smoke and mist, vanishing at last into
the vague lower sky, to see the people walking to and fro
among the flower beds on the hill, to see the sight-seers
about the Martian machine that stands there still, to hear
the tumult of playing children, and to recall the time when
I saw it all bright and clear-cut, hard and silent, under the
dawn of that last great day. . . .
And strangest of all is it to hold my wife’s hand again,
and to think that I have counted her, and that she has
counted me, among the dead.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
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263
AFTER YOU REA D: The War of the Worlds: Book Two
Respond and Think Critically
1. What is the state of London when the narrator arrives there? What
does he see that resolves the suspense of the novel? [Analyze]
2. Why does the narrator know nothing for three days? When he finally
locates his house again, what is ironic about the paper he finds on his
desk? [Infer]
3. According to the narrator, the Martian invasion did much to bring
humankind together. In your opinion, why do disasters often unify
humanity? When have you seen evidence of this in today’s society?
[Connect]
4. What is your opinion of the narrator’s actions during Book Two? How do
you think you might react in a similar situation? [Evaluate]
5. Why Share Stories? Would you say the novel has a happy ending?
Why or why not? [Interpret]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 255. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: The War of the Worlds: Book Two
Literary Element Suspense
1. How did the escalation of the bad feelings between
the narrator and the curate add to the suspense of
the novel? [Evaluate]
2. How do the author’s descriptions build suspense as
the narrator tries to make his way back to his wife
after the invasion? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the words in each set have the
same or opposite meaning.
1. circumspection
caution
2. entrails
outer covering
3. fortnight
two weeks
4. integument
insides
5. putrefactive
fragrant
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Identify Problems
and Solutions
The Martians’ technology completely overwhelmed the
humans. In the preceding sentence, technology refers to
a “combination of skills and machinery or equipment.”
In what ways would you say your own life is influenced
by technology?
1. What is the artilleryman’s solution for repopulating
the world with humans? Do you think this solution
would work? Why or why not? [Interpret]
2. At the end of Chapter 7, how did the narrator and the
artilleryman pass their time together? What problem
did this interaction solve for them? [Infer]
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265
AFTER YOU READ: The War of the Worlds Book Two
Writing
Research and Report
Write an Incident Report After reviewing your
answer from Connect to the Literature on page 255,
imagine that you are a police officer who
discovered the curate’s body in the ruined home.
You have already interviewed the narrator and
heard his version of events. Now, write a police
report in which you cite the problem: a murder has
been committed. Then consider the possible
solutions to this problem. Given the circumstances,
should the narrator be arrested for murder? Should
he receive a lesser charge? Should he be allowed
to go free?
Visual/Media Presentation
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment Use the Internet to find out more about
the planet Mars. Write a report that uses research
information and computer graphics to explore your
speculation about the possibility of life on Mars.
Get Ideas What questions do you have about the
environment, atmosphere, and history of Mars?
Write a list of questions using a chart like the one
below.
Question
Answer
Why is it referred
to as the red
planet?
Do scientists agree
about the
possibility of life on
Mars?
Research There are many government and
university Web sites that have information on the
physical characteristics, environment, and history
of Mars, including scientific speculation about the
possibility of life there. Use an Internet search
engine and the keywords “life on Mars” to begin
your search.
Prepare As you check out Web sites, be on the
lookout for strong visuals that you can print out and
use in your presentations. Photographs, computer
simulations, charts, and graphs of atmospheric
information, and other graphics can serve as handy
visual aids.
Present When you present your report, use
standard public-speaking techniques, including
effective eye contact, modulated tone of voice, and
confident, relaxed body language.
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WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
The Time Machine and
The War of the Worlds
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s Literature Library edition
of these novels. Support your answers with details from the texts. Write your answers on a
separate sheet of paper, but jot down some notes first on the lines provided.
The Disintegration Machine
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Make Connections Professor Challenger sees the
dangers involved with the disintegration machine
and takes steps to keep the machine from being
used. Imagine that in the near future, someone
invents a time machine. What dangers might be
associated with such a machine? Explain whether
you think a time machine would be ethical.
Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving
Make Connections In both The Time Machine and
“Rip Van Winkle,” characters pass from the present
into the future. Contrast the Time Traveller’s and Rip
Van Winkle’s reactions to the future. In what ways
are their reactions different?
The Night the Martians Came to New Jersey
Michelle Green, Andrea Fine, and Susanne Adelson
Make Connections H. G. Wells’s Martian invasion
occurs in Woking, England, while Koch’s broadcast
is set in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. Why do you
think the authors chose these particular locations,
and how do you think their choices affected
audiences’ responses?
In Communication with a UFO
Helen Chasin
Make Connections Contrast the extraterrestrials in
this poem with the extraterrestrials in The War of
the Worlds. How are they different?
Bringing Life to Mars
Christopher P. McKay
Make Connections What might be an ethical
consideration of terraforming another planet? In
ethical terms, how do the goals of Earth’s scientists
differ from the goals of the Martians in The War of
the Worlds?
The T im e M achine and The War of t he Worl ds
267
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
[A fist crashes at Steve’s face, staggering
him back out of the frame of the picture.
There are several close camera shots
suggesting the coming of violence. A hand
fires a rifle. A fist clenches. A hand grabs
the hammer from Van Horn’s body, etc.
Meanwhile, we hear the following lines.]
Don. Charlie has to be the one—Where’s
my rifle—
Woman. Yes Goodman’s the one. His car
started! Let’s wreck it.
Mrs. Goodman. What about Steve’s
radio—He’s the one that called them—
Mr. Goodman. Mash the radio. Get me
a hammer. Get me something.
Steve. Stop—Stop—
Charlie. Where’s that kid—Let’s get
him.
Man One. Get Steve—Get Charlie—
They’re working together.
[The crowd starts to converge around the
mother, who grabs the child and starts to
run with him. The crowd starts to follow,
at first walking fast, and then running
after him. We see a full shot of the street as
suddenly charlie’s lights go off and the
lights in another house go on. They stay on
for a moment, then from across the street
other lights go on and then off again.]
Man One. [Shouting.] It isn’t the kid . . .
it’s Bob Weaver’s house.
Woman. It isn’t Bob Weaver’s house, it’s
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Don Martin’s place.
Charlie. I tell you it’s the kid.
Don. It’s Charlie. He’s the one.
[We move into a series of close-ups of
various people as they shout, accuse,
scream, interspersing these shots with shots
of houses as the lights go on and off, and
then slowly in the middle of this
nightmarish morass of sight and sound the
camera starts to pull away, until once again
we’ve reached the opening shot looking at
the Maple Street sign from high above.
The camera continues to move away until
we dissolve to a shot looking toward the
metal side of a space craft, which sits
shrouded in darkness. An open door
throws out a beam of light from the
illuminated interior.
Two figures silhouetted against the bright
lights appear. We get only a vague feeling of
form, but nothing more explicit than that.]
Figure One. Understand the procedure
now? Just stop a few of their machines
and radios and telephones and lawn
mowers . . . Throw them into darkness
for a few hours, and then you just sit
back and watch the pattern.
Figure Two. And this pattern is always
the same?
Figure One. With few variations. They
pick the most dangerous enemy they can
find . . . and it’s themselves. And all we
need do is sit back . . . and watch.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the works you have just read with the literature selection at the
left, which is excerpted from “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” by
Rod Serling in Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
WRITE ABOUT IT
What advice would you give to the
characters in both these works
about how to think about and tell
the stories of what they have
experienced?
1. Flashback Works of literature or film often begin with a sense of stasis,
or a feeling of what is normal and balanced. Once stasis has been
established, the events of the work can shift and the drama of the
storytelling begins. Compare this idea in The Time Machine and in “The
Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.”
2. Description Compare and contrast, the people’s reaction to the
supposed invasion on Maple Street with those of the people of England
during the actual Martian invasion. What do the authors’ descriptions
reveal about human nature?
3. Suspense How would you compare the use of suspense in The War of
the Worlds and “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”?
The T im e M achine and The War of t he Worl ds
269
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Short Story
Apply Suspense Think about a situation in your own life in which you felt
threatened by outside forces. The situation should provide opportunity to
include suspense, but it need not be a life-or-death situation—it may in
fact be humorous. Use this incident as the jumping-off point for work of
fiction, and write a short story of at least 1,500 words. Remember to give
readers clues to what might happen to increase the level of suspense.
Prewrite You might want to look over old journal entries to stimulate your
memory of a suspenseful episode in your life. Remember that you are
writing a work of fiction, however, not an autobiographical essay. Give
yourself the freedom to exaggerate the events and responses.
Draft Building suspense in a work of fiction depends on coming up with
the right clues and planting them in the story at the right time. Think about
what the readers need to know and at what point they need to know it.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
A short story is a work of fiction
that can usually be read in a single
session lasting between several
minutes and an hour or two.
Grammar Tip
Sentence Fragments
Although it is generally
considered a mistake to use
sentence fragments, there are
certain situations in informal
writing and fiction in which they
can be effective. In these cases,
a phrase or exclamation can
produce suspense.
As you write, use concrete details (who, what, when, and where) as well
as sensory details (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures) to describe
actions, events, thoughts, and feelings experienced by the characters.
Note the underlined fragments
in the passages below.
Revise When you have completed your draft, exchange papers with a
classmate. Review each other’s work carefully. Does the writer express his
or her own viewpoints in a coherent way? Is there a rising sense of
suspense about what might happen? Revise your work according to the
feedback you receive.
I crept slowly down the hall on
my hands and knees. Kneeling in
front of the massive oak door, I
reached up and gently turned
the knob. Locked!
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
That was the last we saw of
poor Martineau. People often
ask me when he will come back
to our village. My answer?
Never again.
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