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Copywork
About This Passage
This three-sentence exchange between Gloria and Opal is one of the most quietly accomplished pieces of dialogue in the book. Notice the structure: Gloria delivers an observation; Opal rejects it; Gloria offers it again, this time as a possibility ('it MIGHT be fun') rather than as a claim. Gloria does not argue, does not insist, does not raise her voice. She offers, lets the offer be refused, and offers again gently. This is the rhetorical structure of wise persuasion — the kind that respects the listener's freedom to reject and trusts that the truth will eventually land if it has been planted patiently enough. Notice also the dialect: 'them two boys' is Gloria's voice, marking the wisdom as belonging to her specific way of being in the world. The dialect is not decoration; it is the medium through which Gloria's particular kind of knowing is delivered. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render an adult's gentle persistence without making the adult sound preachy or didactic. It also teaches the reader that wise speech is often quiet — it offers, it does not insist, and it trusts time to do the work argument cannot do.
I think they're just trying to make friends with you in a roundabout way. Well, I don't want to be their friend, I said. It might be fun having them two boys for friends.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize the chapter in no more than four sentences. Then identify the central question the chapter is inquiring into beneath its surface routine, and defend your reading.
Discussion Questions
- DiCamillo dedicates Chapter 12 almost entirely to routine — sweeping the pet store, attending Otis's morning concerts, visiting the library, eating peanut butter sandwiches at Gloria's. The chapter has minimal plot. Analyze this craft choice. What is DiCamillo signaling about Opal's emotional state by giving us a chapter without dramatic events?
- Gloria's central observation in this chapter — that the Dewberry boys may be trying to make friends 'in a roundabout way' — is delivered in a single sentence and not pursued. Opal rejects the observation, and Gloria does not argue. Is DiCamillo making a claim that wisdom should be offered patiently rather than insisted upon, or that some truths can only be received when the listener is ready, or both?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
the gentle work of changing someone's mind without forcing it — often by offering a possibility rather than asserting a fact
Item 2
intended to teach a lesson, often in a way that subordinates story or conversation to the moral being delivered — usually a critical word in literary discussion
Item 3
in fiction, a chapter that depicts a character's settled daily life rather than dramatic events; used to mark stability, develop character, or give the reader emotional rest
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Critical Thinking
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