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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage contains two of the chapter's most revealing moments. First, Jess's foundling fantasy — a family of book-lovers who mourn his absence — is a portrait of his deepest longing: to belong to people who value what he values. Second, the comparison of gift-giving to hunger transforms generosity from a social obligation into a physical need, locating love in the body rather than the mind. The juxtaposition of these two moments reveals that Jess's need for Leslie and his disconnection from his family are aspects of the same wound.
somewhere I have a family who have rooms filled with nothing but books and who still grieve for their baby who was stolen she shook himself back to the source of his anger he was angry too because it ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- Jess fantasizes that he was a foundling — that his real family lives far away in 'rooms filled with nothing but books.' He imagines they still grieve for the baby who was stolen. What does this fantasy reveal about what Jess needs that his real family cannot give him? Is the fantasy an escape from his life or an honest statement about what is missing in it?
- Paterson compares Jess's need to give Leslie a gift to his need 'to eat when he was hungry.' In chapter 1, drawing was compared to drinking whiskey. Both comparisons make emotional or creative needs feel as physical as bodily needs. Why does the author keep insisting that feelings and creativity are as real and urgent as hunger or thirst? What argument is she making about what humans truly need?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
An infant found abandoned, with no known parents — often used in fairy tales for a child raised by the wrong family
Item 2
To experience deep, lasting sadness over the loss of someone or something profoundly important
Item 3
An excess beyond what is needed — leftover money, food, or resources after necessities are covered
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Critical Thinking
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