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Copywork
About This Passage
The discovery is built like a staircase. First the beauty catches a man 'who wasn't particularly interested in beauty' - that little aside makes his noticing mean more. Then the author climbs verb by verb: noticed, noted, noted again - and only then 'he took another look and he saw something.' The sentence stops just before the words do; the pail going down tells us their size before we read them.
Even Lurvy, who wasn't particularly interested in beauty, noticed the web when he came with the pig's breakfast. He noted how clearly it showed up and he noted how big and carefully built it was. And ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the chapter as a chain of tellings: the web tells Lurvy, Lurvy tells Zuckerman, Zuckerman tells Edith and then the minister, the secret tells itself across the county, and the sermon tells everyone on Sunday. Mark where each teller adds something - a prayer, a tremble, a best suit - and notice who never tells anything: the spider sleeping over the pigpen and the girl who liked the barn quiet.
Discussion Questions
- After the fog lifts, Mr. Zuckerman and Lurvy start talking as if they had always known Wilbur was special: 'I've thought all along that that pig of ours was an extra good one.' 'Sure. Sure I do.' How do they help each other believe that? Use the words of their repeated praise to explain what each man's agreement does for the other.
- The chapter moves from 'only four people on earth' knowing the secret to 'Everybody knew,' and soon the driveway is full 'from morning till night.' How does the news slip out of anyone's control? Use the details of the chain of tellings and the words of the secrets sentence to explain what the chapter suggests about how wonder travels.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Shone with little sparkles of light, as if wet.
Item 2
Fine and easily damaged; gracefully thin.
Item 3
Said in a low, soft, almost private voice.
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Critical Thinking
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