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Copywork
About This Passage
These two sentences are a small lesson in how a writer can take a serious idea (a mother's hope for her family) and quietly turn it sideways with humor. Notice how the second sentence repeats the words 'brought closer together' from the first sentence on purpose. The repeat is a kind of joke — it makes you hear the gap between what Mom MEANT and what actually HAPPENED. Good writers do this often: they let one phrase echo to show two very different things at once.
Mom said the road trip was supposed to bring our family closer together. So far, the only thing it had brought closer together was me and Manny in the backseat, and that was not the kind of close she ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell someone what happens in this chapter in order. When you get to the most important part, slow down and tell it carefully — what happened, why it mattered, and what you think about it.
Discussion Questions
- Greg's mom planned the road trip because she wanted the family to spend more time together. The trip turns out to be hard and not very fun. Was the trip a BAD idea, or was it a GOOD idea that just did not work out the way she hoped? What in the story makes you think so?
- When things go wrong at the gas station and the rest stop, Greg's parents try to keep being cheerful about it. Is keeping cheerful when things go badly a kind of bravery, or is it pretending? Which one fits Greg's mom better, and how can you tell?
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Critical Thinking
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