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Copywork
About This Passage
These three sentences are a small lesson in how a writer can build a joke and a feeling at the same time. Notice how the first two sentences sound the same — they both tell you something the family did NOT bring home. Then the third sentence flips the pattern by telling you what they DID bring home. Watch the very last words: nobody wanted to talk about it, and nobody could stop talking about it. Both things at once. That is how families really are — they say a thing they do not want to say, and they cannot stop saying it.
We did not bring home the trophy. We did not bring home the prize money. What we did bring home was a pig in a small carrier in the back seat, and somehow that turned out to be the part of the trip no...
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
- The family did not win the prize they came for. They lost the contest, the trophy, and the money. But they came home with a pig and with each other. Was the trip a SUCCESS or a FAILURE? What in the story makes you think so? Could it be both?
- Greg's mom started the trip saying it would 'bring our family closer together.' By the end, the family is closer in some ways and farther apart in others. Which do you think is bigger — what they GAINED on the trip, or what they LOST? Why?
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Critical Thinking
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