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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage was chosen for the list-rhythm Paulsen uses at a moment of triumph — the repeated 'in' that builds from the bow outward to the sky, as if Brian's gratitude is expanding through everything he can see. The passage also compresses a large claim ('had done food, had found a way to live') into seven words before releasing into the list, and it ends with Brian recognizing his tools as 'part of him' — an identity statement, not just a tool inventory.
With his bow, with an arrow fashioned by his own hands he had done food, had found a way to live. The bow had given him this way and he exulted in it, in the bow, in the arrow, in the fish, in the hat...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize chapter thirteen in a paragraph. Begin with Brian's encounter with the wolf, move through his memory of the dark night after the plane and his failed first bow, and end with his first fish and his 'tough hope.'
Discussion Questions
- The chapter opens with Brian 'was the water' — he is not just watching the water but becoming part of it. What does Paulsen mean by this, and how is this kind of attention different from ordinary looking? Point to moments earlier in the book when Brian could NOT see this way.
- Brian calls the wolf 'another part of the woods' and nods to it. Why is Brian's reaction to the wolf different from his reaction to the bear earlier? What has changed about Brian, and what has stayed the same about the forest?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Wild animals related to dogs that live and hunt in groups called packs.
Item 2
Burst apart suddenly with great force.
Item 3
Bends light as it passes from one substance into another, like from air into water.
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Critical Thinking
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