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Copywork
About This Passage
Three reasons. First, this is the sentence that changes the chapter — Brian falls asleep expecting to rest, and a single image interrupts the rest and launches the raft-building of the next day. Paulsen writes it as a slow reveal: the tail, the inside, the survival pack, the reason it must still be there. Each sentence adds one more piece to the picture until the picture is complete. Second, the passage teaches how an idea is born inside the mind — not as an abstract plan but as a concrete picture. Brian does not reason his way to the plane; he SEES it, and seeing is what makes him move. Third, the repetition of 'the tail' three times, and 'survival pack' twice, is Paulsen's way of showing that Brian's mind is locking onto the image. The passage rewards the student who notices that repetition is doing work: it is the shape of a thought that will not let go.
The tail of the plane sticking out of the water. There it was, the tail sticking up. And inside the plane, near the tail somewhere, was the survival pack. It must have survived the crash because the p...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In six or seven sentences, retell chapter seventeen for a friend. Include Brian's rebuilding of the shelter and fire using his 'new skill,' the picture of the survival pack that comes to Brian in his sleep, the rule Brian makes for himself ('first food, then thought, then action'), the raft Brian names 'Brushpile One' that he weaves together from limbed treetops, Brian's two-hour swim out to the plane, Brian's effort to stop thinking about the dead pilot inside the plane, and the chapter's last line — 'He was blocked.' — when Brian cannot find any opening into the plane.
Discussion Questions
- Brian makes himself a rule: 'First food, because food made strength; first food, then thought, then action.' What in the story shows us that Brian follows this rule even when the plane is more exciting than the fish? How does Paulsen prove that Brian has really learned this, not just said it?
- Brian's first raft logs roll apart because they are smooth, and Brian realizes he needs logs with LIMBS so he can weave them together — 'as he had done his wall, the food shelf cover, and the fish gate.' What does this moment tell us about how Brian learns new things? What is Paulsen teaching about the relationship between old skills and new problems?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A covered structure that protects a person from wind, rain, and cold.
Item 2
To build something again after it has been taken apart or destroyed.
Item 3
The ability to wait calmly without becoming upset when things take time.
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Critical Thinking
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