Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
This passage shows Brian trying to read the dashboard of the small plane after the pilot has died. Paulsen chooses the words 'jumble' and 'confusing' so the reader can feel what Brian sees — not one instrument at a time, but all of them at once, too much to understand. The passage is a good place to study how a writer uses a strong noun ('jumble') to give a feeling its shape.
He was flying but did not know where, had no idea where he was going. He looked at the dashboard of the plane, studied the dials and hoped to get some help, hoped to find a compass, but it was all so ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In four or five sentences, retell Chapter 2 — how Brian finds out the pilot has died, how he takes control of the plane, what happens when he tries the radio, and what plan he makes for when the plane runs out of gas.
Discussion Questions
- Paulsen writes that the pilot's head 'rolled on a neck impossibly loose' as the plane hit turbulence. Why does the author choose to show us the pilot this way? What does this image tell you about what Brian is seeing and feeling?
- When Brian first tries to fly the plane, he pulls the wheel too hard and the plane swoops up, then he pushes too hard and it dives. What does this teach you about Brian as a character, and about how anyone learns something brand-new under pressure?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The panel of dials, switches, and lights in front of a driver or pilot that shows how a vehicle is working.
Item 2
A tool with a magnetic needle that always points north so a traveler can tell which direction they are going.
Item 3
A messy, mixed-up pile of things that is hard to make sense of.
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Critical Thinking
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