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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected because Tedd Arnold builds an entire friendship out of one misunderstanding in six short declarative sentences. The fly's stomp is involuntary frustration; the boy hears it as deliberate communication. Arnold lets the reader hold both readings at once — the chapter is both a small comedy of misinterpretation and the beginning of a real bond.
The fly was mad. He wanted to be free. He stomped his foot. He said, "Buzz!" The boy was surprised. He said, "You know my name. You are the smartest pet in the world!"
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what you think the author most wanted the reader to notice or feel. What techniques did the author use?
Discussion Questions
- Tedd Arnold structures the chapter so the reader sees both points of view simultaneously: the fly is angry and trying to escape; the boy hears his own name. Argue what this doubled perspective accomplishes and what kind of chapter would have resulted from showing only one side.
- The friendship begins with a misunderstanding. The fly's buzz is not a deliberate use of the boy's name. Argue whether a friendship founded on a mistake can become genuinely real, or whether it remains permanently shaped by its inaccurate origin. What conditions would have to hold for the friendship to grow past its mistaken start?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
An incorrect interpretation; the foundation on which Buzz's relationship with the fly is built.
Item 2
The tendency to reach conclusions one is already predisposed to reach; what Buzz may be doing when he hears his name in the fly's buzz.
Item 3
A point of view; what Tedd Arnold doubles by letting the reader see both the fly's anger and the boy's wonder at the same moment.
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Critical Thinking
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