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Copywork
About This Passage
This is chosen because it is Sachar's compressed theory of his hero's father — and, indirectly, of the whole novel. Success is formulated as intelligence plus perseverance plus luck; the Yelnats men reliably supply the first two but not the third. The passage also reveals a family habit Stanley has inherited: converting failure into blame through a comic generational scapegoat. In seven sentences Sachar establishes what inheritance means in this book — not property but a formula, and a joke.
Stanley's father was an inventor. To be a successful inventor you need three things: intelligence, perseverance, and just a little bit of luck. Stanley's father was smart and had a lot of perseverance...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 3 in a short paragraph of four or five sentences. Place Stanley on the prisoner bus, establish his inner life (Camp Fun and Games, Mrs. Bell's ratio, the song 'If only, if only'), introduce the Yelnats curse and the four-generation palindromic lineage, and close with the arrival at Camp Green Lake and the chapter's two-line confirmation that the camp is not what its name promised.
Discussion Questions
- Sachar compares the air on the bus to the handcuffs: 'the hot, heavy air was almost as stifling as the handcuffs.' Analyze this simile. What does it mean for air to be 'stifling as handcuffs'? How does the comparison broaden Stanley's imprisonment from a physical fact to an atmospheric condition?
- Sachar pairs a sentence of quiet hope ('Despite their awful luck, they always remained hopeful') with a darker addendum ('But perhaps that was part of the curse as well. If Stanley and his father weren't always hopeful, then it wouldn't hurt so much every time their hopes were crushed'). Discuss what Sachar is saying about hope itself. Can hope be both a strength and a curse?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge or skill — one of the three ingredients Sachar lists for a successful inventor.
Item 2
Steady persistence in a course of action despite difficulty or delay — a trait Sachar attributes in abundance to Stanley's father.
Item 3
A scientific test or trial designed to discover or demonstrate something — Sachar notes that every failed experiment prompts Stanley's father to curse the great-grandfather.
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Critical Thinking
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