Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
Two long sentences that hold the family's whole heart. The first tells the curse story with a storyteller's relish — notice 'Supposedly,' the word that winks before the tale even starts. The second sentence performs the family's balancing act in one breath: 'didn't believe in curses, of course, but...' — and everything after that 'but' is the truth. As your child copies, point out the commas that let a long sentence breathe, and talk about how 'of course' and 'but' can pull a sentence in two directions at once.
Supposedly, he had a great-great-grandfather who had stolen a pig from a one-legged Gypsy, and she put a curse on him and all his descendants. Stanley and his parents didn’t believe in curses, of cour...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of Stanley's bus ride — the guard, the pretending, the family history that keeps interrupting the trip, and the window at the end. Which moment mattered most, and what makes it the one the chapter cannot do without?
Discussion Questions
- Handcuffed on the bus, Stanley pretends he is going to Camp Fun and Games and hopes he might make friends and swim in the lake. What does Stanley want most, and why does the chapter let his hopes point at things we already doubt? Use the chapter's words about his pretend game and his hopes to explain your answer.
- The narrator interrupts the bus ride to say it plainly: 'Stanley was not a bad kid. He was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.' The book could have shown us the crime instead and let us judge for ourselves. Why might Sachar choose to tell us flat out rather than show us what happened? Use the chapter's words around those two sentences to explain what the telling does.
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
So hot and airless it feels hard to breathe
Item 2
Found guilty of a crime by a court
Item 3
A huge amount of money or great riches
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 5 more questions in the complete study guide
Get the complete study guide — free
Sign up and get your first book with every chapter included. Copywork, discussion questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking.
Sign up free