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Copywork
About This Passage
This is the climbing scene on the cliff wall below Big Thumb. Zero has already been boosted up and is above Stanley, holding the shovel steady while Stanley pulls himself up. The passage is a single suspended moment — grip, step, the feeling of almost flying — that closes with one boy on top of the other's wrist. Sachar writes it as a physical rescue but also as a picture of how the two boys have become one climbing body.
He felt Zero’s hand clasp his wrist. He let go of the shaft with one hand and grabbed the top of the ledge. He gathered his strength and for a brief second seemed to defy gravity as he took a quick st...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 36 in your own words. How do Stanley and Zero pack up and leave the boat? What happens when Zero gets another attack from the sploosh? What are the words Stanley gives Zero to spell as they walk? What imaginary foods do they talk about? How do they climb the stone cliffs together? What does Stanley see at the top of the cliff?
Discussion Questions
- What does Zero mean when he says, 'When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up'? How is this line more than a joke?
- Sachar keeps showing Stanley and Zero giving each other the thumbs-up sign. What work does this small gesture do in the chapter?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
To hold something tightly with your hand or fingers
Item 2
The long straight part of a tool that you hold, like the wooden handle of a shovel
Item 3
A narrow flat shelf of rock that sticks out from a cliff or wall
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
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