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Copywork
About This Passage
This is the geometry of the climb. Sachar stops telling us the boys are struggling and starts showing us how they are struggling — by zigzag, by inches of altitude gained, by weed-patch leap-frog, by thorn-dodge. Notice that the author trusts flat vocabulary ('zigzag,' 'patches,' 'footholds') to paint the mountain rather than reaching for more dramatic words. The sentences themselves move the way the boys move: short, turning, one small gain at a time.
It became too steep to go straight up. Instead they zigzagged back and forth, increasing their altitude by small increments every time they changed directions. Patches of weeds dotted the mountainside...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 37 in your own words. Why is Stanley scared when he sees the base of the mountain? How do the boys climb up the slope? What words does Stanley teach Zero to spell, and what happens when Zero tries to say 'lunch'? What important observation does Stanley make about weeds and bugs? How does the chapter end?
Discussion Questions
- Stanley says Big Thumb is 'his only hope' — but the author tells us that being close to the hope actually scares Stanley. Why would almost reaching your hope be scary?
- Zero jokes, 'If a gnat lands on me, it will knock me over.' What does this joke tell you about Zero's condition and about the kind of person he is under pressure?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Moved back and forth in sharp turns, like a path cut into the side of a steep hill
Item 2
The height of a place above the ground, such as up the side of a mountain
Item 3
Small, equal-sized amounts by which something increases step by step
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Critical Thinking
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