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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is the heart of the chapter because it stages the chapter's central fight — the fight over names. Mr. Pendanski thinks nicknames are a problem the boys need to outgrow so that 'society' can recognize them. The boys think the names their parents gave them were taken away by the camp, the court, and the judge, and that the nicknames are the only names that still belong to them. Both sides are talking about names, but they are really talking about who gets to say who a boy is. Sachar does not take sides — he just lets Mr. Pendanski say the word 'society' twice and then lets X-Ray's comeback ('I can see inside you, Mom') land on the next page.
Squid returned with four other boys. The first three were introduced by Mr. Pendanski as José, Theodore, and Ricky. They called themselves Magnet, Armpit, and Zigzag. "They all have nicknames," explai...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 5 in four or five sentences. Include Stanley's tent assignment, Mr. Pendanski's 'pen-dance-key' introduction, the six boys Stanley meets by nickname, Mr. Pendanski's insult about Zero, and the moment Armpit throws Stanley down for using his real name.
Discussion Questions
- Mr. Pendanski and Mr. Sir are both counselors at the same camp, but the reader feels very different things about them. Using specific details from each chapter, what is Sachar trying to show by giving the camp a loud-cruel counselor AND a soft-cruel counselor?
- X-Ray taps his glasses and says to Mr. Pendanski, 'I can see inside you, Mom. You've got a big fat heart.' Looking at what Mr. Pendanski just said about Zero, what is X-Ray really telling him? Is X-Ray being kind, or teasing, or accusing — or all three?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Given a specific job, place, or duty by someone in charge — Stanley is this to D tent rather than choosing a tent for himself.
Item 2
Brought together and formally named for the first time — Mr. Pendanski does this for the boys using their parent-given names.
Item 3
Informal names given by friends or family that often describe something about a person — every boy in D tent has one of these instead of his given name.
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Critical Thinking
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