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Copywork
About This Passage
Mary Pope Osborne builds the dungeon scene by stacking sensory adjectives — cold, clammy, fiery, filthy — across short sentences. Each sentence introduces one element of the dungeon (room, torch, walls, floor) and the final sentence delivers Jack's reaction. Students will study how a writer can build a scary place by listing details in order, sentence by sentence.
Mustache and Red pushed Jack and Annie into a cold, clammy room. The fiery torch lit the dungeon. There were chains hanging from the filthy walls. Water dripped from the ceiling, making puddles on the...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- Annie WANTS to escape, and she is willing to deceive the guards to do it. Throughout the book, Annie has been the one who acts without planning. In this chapter, her quick action saves them. Has Annie's impulsiveness become a strength, or is she still acting without thinking? What in the story makes you think so?
- The guards drop to their knees when Annie shines the flashlight on them. Mary Pope Osborne could have written that they ran away or attacked Annie instead. Why does she have them KNEEL? What does that one detail tell you about how the guards understand what is happening?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A dark underground prison cell, usually beneath a castle, used to hold enemies and criminals.
Item 2
A storeroom for weapons and pieces of armor in a castle or military building.
Item 3
Cold and damp in a way that feels uncomfortable on the skin.
+ 7 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
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