Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
Kate DiCamillo plants the chapter's central conflict in a quiet observation: Mr. Watson opens the passenger door, but Mercy occupies the driver's seat. The conflict is set up by a mismatch the prose never names. The reader is trusted to notice.
Every Saturday, Mr. Watson opens the passenger door. Mercy hops into the car. She sits behind the wheel. She snuffles contentedly.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize the chapter and explain what Kate DiCamillo wants you to notice about Mercy's self-understanding.
Discussion Questions
- Mr. Watson opens the PASSENGER door, but Mercy sits in the DRIVER seat. The mismatch is in plain sight. Why does Kate DiCamillo never name the mismatch in chapter 1? What is gained by trusting the reader to spot it?
- The book opens on a weekly ritual — every Saturday, the same lunch, the same admiring of the car. Rituals are how families turn time into meaning. Is Kate DiCamillo making a quiet philosophical claim about how habits become a kind of liturgy?
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
in a state of quiet satisfaction
Item 2
a patterned action whose meaning lies in repetition
Item 3
a car with a removable or folding roof
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 3 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