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Copywork
About This Passage
Kate DiCamillo stages the chapter as a small naming contest. Mr. Watson lifts Mercy through Latinate vocabulary; Eugenia tries to put her back through Anglo-Saxon plainness. Three lines, two registers, one creature. Names are doing moral work.
'We would prefer that you call her a porcine wonder,' said Mr. Watson. 'After all, she did save us. She's a hero.' 'She's a pig,' said Eugenia.
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 names.
Discussion Questions
- Eugenia hugs Mercy at the start of the chapter — the same Eugenia who called her a monster and chased her. The text gives no explanation for the change. Why does the writer refuse to explain?
- The chapter is a debate about what to call Mercy. Mr. Watson reaches for Latinate elevation ('porcine wonder'); Eugenia insists on Anglo-Saxon plainness ('pig'). What is at stake in the choice of register?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
having to do with pigs; a Latin-derived adjective
Item 2
the level or tone of language a speaker chooses
Item 3
the act of giving a creature or thing a word that fixes how it is regarded
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Critical Thinking
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