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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is doing something gentle and serious at the same time. It begins as a small story about someone being left out and turns, in the last sentence, into a much larger observation. Watch how the writer shifts the question. First, who is the one being looked at? You think it is Tyson. Then in the last sentence Percy notices that the campers WHO REFUSE TO LOOK are actually the ones being looked at — by Tyson, by Percy, and by the reader. The writer has flipped the situation without making a big deal of it. This is a small lesson in how to write about being left out: you do not have to argue that the left-out person is more important. You just have to show who is really watching whom.
Tyson did not understand why some of the older campers would not look at him. He thought maybe they were shy, or maybe they were busy. I did not have the heart to tell him that they were embarrassed b...
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
- Tyson does not seem to understand that the campers are embarrassed by him. Is Tyson ACTUALLY not understanding, or is he choosing to be kind and pretending not to notice? How can you tell the difference, and which one do you think is true here?
- Percy says 'I did not have the heart to tell him' the truth about why the campers ignored Tyson. Was this the right choice, or should Percy have told Tyson? What does it mean to protect someone by NOT telling them something, and is that protection always the right kind of protection?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
An unfair feeling about someone before you really know them, often based on how they look
Item 2
Not understanding cruelty, sometimes because you would never do it yourself
Item 3
To keep someone safe from harm, sometimes by hiding the harm from them
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Critical Thinking
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