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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is worth slow study because of how Patricia MacLachlan turns a simple statement into a kind of poetry. Notice how the three short sentences build on each other: a refusal ('we'd never leave'), a reason ('we were born here'), and an image ('our names are written in this land'). The image in the third sentence is doing the most work — Papa is saying that the family belongs to the land the way ink belongs to a page. The phrase 'written in this land' is not literal; it is a metaphor for how a family's history becomes part of the place they have lived. Notice also how MacLachlan does not put 'said Papa' at the end of the line, trusting the reader to know who is speaking from the rhythm.
We'd never leave here, Sarah, he said. We were born here. Our names are written in this land.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the chapter, paying special attention to the moment Caleb writes Sarah's name in the dirt. What is he trying to do, and why does Anna get cross with him about it?
Discussion Questions
- Anna is the older sister and the narrator of the story. She loves Sarah and wants Sarah to be her mother. But she is also the one who walks away from Caleb when he reminds her that Sarah was not born on the prairie. What is Anna afraid of? Why does her fear come out as crossness?
- Patricia MacLachlan starts the chapter with a wedding and ends it with a drought. She does this in just a few pages, almost without warning. Why does the author put a happy beginning and a worried ending so close together? What is she preparing the reader to feel for the rest of the book?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
a vast open grassland with few trees, where the horizon stretches uninterrupted in every direction — a landscape that shapes how people who live in it think about distance and home
Item 2
a long period of low rainfall during which crops fail, water sources dry up, and farming families face the question of whether they can stay
Item 3
the soft thin fabric that covers a bride's face during a traditional wedding ceremony, often lifted at the moment of the kiss
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Critical Thinking
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