Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
This is the moment Jay Berry Lee first sees a monkey in the Cherokee bottoms. Wilson Rawls uses short, simple words to show how surprised Jay Berry is. The dashes and the words 'honest-to-goodness' tell us that Jay Berry can hardly believe what he is seeing. Notice how the sentences get shorter and shorter, like Jay Berry is running out of breath.
It was a monkey—an honest-to-goodness live monkey. I was so surprised I couldn't move or say a word. All I could do was stand there with my eyes bugged out, and stare at it.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Chapter 1 in your own words. Who is Jay Berry Lee? Where does he live with his family? What happens when he and Rowdy go looking for Sally Gooden the cow? What does Rowdy tree up in the big bur oak?
Discussion Questions
- Jay Berry says that before he was fourteen, no boy on earth could have been happier. But then the monkeys came and changed everything. What in the story tells you that Jay Berry loves his life in the Cherokee bottoms? Why might a bunch of monkeys turn a happy life upside down?
- Daisy is Jay Berry's twin sister, and she has a twisted leg that will not get better. She also has a playhouse with a clay face of Christ that grew real moss for hair. What in the story tells you that Daisy is not sad about her leg? How is Daisy different from Jay Berry?
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A small furry animal with a long tail that climbs trees.
Item 2
A kind of dog that is very good at sniffing and hunting.
Item 3
Real and moving, not pretend and not dead.
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 4 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