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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage shows Mama and Papa's first night on their new land. Wilson Rawls fills the paragraph with sound — whippoorwills, night hawks, bullfrogs, hoot owls — so that the reader can almost hear the Cherokee bottoms come alive. Notice how Rawls personifies nature: the animals are 'welcoming' the family. This technique is called pathetic fallacy, and it tells us the land itself feels like a friend. Notice also the phrase 'the land of their dreams' — it signals that this place is not just dirt, but the answer to years of hope.
It was in the twilight of evening when Mama and Papa reached the land of their dreams. They camped for the night in a grove of tall white sycamores, right on the bank of the Illinois River. Papa said ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the events of Chapter 1 in your own words, in order. Start with who is telling the story (Jay Berry Lee) and where his family came from. Work through the move to the Cherokee Nation, the birth of the twins, Daisy's leg, and Jay Berry's bond with Rowdy. End with the moment in the bur oak tree when the monkey walks into the opening. Aim to name at least six details you remember.
Discussion Questions
- Jay Berry opens the book by telling us that 'no boy on earth could have been happier' — and then he warns that a bunch of monkeys 'all but drove me out of my mind.' In the chapter, how does Wilson Rawls use this opening to make a reader curious? Why might an author choose to give away trouble on the first page instead of saving the surprise?
- Mama refuses to sleep at Grandma's house when the family arrives. She insists on camping on her own land that very night, even though Grandma is offering a feather bed. What in the story tells you why this matters so much to Mama? What does her choice show us about what the land means to her?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A way of farming where a family works someone else's land and gives part of the harvest as rent.
Item 2
Tall trees with smooth white and brown bark that often grow near rivers.
Item 3
Chased up a tree, as when a dog forces an animal to climb for safety.
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Critical Thinking
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