Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is chosen because Rawls lets the pony recognize Jay Berry before Jay Berry can recognize her. He writes a small pause — a trance — and then breaks it with one precise sound, the nicker. The moment is the emotional peak of the entire novel; Rawls earns it with months of pages in which the mare was absent.
Standing in the center of the lot, with her head up and looking in our direction, was the little mare. Just then the little mare shook her head and snorted. She trotted over to the rail fence. With he...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 19 in four or five sentences. Start with Jay Berry standing up in the wagon to see the mare in the barn lot, and end with Daisy and Jay Berry running hand in hand through the fields down to the river bottoms.
Discussion Questions
- When the little mare nickers, Jay Berry says the sound 'jarred me out of the trance I was in.' What does the text tell you about what was happening inside Jay Berry in that silent moment before the mare made a sound?
- Before Daisy gives Jay Berry his .22, she makes him promise not to shoot birds, squirrels, chipmunks, or bunnies. What does the text suggest about why Daisy is willing to give him something powerful only if he promises something gentle first?
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Made a quick, rough blast of air through the nose — the way a pony or horse does when she is excited or wants attention.
Item 2
Moved at the easy, bouncy pace between a walk and a gallop — the mare's medium speed as she comes to the fence.
Item 3
Made a low, friendly horse sound in the throat — the way a mare greets a person she knows.
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 5 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