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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage was chosen because it is the exact moment Jay Berry realizes he is not hunting an ordinary animal. Rawls paints the scene in a careful sequence — somersaults, a stare aimed straight at the hiding place, a squall, a stick picked up from the ground, beating at an apple like killing a snake. A strong writer learns here that surprise is built one action at a time: first the celebration, then the look, then the sound, then the tool. The monkey is using a weapon, and he is using it on purpose.
As if he had solved the problem, and was tickled to death about it, the big monkey turned a few somersaults. He stopped and stared straight at my hiding place. Then he let out another one of those squ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 4 in your own words. Include Jay Berry's sleepless night, calling Rowdy off the rabbit, setting the trap circle around the bur oak, the big monkey taking all the apples without tripping a trap, the stick trick, the stolen gunny sack, the beanshooter, and the monkey chase at the end.
Discussion Questions
- Papa warns Jay Berry that he may have 'overloaded his wagon' and that wanting something with all his heart can hurt for a long time if it doesn't happen. Based on everything that goes wrong for Jay Berry in this chapter, what do you think Papa was trying to protect him from? Was Papa's warning fair or too cautious?
- Jay Berry calls Rowdy off the rabbit because he suddenly remembers the Old Man of the Mountains. In your own words, explain how an idea Daisy told him in the playhouse is now changing what he does in the woods. Would Jay Berry have called Rowdy off the rabbit before Chapter 3?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
So pleased with yourself that you can hardly keep still.
Item 2
Looked at something very hard and for a long time without blinking.
Item 3
Keeping yourself out of sight so no one can see you.
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Critical Thinking
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