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Copywork
About This Passage
The opening sentence of the whole book and the setup that makes the story possible. One short declarative sentence — 'A mouse was looking at Mario' — introduces the point of view, and the paragraph that follows builds Tucker's cozy drain-pipe home piece by piece. The passage teaches young readers how a story can open with a surprising angle (a mouse watching a boy, not the other way around) and how a home can be made from paper and cloth in the most unlikely place.
A mouse was looking at Mario. The mouse's name was Tucker, and he was sitting in the opening of an abandoned drain pipe in the subway station at Times Square. The drain pipe was his home. Back a few f...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell what happens in Chapter 1. Who do you meet? Where are they? What are they doing? End with the strange sound Tucker hears.
Discussion Questions
- Tucker the mouse lives in a drain pipe at the Times Square subway station. What in the story tells you that Tucker has lived there a long time and knows the station very well?
- Mario sits at his father's newsstand late on a Saturday night and sells almost no papers. How do you know from the story that Mario and his family need the money from the newsstand?
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A small furry animal with a long tail that often lives in houses or walls.
Item 2
A long round tube that water or air can move through.
Item 3
A place where trains or buses stop so that people can get on and off.
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Critical Thinking
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