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Copywork
About This Passage
This is the chapter's opening paragraph, and it carries four of the chapter's special words at once: MIRACLES, FEATHERY, WATCHFUL, and SOLEMNITY. Burnett is doing something unusual here — she is giving the reader the robin's point of view on the Eggs in language that is almost ceremonial. Notice how she piles up adjectives — 'immense, tender, terrible, heart-breaking' — to show that to the robin and to the people who understand him, the Eggs are as important as anything in the world. Copying it teaches you how a writer uses careful detail to make a small thing feel big.
And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles. In the robin’s nest there were Eggs and the robin’s mate sat upon them keeping them warm with her feathery little bre...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Give a five or six sentence summary of Chapter 25. Start with the robin's nest and the Eggs. Then tell what Mary and Colin did on a rainy day inside the house. Tell what they found, and end with Colin's decision to keep the curtain pulled back from the picture of his mother.
Discussion Questions
- Burnett tells part of this chapter from the robin's point of view — he watches the children and thinks Colin is learning to fly, not to walk. What in the story makes you think Burnett wants the reader to smile at the robin's mistake, and what does she gain by telling it through a bird's thoughts?
- Mary's idea to explore the hundred unused rooms comes because Colin is 'restive' on a rainy day. How do you know from the story that Colin welcomes the idea — and what does his choice to send John away afterward tell you about what the exploration is really for?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Soft and light, like a feather. The robin's mate covers her Eggs with her feathery little breast.
Item 2
A serious, respectful, important feeling. Burnett describes the 'solemnity of Eggs' because the Eggs are serious and important to the robin.
Item 3
Carefully keeping an eye on something; alert and ready to protect it. The robin is watchful over the Eggs.
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Critical Thinking
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