Grammar Book
Grammar Book
Grammar Book
The
BIG
Question
How Do You Stay
True to Yourself?
“ Be who you are and say
what you feel, because those
who mind don’t matter, and
those who matter
”
don’t mind.
—Dr. Seuss
pen name of Theodor
Geisel (1904 –1991), author
of The Cat in the Hat
543
UNIT 5 WARM-UP
How Do You
Stay True
Connecting to to Yourself?
Warm-Up Activity
With a partner, make a list of different ways Rashad and Sara
can solve their problems. Decide on a solution that best helps
Rashad and Sara stay true to themselves.
As you read, you’ll make notes about the Big Question. Later you’ll use
these notes to complete the Unit Challenge. See pages R8–R9 for help
with making Foldable 5. The diagram below shows how it should look.
1. Use this Foldable for all the selections in write My Purpose for Reading. To
this unit. On the front cover, write the unit the right of the crease, write The Big
number and the Big Question. Question.
2. Turn the page. Across the top, write the 3. Repeat step 2 until you have all the titles in
selection title. To the left of the crease, your Foldable. (See page 543 for the titles.)
Warm-Up 545
UNIT 5 GENRE FOCUS: SHORT STORY
A short story is a brief fictional, or made-up, narrative about people,
places, and events. Unlike a novel, or book-length story, a short story
usually focuses on one incident and its effects on one or a few characters.
Short Story
ACTIVE READING MODEL
BORN
WORKER
by Gary Soto
T hey said that José was born with a ring of dirt around his
neck, with grime under his fingernails, and skin calloused
from the grainy twist of a shovel. They said his palms were
already rough by the time he was three, and soon after he
learned his primary colors, his squint was the squint of an
aged laborer. They said he was a born worker. By seven he
was drinking coffee slowly, his mouth pursed the way his
mother sipped. He wore jeans, a shirt with sleeves rolled to
his elbows. His eye could measure a length of board, and his
knees genuflected1 over flower beds and leafy gutters.
They said lots of things about José, but almost nothing
of his parents. His mother stitched at a machine all day, 1 Ke y Reading Skill
and his father, with a steady job at the telephone company, Making Inferences The
climbed splintered, sun-sucked poles, fixed wires and author doesn’t say it straight
looked around the city at tree level. 1 out, but I can guess that
“they” are the people in the
“What do you see up there?” José once asked his father.
community. From my own
“Work,” he answered. “I see years of work, mi’jo.” 2 experience in life I can also
José took this as a truth, and though he did well in guess that they approve
school, he felt destined to labor. His arms would pump, of Jose.
his legs would bend, his arms would carry a world of 2 Ke y Literary Element
earth. He believed in hard work, believed that his strength Characterization Early
was as ancient as a rock’s. 2 in the story I learned that
José is a hard worker and
acts grown-up for his age.
1. To genuflect is to kneel respectfully, as in church. I learned these things about
2. The contraction mi’jo stands for the Spanish phrase mi hijo, which means “my son.” José from the narrator.
Partner Talk With a partner, take turns retelling parts of the story.
Choose a particular event and give all the important details.
Write to Learn Answer these questions in your Learner’s Notebook:
Why does José walk away and let Arnie tell lies to the firemen? How was
José being true to himself?
Writing/Grammar
• Identifying clauses and
phrases
reserved.
nted with permission. All rights
PRESS SYNDICATE. Repri
Pett. Dist. By UNIVERSAL
LUCKY COW © 2004 Mark
Analyzing Cartoons
Did these kids analyze the characters
or the look of the book?
558 UNIT 5
LUCKY COW © 2004 Mark Pett. Dist. By UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
How Do I Do It? To analyze fiction, determine which elements are Study Central Visit
significant and why. Some questions you can ask yourself are as follows: www.glencoe.com and click on
• What is each character in the story like? Study Central to review analyzing.
• How can you tell? Through dialogue? Action? The narrator’s descriptions?
• What, if anything, do the characters learn from their experiences?
• Which characters, if any, change as a result of their experiences?
When analyzing nonfiction, pay attention to text structure and the details
that support the writer’s main idea.
• How does the organization of the text help make the writer’s points clear?
• What kinds of details does the writer include?
You can tell from Maddy’s actions that she is sad and
worried. She shivers, and a tear runs down her cheek. Tom,
on the other hand, is worried and grim. You can tell by
the way he looks and also by the thoughts that are going
through his head. The setting adds to Tom and Maddy’s
problem. The location of their cabin makes it hard to get
a doctor.
Practice It!
Analyze the setting of the passage. When and where do you think the story
takes place? What details make you think so?
Use It!
As you read “Cream Puff,” analyze what the characters are like.
Vocabulary Preview
swaggered (SWAG urd) v. walked boldly or showed off; form of the verb
swagger (p. 568) It was clear that Jinx had plenty of confidence when
she swaggered onto the basketball court.
barreling (BAIR ul ing) v. running headlong; form of the verb barrel
(p. 568) Jen stepped aside when Jinx came barreling toward her.
Lin n ea D u e
On Your Own In your Learner’s Notebook, answer these questions.
1. If a boy swaggered past you, would you think he was shy or bold?
Meet the Author
2. Which is more likely to go barreling across a field, a horse or a fly?
Linnea Due is the author of
many short stories, novels, English Language Coach
and magazine articles. She
Word Analysis To understand the meaning of a word, it may help to
began playing sports as a
look at its parts. For example, the word unhappy is formed by the prefix un
young child and quickly
and the word happy. Happy is called the base word. Letter combinations
became a fan of basketball,
added to the front of a base word are called prefixes. Letter combinations
baseball, and other sports.
added to the end of a base word are called suffixes. Sometimes there is a
Her novel High and Outside
slight spelling change when a suffix is added.
is about a teen softball player.
See page R1 of The Author You can sometimes figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by
Files in the back of the book analyzing its parts. Look below at the word unsinkable.
for more on Linnea Due.
unsinkable
un- -able
Author Search For more EL (prefix) (suffix)
about Linnea Due, go to
www.glencoe.com.
sink
(base word)
What does unsinkable mean? If you know that un- means “not” and -able
means “can be done,” you can guess unsinkable means “cannot be sunk.”
Objectives (pp. 560–569) Partner Work For each word below, make a word web like the one above.
Reading Analyze text • Make connections
from text to self • disrespectful • unbeatable • preapproval
Literature Identify literary elements:
character
Vocabulary Use structural analysis:
roots, bases, prefixes, suffixes
CREAM PUFF
by Linnea Due
1. Caroming is hitting and bouncing off like a ball. The big girl was pushing off the other players
on her way down the court.
By the time we got back to the dorm, my roommates had Practice the Skills
teased me so much, I felt better. Evelyn told me that Coach
Brandt had a reputation for being really hard on people. I
said I figured every coach has that reputation, but Evelyn said
no, that her coach in Long Beach was really sweet and gave
everybody candy. Keisha said she’d never heard of coaches
giving out candy and was her coach a dirty old man? Evelyn
laughed for a whole minute, and then Keisha turned to me
and said, “That girl was big! I woulda got out of her way, too.”
But that night, when the others were asleep, I started
worrying again. What if it turned out I was a fraidy-cat?
What if being scared was something I couldn’t make go
away? I love basketball. I love it more than eating and TV
and video games and even swimming, which is what I love
second best. I’m already five-seven, and like Keisha says, I’m
fast and I can jump, too. I’ve got a chart on my wall at home
that lists the top teams—the Tennessee Lady Vols, LSU,
UConn, the Georgia Bulldogs, and closer to home, Stanford
and Cal. The chart measures my height, so I can look at it and
see I’ve gained two inches this year alone. I think about how
everything’s coming together: my desire, my body, my ability.
I can’t be afraid! 4 4 Key Reading Skill
To get to sleep, I pictured myself shooting baskets, keeping Analyzing State the internal
my wrist loose and letting the ball trail off my fingers like conflict that is bothering Jen.
I’m caressing a baby. I run it through my head so often, I can Think about these things:
make it happen for real—it’s called visualizing. That doesn’t • She doesn’t want to disappoint
her father.
mean I don’t practice 24/7. I spend so much time shooting
baskets that Mr. Ashton next door asked Mom to put up a • She doesn’t like being hit.
sound wall. He was joking, I think. 5 • She says she loves basketball
more than anything.
The next day, Jinx was waiting near the basket, a slight
• She says she thought that
smile on her face. Even though we’re the same height, she
everything was “coming
outweighs me by twenty pounds, and it was easy for her to together” for her.
muscle me aside. Keisha looked worried. “Stick it to her,
Suburban. Make her back off.” I tried to stay in front of her 5 Key Literary Element
when she drove for the basket, but I was concentrating so Characterization Jen practices
“24/7.” What does this tell you
much on sticking to my spot that I forgot to defend. Coach
about her personality?
Brandt was on me in a heartbeat. “You’re not in the game,
Jennifer,” she warned. “If you didn’t come to play, you might
as well get on the bus back to Sacramento.” I could feel my
face turning red and my eyes going black, which they always
do when I’m mad.
But a minute later I was back to chewing on my bottom lip. Practice the Skills
What could I do about Jinx? She was standing by the bench
with a couple of other girls, and the three of them kept
glancing over at me and rolling their eyes. Keisha stayed
right on my shoulder, but I didn’t want her fighting my fights.
What would Dad do? He wouldn’t let some big old player get
up over his head every other minute, no matter how short he
was. No answer came. Trying to figure out what my dad
would do made me more nervous ‘cause I didn’t know, and
that was even worse than not being able to handle Jinx in the
first place. 6 6 Key Reading Skill
All that practice, I kept trying to show her up, but instead Analyzing Jen’s internal conflict
everything I did played into her hands. If I stood still, she is getting more complicated. Why
went up over me. When she pump-faked, I jumped, and does thinking about her dad
make her even more nervous?
then she shot as I was coming down. Every mistake made
me more upset, and the more upset I got, the more mistakes
I made.
“She’s rattled you,” Evelyn said. She was the pretty one Practice the Skills
in our little group—her mother was Filipino and her dad
African American. “Forget Keisha and her gang banging.
Just play your own game.”
But that was the problem—I didn’t have one. I felt blank,
like a window that opened onto nothing.
As we were leaving that afternoon, Coach Brandt called me
over. “There will always be bullies, Jennifer,” she said quietly.
“At some point you’ll have to learn to deal with them.” 7
As she walked away, my eyes went black again, and this
time I couldn’t stop myself. “Wait a second,” I called to her, 7 English Language Coach
knowing I was stepping over the line and not caring. “You Word Analysis What is the
have to say more than that. You’re the coach!” suffix that makes the word
She turned back with a laugh. “You want me to motivate quietly an adverb instead of an
adjective?
you? Okay, here’s the best advice I can give: Motivate yourself
or get out. This game is too demanding to depend on a coach
or your parents or your teammates to keep you in. You’ve got
the ability to go all the way—and that’s not something I say
to many kids. But you need more than ability to make it. You
even need more than wanting it so badly you can taste it.”
She could see the surprise cross my face, and she nodded as
if it confirmed something she already knew. She took a deep
breath and said, “You need drive to make it work. You can
have the best engine on the face of this planet, and if you
don’t have a starter,3 you’ll never go an inch. That’s what
drive is, and it’s what you’re missing, Jennifer. I hope you
find it.” 8 8 Key Literary Skill
That night I called my mother. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Characterization Coach
She could always tell when I had a problem. I said, “I keep Brandt has been giving Jen a
thinking about Dad. He never gave up, and he was so small.” hard time all week. Do you think
what the coach says here shows
She waited for me to go on, and when I didn’t, I could hear
more of the same or a different
her sigh. “Jen, I know you won’t believe this, but basketball attitude toward Jen? Explain.
isn’t very important to your father. It never was.”
“But that can’t be true,” I sputtered. “All he ever does is
talk about it.” I started to say more, but what was the point
in arguing when I knew she was wrong? After a moment,
she sighed again and asked me if I’d worn holes in any more
socks and was my hair still in my eyes. Thanks, Mom.
5. In the Middle Ages, a battering ram was a big, heavy log used to break down the gates
of a castle.
Vocabulary
swaggered (SWAG urd) v. walked boldly or showed off
barreling (BAIR ul ing) v. running headlong
Analyzing the Photo Going up for a rebound, these four girls compete for the win.
What did Jennifer learn at basketball camp about competition? What does this photo show
about competition?
Practice the Skills
was heavier and slower, and that made her easy to beat. She
tried to run right over me a few times, and I avoided her like
a matador 6 teases a bull. I could see the worry lines start in
her forehead, and I felt sorry for her. A big smile was building
on Evelyn’s face, and Keisha had begun to laugh. 13 13
The third time I forced a turnover, Keisha shouted, Jen has found a way to stay
“Go-o-o, Cream Puff!” I could tell the name was going to true to herself. What is it? Write
your answer on the “Cream
stick, and it has, even after me and Evelyn and Keisha came
Puff” page of Foldable 5. Your
back this year for our second camp. The kids that go to the response will help you com-
camp all know each other, and word travels fast. plete the Unit Challenge later.
I still don’t like getting hit. Nobody does—it’s just part of
the game. But I love being called Cream Puff. It reminds me
of that summer I figured out who was missing from the
court: me. ❍
6. In bullfighting, the matador, or bullfighter, teases the bull by making it chase after his cape.
Answering the
1. Do you think Jen would have stayed true to herself if she had quit
basketball? Why or why not?
2. Recall What advice does Coach Brandt give Jen about how to succeed
at basketball?
T IP Right There
3. Summarize What does Jen learn about her dad from her mother?
Sum it up in a sentence.
T IP Right There
Critical Thinking
4. Infer Why doesn’t Jen want Keisha to fight her fights?
T IP Author and Me
5. Evaluate Do you think Coach Brandt is right to call Jen a “cream puff”
in order to motivate her? Why or why not?
T IP On My Own
3.
Author Search For more Think-Pair-Share Use the three vocabulary words in a paragraph. Leave
about Tamara Eberlein, go blanks where the vocabulary words go. Then pair up with a classmate and
to www.glencoe.com. trade paragraphs. Fill in the blanks in the paragraph.
reuse usable
act
Objectives (pp. 572–577)
Reading Analyze text • Make connections
from text to self
Informational text Identify text
elements: direct quotations
Vocabulary Use structural analysis:
word families
Whole Class Discussion As a class, discuss which Write to Learn In your Learner’s Notebook, list
paragraphs on the first page of the article form the the advantages and disadvantages of being popular.
introduction and what you think the main idea of the
article is. What details do you think the author might Build Background
present to support that main idea? People of all ages like to form social groups. Some
groups are carefully organized; others are informal.
Text Element: Direct Quotations Cliques are small, snobbish, informal associations.
Direct quotations tell exactly what people said Clique members try to hang on to a special advantage—
in their own words. Authors of nonfiction use direct such as a leadership position—by refusing to let “non-
quotations for many reasons: members” join.
• to develop a main idea
Studies show that most kids who make bad decisions
• to add vivid details to writing
are with their friends at the time. They’re giving in
• to analyze what someone said to peer pressure—pressure from members of their
• to persuade the reader to agree with them by social group to act certain ways in order to “fit in.”
quoting experts who share their opinion Of course, peers can be good role models too. They
can encourage good values, healthy behaviors, and
As you read “The Question of Popularity,” notice teamwork—if kids choose the right peers to listen to.
when the author quotes someone. Then ask yourself
these questions: Set Purposes for Reading
• Why does the author quote this person? Read “The Question of
• What does this quotation add to the article? Popularity” to find out what other kids in middle
school think about popularity.
Partner Talk Interview a classmate in order to write Set Your Own Purpose What else would you
a one-paragraph biography of him or her. To add vivid like to learn from the selection to help you answer
detail to the biography, directly quote the person at the Big Question? Write your own purpose on
least once. Be sure to put quotation marks both before “The Question of Popularity” page of Foldable 5.
(“) and after (”) the quotation.
The Question of
Popularity
B
eing popular means that other kids think you’re
cool. It doesn’t mean (as many parents may think)
that the cool kids are especially well liked or nice
or admired for their smarts. Popular kids may be
envied for their cool factor, but they may not have a lot of
close friends.
If you’re like most middle schoolers, you’ve probably thought
about how much (or perhaps how little) popularity matters to
you. It’s not unusual to want to fit in. But it’s more important
to have a few close friends, accept yourself for who you are,
and be comfortable with the people you do hang out with. 1 1 Key Reading Skill
Analyzing What opinion is the
The In Crowd writer stating in the final sen-
tence of this paragraph?
Kids know that in most schools there is an “in crowd” of kids Does that opinion give you a
who are the most popular. Emily Kaplan, a middle schooler clue about the article’s main
in Larchmont, New York, describes her school’s in crowd this idea? Explain.
way: “The girls are kind of snobby, the boys obnoxious. If
Vocabulary
factor (FAK tur) n. something that produces or contributes to a certain result
obnoxious (ub NOK shus) adj. very disagreeable or offensive
you laugh at something, they just go, ‘That’s not funny.’ [But]
when you’re alone together, the popular girls are really nice.”
Emily’s friend Liana Diamond adds, “When they’re with their
other friends, they don’t talk to you.”
Who is popular varies from place to place. And of course,
not every popular kid is obnoxious or a snob or unfriendly.
Believe it or not, for some kids who are popular, it’s hard
work to stay that way. Trying to stay on top can cause stress
and insecurity because who’s popular and who’s not can
change daily. 2 2 Key Reading Skill
Analyzing How does this para-
The Middle Group graph help support the main
idea that “it’s more important to
The majority of kids fall somewhere in between the top and have a few close friends . . . and
the bottom—and many adults say that kids in the middle be comfortable with the people
group may be happiest and best off. “These kids have several you do hang out with”?
close friends and are also part of a larger group that explores
their interests, like soccer or music. They aren’t overly caught
up in the popularity game,” says Sandy Sheehy, who has 3 Text Element
written a book about friendships. “What’s important is not Direct Quotations Explain
[if you get] invited to the ‘right’ sleepovers. It’s whether [you how the quotations in this
paragraph help support the idea
have] a few close friends.”
that “it’s more important to have
Margaret Sagarese, coauthor of a book about cliques, has a few close friends . . . and be
a tip for kids who are trying to figure out where they belong. comfortable with the people you
She suggests that you keep a list of what you like about do hang out with.”
yourself. “Social acceptance and
personal acceptance are two
very different things. [You] need
to see that liking [yourself] is
more important than being part
of the in crowd,” she says. 3 If
being a part of the in group
means acting in ways that you
wouldn’t normally act or want
to act, then stay true to yourself.
Make decisions according to
Michael Newman/PhotoEdit
Vocabulary
Having several close friends and being part of a larger group may make kids
majority (muh JOR ih tee) n. more than half; happiest and best off.
the greater part
HAPPY DUDE : “I get teased, hit, punched. I don’t know if I 6 Text Element
should hit them back or just run away; I feel that rips apart my
Direct Quotations Everybody
courage and self-confidence. I don’t know what to do.” 6 quoted in this section is a kid.
What makes the kids experts on
SHORTY11: “During the school year, I was rejected and not
this topic?
invited to parties, movies, etc. But once the summer began, I
met new people who accepted me for who I was, not for the 7
clothing I wore or for my looks. So my advice to other kids Why do some kids find it difficult
is to hang on to the friends you’ve got and make an effort to to stay true to themselves when
meet new people.” 7 making friends? Write your
answer on “The Question of
Popularity” page of Foldable 5.
—Updated 2005, from Family Life, August 2001 Your response will help you
complete the Unit Challenge later.
Critical Thinking
4. Infer What two or three qualities would the writer say make a
good friend? Why?
T IP Author and Me
5. Connect Review the quotations at the end of the article. Do they help
you connect to the article? Give reasons for your answer.
T IP Author and Me
6. Evaluate Did the writer succeed in convincing you of her opinion?
Why or why not? Support your answer with details from the article.
T IP Author and Me
Grammar Practice
13. Academic Vocabulary Is the main idea of an Copy the underlined phrases on a separate sheet of
article the most or least significant idea in the paper. Write which part of speech each one is.
whole selection? Explain. 14. We built a feeder to feed wild birds.
15. However, squirrels climbed into the feeder.
16. They ate all the seeds that we placed there.
17. Stopping the squirrels was hard.
Web Activities For eFlashcards, Selection Writing Application Underline two clauses or
Quick Checks, and other Web activities, go phrases you used as parts of speech in your essay.
to www.glencoe.com.
When you read a short story, you have the opportunity to connect to the
ASSIGNMENT Write a characters, learn something about the world, and learn something about
short story yourself. When you write a short story, you do the same thing, except you
Purpose: To tell a story get to decide what happens in the story.
about a character who
struggles to stay true to Writing about a character’s personal struggle, or conflict, will help you think
himself or herself about the Unit 5 Big Question: How do you stay true to yourself? As you
Audience: Your teacher write your short story, refer to the Writing Handbook, pp. R17–R27.
and your classmates
Your story should have the basic elements you find in short stories.
• Characters are the actors in the story. They are who the story is about.
Writing Rubric • Conflict is the struggle or problem your main character must solve. It’s
As you write your short what the story is about. Conflict is developed through plot, which is the
story, you should sequence of events that occurs in the story.
• stay focused on the conflict • Setting is the place and time in which the story happens. It’s where
in your story (how some- and when the events take place, and it is usually conveyed through
one struggles to stay true descriptive details.
to himself or herself)
• Resolution is the story’s final outcome. It tells how the conflict is solved.
• give readers details about
the setting of the story • Dialogue is conversation between characters. It helps readers understand
• create well-developed what the characters are like and moves the plot forward.
characters
Prewriting
• develop a plot with a clear
beginning, conflict, and
resolution
Get Ready to Write
• use realistic dialogue The following guidelines can help you plan and write your story, but you
don’t have to follow them word for word. Remember that you’re in charge
See pages 631– 632 in Part 2 of your own writing process. You already know your story will be about a
for a model of a short story.
character’s struggle to stay true to herself or himself, but you’ll need to think
about the character and the conflict before you start writing.
Characters Think about the people in your story, starting with the main
character. Picture each character in detail. What does he or she look like?
How does he or she act? What is important to him or her? Take notes in
a format that you find helpful. For example, you might list each character’s
traits, write a paragraph about each one, or make a word web for each one.
Writing Models For models and
other writing activities, go to
www.glencoe.com.
My protagonist will be Marisol, a teenager with long
black hair and gentle eyes. She is a great soccer player
and plays for her school team. She is very close to her
grandmother, who lives with the family.
Conflict List the events of your story in the order they’ll happen. Or if Writing Tip
you prefer, start by writing a scene that reveals the conflict. Sequence Most stories are
• What causes the conflict? told in chronological order:
• How will the main character stay true to himself or herself? first this happened, then that
happened, and then the next
• How will the conflict be resolved?
thing happened. That form of
If you don’t know what to write about, think about your own experiences organization is usually easiest
with trying to stay true to yourself. Or think about people you know and for readers to follow.
their struggles. Then use your imagination to add fictional details. For
example, your main character might not want to go to an event with his
family, or friends might be pressuring her to do something, or a brother
or sister might ask him to help cover up a mistake they made.
Setting Describe where and when your story will take place. Use sensory Writing Tip
imagery, such as descriptions of sights, smells, and sounds. Vivid Details Details that
paint pictures in readers’
minds include sensory imagery
Part of the story will take place at Marisol’s school,
that appeals to the senses (the
and part will take place at her house, which will smell like sweet, crunchy tang of honey
her abuela’s wonderful cooking. chicken), vivid verbs (ambled
instead of walked ), specific
nouns (tulip, not flower ), and
effective modifiers (rusted-out
car with a crumpled fender ).
Drafting
Start Writing!
Now that you have ideas about the basic elements of your story, it’s time
to start writing the first draft—your first version of your story.
Get It on Paper
Writing Tip To draft your short story, use the notes you made. Some of the decisions
Getting Started Writing you made about your story may change as you write. That’s OK. Just keep
a short story should be fun. writing. If you’re not sure how to begin your story, try these tips.
Don’t make it into work. Relax • Reread your prewriting. Underline words, phrases, or sentences you like.
and use your imagination. If • Start with dialogue. Have two characters start talking, and see what they
your imagination runs dry, talk have to say. Dialogue can tell you a lot about the characters as well as
to friends or family members the conflict. Writing dialogue is a good way to get ideas flowing.
about your story.
What was she going to do? She loved playing soccer, but
she loved her grandmother more. If she didn’t play, would
she lose all her friends?
Grammar Link
You have learned that a simple sentence is an Simple sentences only: I had so much fun at
independent clause. Compound and complex the zoo last Saturday. The panda bears were very
sentences are made up of a combination of playful. Tonya and I watched them for over an
independent and dependent clauses. hour. The cub climbed on his mother. She sent him
tumbling to the ground.
What Are Compound and
Simple, compound, and complex: I had so
Complex Sentences? much fun at the zoo last Saturday. The panda bears
A compound sentence contains two or more were very playful, and Tonya and I watched them
simple sentences (independent clauses) joined for over an hour. When the cub climbed on his
by a comma and a coordinating conjunction mother, she sent him tumbling to the ground.
(and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet ). In the following
compound sentence, the independent clauses are How Do I Use Compound and
underlined.
Complex Sentences?
• The pears were ripe, but the plum was rotten.
Use a compound sentence to combine two ideas
A complex sentence contains at least one inde-
that are equally important.
pendent clause and one dependent clause. In the
following complex sentences, the independent • The music was great. + The cake was delicious. =
clause is underlined. The music was great, and the cake was delicious.
• Though the pears were ripe, the plum was rotten. Use a complex sentence to combine ideas when
one idea “depends on” another to make sense. Put
• When I picked it up, I could see that the plum
the main idea in the independent clause. Put the
was rotten from sitting in the sun.
idea that “depends on” the main idea in the depen-
dent clause. The independent clause is underlined.
Why Are Compound and • I slept in. + My alarm didn’t go off. =
Complex Sentences Important? Because my alarm didn’t go off, I slept in.
Using a variety of sentence types makes your
writing more interesting. A series of simple Write to Learn Reread your draft. Add variety
sentences can be choppy and awkward to read. and make your short story flow more smoothly
Combining different types of sentences creates by combining sentences to form compound and
a more natural flow. Compare the following: complex sentences.
Looking Ahead
Keep the writing you did here, and in Part 2 you’ll learn how to turn
it into a short story that you’ll be proud of.
Reading Questioning
• Questioning in order to
improve comprehension
Learn It!
Literature What Is It? Questioning is asking yourself questions
• Interpreting the effects of about what you are reading. By asking and answering
literary devices your own questions, you keep a conversation with
yourself—a conversation that helps you better under-
• Analyzing features and styles
stand what you read. You might ask about people
of poetry R or characters in a selection. You might ask about the
• Identifying and analyzing the importance of what you’re reading. Or you might
plot elements in a story ask about anything that puzzles you. Here are some
• Explaining how conflict is sample questions.
related to the plot • Who are the people or characters?
• How does one event relate to another?
Vocabulary
• What is the main idea or theme?
• Using suffixes to determine
meaning
• Academic Vocabulary: Analyzing Cartoons
conversation To find out about vultures, Barry
questions his brother. To better
Writing/Grammar understand the cartoon, you might
ask yourself, How does Barry’s first
• Using commas in question lead to his second question?
compound and complex
sentences
Academic Vocabulary
V
conversation (kon vur SAY shun) n. a talk between people
584 UNIT 5
© King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Practice It!
Who do you think is telling the story? When do you think it takes place?
Write your answers in your Learner’s Notebook.
Use It!
As you read the selections, ask yourself 5Ws and an H questions.
Answer your questions in your Learner’s Notebook.
5 Addis Abbaba is the capital of Ethiopia in East Africa. Tangier is a city in Morocco in
North Africa. Soweto is a group of townships in the country of South Africa. Lagos is a
city in Nigeria in West Africa.
7 Europeans called Africa the dark continent in the nineteenth century because parts of
it were so difficult for them to explore that they didn’t know a lot about it.
23 An animist believes that all things in nature have a spirit or soul within them.
an asante princess
25 an african queen
who crossed the middle passage*
arrived in america
speaking very little english
with thick lips
30 and thick accent
26. The Middle Passage was the journey that many slave ships took from West Africa across
the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
43. A chameleon is a type of lizard that changes the color of its skin to fit in with its surroundings.
Vocabulary
mimicked (MIM ikt) v. copied; imitated
when i dream
the voices of jomo kenyatta, patrice lumumba
55 and dr. martin luther king, jr.*
speak to me in unison
when i cry
rain falls on the sahara
and the potomac river overflows* 4
60 i sway to alpha blondy*
as easily as i do stevie wonder
70
the blood which flows Practice the Skills
through the left side of my body
is the mississippi river 4 Literary Element
every day i wake it croons Sensory Imagery A person
“lift every voice and sing” crying doesn’t really create rain
the anthem of the american negro in the desert or make a river
overflow. What idea is the author
75 the blood which flows trying to get across here?
through the right side of my body
is the nile river
every day i rise it screams out loud
“africa, oh africa, cry freedom
80 for all your children” 5 5 Key Reading Skill
Questioning To what does
55. Here, two African leaders are paired with an African American leader: Jomo Kenyatta was the speaker compare the blood
the first president of Kenya; Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the Democratic flowing through her body?
Republic of the Congo; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement in the United Reread lines 69–80 to help
States during the 1950s and 1960s.
yourself answer this question.
59. The Sahara is a desert in North Africa, and the Potomac is a river that runs through
Washington, D.C.
60. Alpha Blondy is a popular reggae musician from Ivory Coast in Africa.
64. A griot is a West African storyteller and musician who shares the history of his or her people.
Vocabulary
unison (YOO nih sun) n. one voice
anthem (AN thum) n. the official song of a country, school, or group
Answering the
1. How does the speaker of this poem remain true to herself?
2. Recall What part of Africa is the speaker from?
T IP Right There
3. Recall What does the speaker want if she dies on African soil?
T IP Right There
Critical Thinking
4. Interpret To what does the speaker compare her journey to America,
and how is that important?
T IP Author and Me
5. Analyze In lines 41–44 the speaker compares herself to a chameleon,
saying, “i wove my blackness / my africanness / chameleon-like / into
the red, the white and the blue.” In what way or ways do you think that
the speaker is like a chameleon?
T IP Author and Me
6. Evaluate In your opinion, is the title “an african american” a good
one for the poem? Back up your opinion with details from the poem.
T IP On My Own
Vocabulary Preview
egging (EG ing) v. urging; encouraging to take action; form of the verb
egg (p. 600) The boys said, “Do it!” egging their brother on until he
finally took the dare.
needle (NEE dul) v. cause to take action by repeated stinging comments
(p. 601) Your teasing remarks will not needle me into doing anything.
W. C . H einz
English Language Coach
Meet the Author Other Common Suffixes You’ve already learned that adding a suffix
W. C. Heinz worked as a to a word can change the word’s meaning and part of speech. Remember
reporter in Europe during that learning what common suffixes mean can help you unlock the mean-
World War II and afterward ing of unfamiliar words—especially in conjunction with context.
became a sports editor.
Study the common suffixes and their meanings below. You’ll see some of
Besides articles he has writ-
these suffixes in the selection you are about to read, “One Throw.”
ten fiction and nonfiction
books about sports. He is
also the coauthor of the Suffix Meaning Word Example
novel MASH, which inspired
-er, -or “that which” or “person who” baker , sailor
a movie and a TV series. See
page R2 of The Author Files
-hood “state, condition, or quality of” neighborhood
in the back of the book for
more on W. C. Heinz.
-ment “action or process of” or “result of” arrangement
Whole Class Discussion “One Throw” is about a Set Purposes for Reading
young baseball player who plays in the minor leagues. Read “One Throw” to discover
From this situation, what conflicts do you think you how a ballplayer stays true to himself.
might find in the story? Make a list. Then read the
story to see whether you guessed right. Set Your Own Purpose What else would you like
to learn from the story to help you answer the Big
Question? Write your own purpose on the “One
Throw” page of Foldable 5.
by W. C. Heinz
One Throw
I checked into a hotel called the Olympia, which is right on
the main street and the only hotel in the town. After lunch I
Practice the Skills
was hanging around the lobby, and I got to talking to the guy
at the desk. I asked him if this wasn’t the town where that kid
named Maneri played ball.
“That’s right,” the guy said. “He’s a pretty good
ballplayer.” 1 1 English Language Coach
“He should be,” I said. “I read that he was the new Phil More Common Suffixes A
Rizzuto.” 1 ballplayer is someone who plays
“That’s what they said,” the guy said. ball. Look at how the word ball-
player is formed: ball (noun) +
“What’s the matter with him?” I said. “I mean if he’s such
play (verb) + er (suffix).
a good ballplayer what’s he doing in this league?”
“I don’t know,” the guy said. “I guess the Yankees2 know
what they’re doing.”
“He’s a nice kid,” the guy said. “He plays good ball, but I feel 2 Key Literary Element
sorry for him. He thought he’d be playing for the Yankees soon, Plot In this beginning part of
and here he is in this town. You can see it’s got him down.” 2 the plot, called exposition, you
learn a little about the setting,
1. Phil Rizzuto was the star shortstop for the New York Yankees in the 1940s. the characters, and a possible
2. The Yankees were the dominant baseball team in the major leagues in the 1940s and 1950s. conflict to come.
3. Rooming houses are private houses where the owners rent out rooms.
4. Spring training is a period in late winter and early spring when baseball players prepare
for the regular playing season.
That’s the way I got to talking with the kid. They had one Practice the Skills
of those pine-paneled taprooms5 in the basement of the hotel,
and we went down there. I had a couple and the kid had a
Coke, and I told him a few stories and he turned out to be a
real good listener. 4 4 English Language Coach
“But what do you do now, Mr. Franklin?” he said after a while. Suffixes Listen is a verb. What
“I sell hardware,” 6 I said. “I can think of some things I’d happens when you add the suffix
like better, but I was going to ask you how you like playing -er to this verb? Define listener.
in this league.”
“Well,” the kid said, “I suppose it’s all right. I guess I’ve
got no kick coming.” 5 5 Skill Review
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I understand you’re too good Making Inferences What do
for this league. What are they trying to do to you?” you think Pete means when he
“I don’t know,” the kid said. “I can’t understand it.” says, “I guess I’ve got no kick
coming”? Write your answer in
“What’s the trouble?”
your Learner’s Notebook.
“Well,” the kid said, “I don’t get along very well here. I
mean there’s nothing wrong with my playing. I’m hitting
.365 right now. I lead the league in stolen bases. There’s
nobody can field with me, but who cares?” 6 6 Key Literary Element
“Who manages this ball club?” Plot Pete seems to be experi-
“Al Dall,” the kid said. “You remember, he played in the encing an inner conflict. What do
outfield for the Yankees for about four years.” you think that conflict is?
“Sure,” I said, egging him on. “What have you got to lose?” Practice the Skills
“Nothing,” the kid said. “I haven’t got anything to lose.” 9
“I’d try it,” I said. 9 Key Reading Skill
“I might try it,” the kid said. “I might try it tonight if the Questioning What does Pete
spot comes up.” actually have to lose?
I could see from the way he said it that he was madder
than he’d said. Maybe you think this is mean to steam a kid
up like this, but I do some strange things.
“Take over,” I said. “Don’t let this guy ruin your career.”
“I’ll try it,” the kid said. 10 “Are you coming out to the 10 Key Reading Skill
park tonight?” Questioning What is the “it”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” I said. “This will be better than that Pete says he will try?
making out route sheets and sales orders.”
It’s not much ballpark in this town—old wooden bleachers
and an old wooden fence and about four hundred people in
the stands. The first game wasn’t much either, with the home
club winning something like 8 to 1.
The kid didn’t have any hard chances, but I could see he
was a ballplayer, with a double and a couple of walks and a
lot of speed.
The second game was different, though. The other club got
a couple of runs and then the home club picked up three runs
in one, and they were in the top of the ninth with a 3–2 lead
and two outs when the pitching began to fall apart and they
loaded the bases.
I was trying to wish the ball down to the kid, just to see
what he’d do with it, when the batter drives one on one big
bounce to the kid’s right.
The kid was off for it when the ball
started. He made a backhand stab and
grabbed it. He was deep now, and he
turned in the air and fired. If it goes over
the first baseman’s head, it’s two runs in
Visual Vocabulary and a panic—but it’s the prettiest throw
A backhand catch is
very difficult because you’d want to see. It’s right on a line, and
the player’s arm is the runner is out by a step, and it’s the
twisted and the body 11 Key Literary Element
is turned away from ball game. 11 Plot This is the climax, or
the ball.
moment of highest tension,
when Pete makes an impor-
tant decision. Did he decide to
Vocabulary follow the narrator’s advice?
egging (EG ing) v. urging; encouraging to take action Explain.
Answering the
1. How did Pete stay true to himself?
2. Recall Whom does the narrator pretend to be?
T IP Right There
3. Recall What is the narrator’s real name and job?
T IP Right There
Critical Thinking
4. Infer Why does the narrator keep his real identity a secret until
his last conversation with Pete?
T IP Author and Me
5. Infer Why does the narrator try to get Pete to throw a game?
T IP Author and Me
6. Interpret The title “One Throw” has a double meaning. What are
the two meanings of “throw” in this context?
T IP Author and Me
7. Analyze Think about how Pete resolves his conflict and what happens
to him at the end of the story. What theme, or message, do you think
the story is trying to get across?
T IP Author and Me
Grammar Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, copy the complex
Vocabulary Check sentences below. Add commas where needed.
10. The verbs egg and needle are similar in mean- 15. Eduardo has loved camping since he was a child.
ing as slang words. Write a sentence using one 16. When he was little he always pretended to
of them. Then replace it with the other. Did you camp out.
have to change anything else in the sentence? 17. Once he is older he will save to buy a camper.
Reading
• Predicting future events and
Predicting
behaviors in a story
• Predicting the content of Learn It!
a nonfiction selection
Predicting is making an educated guess about what
Literature will happen in a story or what a nonfiction text will
be about. Use your knowledge, your experience,
• Identifying and interpreting and relevant information in a selection to predict
theme things like these:
• Identifying attention-getting • what events will happen next in a story
devices • how characters will behave
Vocabulary • how conflicts will be resolved
• what you will find in a nonfiction text
• Using prefixes to determine
meaning
• Academic Vocabulary:
relevant Analyzing Cartoons
Hobbes makes a prediction based on what
Writing/Grammar he knows he is going to do to Calvin. Do
you think he is going go push Calvin into
• Combining sentences the mud? Your answer will be a prediction.
reserved.
ted with permission. All rights
PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprin
Watterson. Dist. By UNIVERSAL
Objectives (pp. 604–605) CALVIN AND HOBBES © 1987
Academic Vocabulary
relevant (REH luh vunt) adj. important to the subject at hand;
significant; pertinent
604 UNIT 5
CALVIN AND HOBBES © 1987 Watterson. Dist. By UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
READING WORKSHOP 3 • Predicting
Practice It!
In your Learner’s Notebook, write your own prediction about what
Andy will do. Then read the next paragraph of the story:
Andy began licking the dog’s head. Rover looked
surprised and stopped growling. Soon he was licking
back. It looked as if the two were becoming friends.
Was your prediction right? Why or why not? Do you think the author was
trying to surprise you?
Use It!
As you read the selections in this workshop —“The Medicine Bag”
and “A Year of Living Bravely”— make predictions about how the
main characters will handle the problems they face.
Vocabulary Preview
authentic (aw THEN tik) adj. real; genuine (p. 608) Martin and his sister
got authentic Sioux gifts from their great-grandfather.
stately (STAYT lee) adj. grand; impressive; dignified (p. 608) The banquet
was held at a stately mansion.
Vi commotion (kuh MOH shun) n. noisy, confused activity (p. 609) There was
rg
in i e ve
a Dr Sn so much commotion in the lunchroom she couldn’t hear herself think.
i v i ng H a w k
descendants (dih SEN dunts) n. blood relatives of an earlier generation
Meet the Author (p. 611) Martin and his sister are the descendants of their grandfather.
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve sacred (SAY krid) adj. holy; having to do with religion (p. 615) Sage is
grew up on the Rosebud part of a sacred ritual.
Reservation in South Dakota.
She is a teacher, school Partner Talk With a classmate, talk about the vocabulary words and their
counselor, and editor. Sneve definitions. Based on them, what do you think might happen in the story?
has written many books
about the history and culture English Language Coach
of Native American peoples. Prefixes That Mean “Not” Breaking a word down into its parts can
She says her grandmothers help you understand its meaning. A prefix is a syllable added to the
gave her a love of Indian beginning of a base word or root word. Just like suffixes, prefixes change
traditions and storytelling. or add to the meaning of the base word or root word. Here are some
See page R6 of The Author common prefixes that turn words into their opposites. You will see several
Files in the back of the book of the prefixes in “The Medicine Bag.” Look for them as you read.
for more on Virginia Driving
Hawk Sneve. Prefix Word Examples Meaning
dis- disbelieve “not believe”
il- illegal “not legal”
Author Search For more about im- imperfect “not perfect”
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, go to
www.glencoe.com. in- invisible “not visible”
ir- irregular “not regular”
un- unhappy “not happy”
Objectives (pp. 606–617)
Reading Make predictions • Make
connections from text to self
On Your Own Write a sentence using each of these words from the chart.
Literature Identify literary elements: 1. disbelieve
theme
Vocabulary Use structural analysis: 2. imperfect
prefixes 3. invisible
4. unhappy
Keep Moving
Use these skills as you read “The Medicine Bag.”
THE
Medicine
Bag
by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
1. A chant is a simple song that has several syllables or words sung to the same note.
Vocabulary
authentic (aw THEN tik) adj. real; genuine
stately (STAYT lee) adj. grand; impressive; dignified
Vocabulary
commotion (kum OH shun) n. noisy, confused activity
He was so skinny and frail that his coat slipped off easily. Practice the Skills
When I loosened his tie and opened his shirt collar, I felt a
small leather pouch that hung from a thong 2 around his neck.
I left it alone and moved to remove his boots. The scuffed old
cowboy boots were tight and he moaned as I put pressure on
his legs to jerk them off.
I put the boots on the floor and saw why they fit so tight.
Each one was stuffed with money. I looked at the bills that
lined the boots and started to ask about them, but Grandpa’s
eyes were closed again. 5 5 Key Reading Skill
Mom came back with a basin of water. “The doctor thinks Predicting Why do you think
Grandpa is suffering from heat exhaustion,” 3 she explained Grandpa has stuffed his boots
as she bathed Grandpa’s face. Mom gave a big sigh, “Oh hinh, with money?
Martin. How do you suppose he got here?”
We found out after the doctor’s visit. Grandpa was angrily
sitting up in bed while Mom tried to feed him some soup.
“Tonight you let Marie feed you, Grandpa,” spoke my dad,
who had gotten home from work just as the doctor was
leaving. “You’re not really sick,” he said as he gently pushed
Grandpa back against the pillows. “The doctor said you just
got too tired and hot after your long trip.”
Grandpa relaxed, and between sips of soup he told us of
his journey. Soon after our visit to him Grandpa decided that
he would like to see where his only living descendants lived
and what our home was like. Besides, he admitted sheepishly,
he was lonesome after we left.
I knew everybody felt as guilty as I did—especially Mom.
Mom was all Grandpa had left. So even after she married my
dad, who’s a white man and teaches in the college in our city,
and after Cheryl and I were born, Mom made sure that every
summer we spent a week with Grandpa.
I never thought that Grandpa would be lonely after our
visits, and none of us noticed how old and weak he had
become. But Grandpa knew and so he came to us. He had
ridden on buses for two and a half days. When he arrived
Vocabulary
descendants (dih SEN dunts) n. blood relatives of an earlier generation
in the city, tired and stiff from sitting for so long, he set out, Practice the Skills
walking, to find us.
He had stopped to rest on the steps of some building
downtown and a policeman found him. The cop, according
to Grandpa, was a good man who took him to the bus stop
and waited until the bus came and told the driver to let
Grandpa out at Bell View Drive. After Grandpa got off the
bus, he started walking again. But he couldn’t see the house
numbers on the other side when he walked on the sidewalk
so he walked in the middle of the street. That’s when all the
little kids and dogs followed him.
I knew everybody felt as bad as I did. Yet I was proud of
this 86-year-old man, who had never been away from the
reservation, having the courage to travel so far alone.
“You found the money in my boots?” he asked Mom.
“Martin did,” she answered, and roused herself to scold.
“Grandpa, you shouldn’t have carried so much money. What
if someone had stolen it from you?”
Grandpa laughed. “I would’ve known if anyone tried to
take the boots off my feet. The money is what I’ve saved for
a long time—a hundred dollars—for my funeral. But you
take it now to buy groceries so that I won’t be a burden to
you while I am here.” 6 6 Key Reading Skill
“That won’t be necessary, Grandpa,” Dad said. “We are Predicting Was your prediction
honored to have you with us and you will never be a burden. about the money in Grandpa’s
I am only sorry that we never thought to bring you home boots correct?
with us this summer and spare you the discomfort of a long
trip.” 7 7 English Language Coach
Grandpa was pleased. “Thank you,” he answered. “But do Prefixes That Mean “Not”
not feel bad that you didn’t bring me with you for I would not Divide the word discomfort
have come then. It was not time.” He said this in such a way into its two parts—its prefix
and its base word. What does
that no one could argue with him. To Grandpa and the Sioux,
discomfort mean?
he once told me, a thing would be done when it was the right
time to do it and that’s the way it was.
“Also,” Grandpa went on, looking at me, “I have come
because it is soon time for Martin to have the medicine bag.”
We all knew what that meant. Grandpa thought he was
going to die and he had to follow the tradition of his family
to pass the medicine bag, along with its history, to the oldest
male child.
“Even though the boy,” he said still looking at me, “bears Practice the Skills
a white man’s name, the medicine bag will be his.”
I didn’t know what to say. I had the same hot and cold
feeling that I had when I first saw Grandpa in the street. The
medicine bag was the dirty leather pouch I had found around
his neck. “I could never wear such a thing,” I almost said
aloud. I thought of having my friends see it in gym class, at 8 Key Literary Element
the swimming pool, and could imagine the smart things they Theme To understand the
would say. But I just swallowed hard and took a step toward theme of this story, think about
the bed. I knew I would have to take it. the conflicts in it.
But Grandpa was tired. “Not now, Martin,” he said, waving • Martin is afraid of being
embarrassed by his grand-
his hand in dismissal, “it is not time. Now I will sleep.”
father and the medicine bag.
So that’s how Grandpa came to be with us for two months.
• Martin doesn’t want to hurt
My friends kept asking to come see the old man, but I put his grandfather’s feelings.
them off. I told myself that I didn’t want them laughing at • Martin has mixed feelings
Grandpa. But even as I made excuses I knew it wasn’t about his grandfather and
Grandpa that I was afraid they’d laugh at. 8 his Sioux heritage.
Nothing bothered Cheryl about bringing her friends to see
Grandpa. Every day after school started there’d be a crew of
giggling little girls or round-eyed little boys crowded around
the old man on the patio, where he’d gotten in
the habit of sitting every afternoon.
Grandpa would smile in his gentle way and
patiently answer their questions, or he’d tell
them stories of brave warriors, ghosts,
animals, and the kids listened in awed silence.
Those little guys thought Grandpa was great.
Finally, one day after school, my friends
came home with me because nothing I said
stopped them. “We’re going to see the great
Indian of Bell View Drive,” said Hank, who
was supposed to be my best friend. “My
brother has seen him three times so he oughta
be well enough to see us.”
When we got to my house Grandpa was
sitting on the patio. He had on his red shirt,
but today he also wore a fringed leather vest
that was decorated with beads. Instead of his
usual cowboy boots he had solidly beaded A Singing Indian. W. Ufer. Oil on canvas, 30 x 251⁄4 in.
Analyzing the Painting What items in this painting reflect
moccasins on his feet that stuck out of his the man’s Native American heritage? What details about
black trousers. Of course, he had his old black Grandpa reveal his identity as a Sioux?
I felt a hard squeeze from where my heart is supposed to Practice the Skills
be and was scared, but I answered, “OK, Grandpa.”
All night I had weird dreams about thunder and lightning
on a high hill. From a distance I heard the slow beat of a
drum. When I woke up in the morning I felt as if I hadn’t
slept at all. At school it seemed as if the day would never end
and, when it finally did, I ran home. 11 11 Key Reading Skill
Grandpa was in his room, sitting on the bed. The shades Predicting How do you think
were down and the place was dim and cool. I sat on the floor Martin will react when Grandpa
in front of Grandpa, but he didn’t even look at me. After what gives him the medicine bag?
Why do you think so?
seemed a long time he spoke.
“I sent your mother and sister away. What you will hear
today is only for a man’s ears. What you will receive is only for
a man’s hands.” He fell silent and I felt shivers down my back.
“My father in his early manhood,” Grandpa began, “made
a vision quest 4 to find a spirit guide for his life. You cannot
understand how it was in that time, when the great Teton
Sioux5 were first made to stay on the reservation. There was
a strong need for guidance from Wakantanka, the Great Spirit.
But too many of the young men were filled with despair and
hatred. They thought it was hopeless to search for a vision
when the glorious life was gone and only the hated confines
of a reservation lay ahead. But my father held to the old ways.
“He carefully prepared for his quest
with a purifying sweat bath and then he
went alone to a high butte top to fast and
pray. After three days he received his
sacred dream—in which he found, after
Visual Vocabulary long searching, the white man’s iron. He
A butte (byoot) is a
steep, flat-topped hill did not understand his vision of finding
that stands alone. something belonging to the white people,
for in that time they were the enemy.
When he came down from the butte to cleanse himself at
the stream below, he found the remains of a campfire and
the broken shell of an iron kettle. This was a sign which
4. A vision quest was a special trip made by young Sioux men to receive a dream that gave them
a song or an object that protected and guided them in life.
5. The Teton Sioux are the largest Sioux tribe. They were traditionally buffalo hunters.
Vocabulary
sacred (SAY krid) adj. holy; having to do with religion
reinforced his dream. He took a piece of the iron for his Practice the Skills
medicine bag, which he had made of elk6 skin years before,
to prepare for his quest.
“He returned to his village, where he told his dream to the
wise old men of the tribe. They gave him the name Iron Shell,
but neither did they understand the meaning of the dream.
This first Iron Shell kept the piece of iron with him at all
times and believed it gave him protection from the evils of
those unhappy days.
“Then a terrible thing happened to Iron Shell. He and
several other young men were taken from their homes by the
soldiers and sent far away to a white man’s boarding school.7
He was angry and lonesome for his parents and the young
girl he had wed before he was taken away. At first Iron Shell
resisted the teachers’ attempts to change him and he did not
try to learn. One day it was his turn to work in the school’s
blacksmith8 shop. As he walked into the place he knew that
his medicine had brought him there to learn and work with
the white man’s iron.
“Iron Shell became a blacksmith and worked at the trade
when he returned to the reservation. All of his life he
treasured the medicine bag. When he was old, and I was
a man, he gave it to me, for no one made the vision quest
any more.” 12 12
Grandpa quit talking and I stared in disbelief as he covered How might the story of the
his face with his hands. His shoulders were shaking with vision quest help Martin under-
quiet sobs and I looked away until he began to speak again. stand his true self?
“I kept the bag until my son, your mother’s father, was a
man and had to leave us to fight in the war across the ocean.
I gave him the bag, for I believed it would protect him in
battle, but he did not take it with him. He was afraid that he
would lose it. He died in a faraway place.”
Again Grandpa was still and I felt his grief around me.
“My son,” he went on after clearing his throat, “had only a
daughter and it is not proper for her to know of these things.”
He unbuttoned his shirt, pulled out the leather pouch, and
lifted it over his head. He held it in his hand, turning it over
and over as if memorizing how it looked.
“In the bag,” he said as he opened it and removed two Practice the Skills
objects, “is the broken shell of the iron kettle, a pebble from
the butte, and a piece of the sacred sage.” 9 He held the pouch
upside down and dust drifted down.
“After the bag is yours you must put a piece of prairie sage
within and never open it again until you pass it on to your son.”
He replaced the pebble and the piece of iron, and tied the bag.
I stood up, somehow knowing I should. Grandpa slowly
rose from the bed and stood upright in front of me holding
the bag before my face. I closed my eyes and waited for him
to slip it over my head. But he spoke.
“No, you need not wear it.” He placed the soft leather bag
in my right hand and closed my other hand over it. “It would
not be right to wear it in this time and place where no one
will understand. Put it safely away until you are again on the
reservation. Wear it then, when you replace the sacred sage.”
Grandpa turned and sat again on the bed. Wearily he
leaned his head against the pillow. “Go,” he said, “I will sleep
now.”
“Thank you, Grandpa,” I said softly and left with the bag in
my hands. 13 13 Key Literary Element
That night Mom and Dad took Grandpa to the hospital. Theme Martin’s internal
Two weeks later I stood alone on the lonely prairie of the conflict about his grandfather
reservation and put the sacred sage in my medicine bag. 14 ❍ is resolved. What did Martin
learn from the experience?
The answer to that question
is the theme of the story.
14
How does accepting the medi-
cine bag help Martin stay true
to himself? Write your answer
on “The Medicine Bag” page
of Foldable 5. Your response
will help you complete the Unit
Challenge later.
Boy on Edge of Chasm, 1993 (detail). Kam
Mak. Oil on panels, 14 x 101⁄ 2 in. Collection
of the artist.
Analyzing the Painting How does
this painting capture the seriousness of
the moment when Martin receives the
medicine bag?
Answering the
1. What do you think is Martin’s true self, the way he is with his friends
or with his family—or both? Explain.
2. Recall How does Martin feel about his Sioux background at the start
of the story, when his grandfather first comes to visit?
T IP Right There
3. Summarize In a sentence or two, sum up the reasons that Grandpa
has come to visit Martin and his family.
T IP Think and Search
Critical Thinking
4. Infer Why do you think Grandpa cries after he tells Martin how Iron
Shell gave him the medicine bag?
T IP Author and Me
5. Interpret A symbol is a person, place, or thing that stands for some-
thing more than what it is. For example, a red rose can represent, or
symbolize, love. What do you think the medicine bag symbolizes in
the story? Give details from the story to support your answer.
T IP Author and Me
6. Analyze The story is told in the first-person from Martin’s point of
view. How might your feelings toward Martin change if the story were
told in the third-person by an outsider watching what happens?
T IP On My Own
Objectives (pp. 618–619)
Reading Make predictions • Make Write About Your Reading
connections from text to self
Literature Identify literary elements: Diary Entry Imagine that you are Martin. Write a diary entry about
theme the day Grandpa gave you the medicine bag. Be sure to include the
Vocabulary Use structural analysis:
prefixes
following ideas:
Writing Respond to literature: diary • your feelings about the history of the medicine bag
entry
Grammar Combine sentences • your feelings about owning the medicine bag
• how owning the medicine bag has changed you
Vocabulary Preview
confesses (kun FES ses) v. tells a truth that one rarely talks about; form of
the verb confess (p. 623) Bethany confesses to being afraid sometimes.
exotic (eg ZOT ik) adj. strangely beautiful and foreign (p. 624) Bethany
goes to exotic places to surf with her family and friends.
hardships (HARD ships) n. things that cause pain or suffering; misfortunes
E m il y (p. 625) In spite of the hardships the fire caused, the family was happy
C ostello
because no one was hurt.
Meet the Author
Partner Talk With a partner, look over the vocabulary words. Then write
Emily Costello was born in
1966. She has written many V down a synonym and an antonym for each word. (Remember that synonyms
share almost the same meaning; antonyms have opposite meanings.)
books and articles for young
adults, including fiction and English Language Coach
biography, and articles on
science topics. Costello tells Prefixes That Show Relationships A prefix is a syllable added to the
young people who want to beginning of a word to change the word’s meaning. If you know the
write, “Keep a diary. Record meaning of common prefixes, you can unlock the meaning of words that
what’s happening in your life begin with prefixes. The chart below lists prefixes that show relationships.
and practice explaining how EL
you’re feeling each day.” Prefix Word Example Meaning
co- means “with,” coworker “one who works with
“together,” or “partner” another person”
coexist “to exist together”
Author Search For more
about Emily Costello, go coauthor “an author who writes as
to www.glencoe.com. a partner of another”
pre- means “before” preseason “before the regular season”
Partner Talk With a classmate, read the first para- Set Purposes for Reading
graph of a magazine or newspaper feature article. Read “A Year of Living Bravely”
What type of attention-getting device does the writer to learn how Bethany stays true to herself in spite of
use? Discuss whether it makes you want to read on. her injury.
A Year of
Living
by Emily Costello
Bravely
B ethany Hamilton had a horrifying experience last
Halloween. A tiger shark attacked her while she was surfing
Practice the Skills
1 Text Element
off the coast of Hawaii. The shark chewed off Bethany’s left Attention-Getting Device
arm just below the shoulder. By the time she reached the By opening with interesting state-
hospital, she’d lost half the blood in her body. She was near ments, the author tries to interest
you in reading the rest of the
death. Bethany had two surgeries to close the wound. She
article. Do the facts make you
spent eight days in the hospital. 1 want to read on? Explain.
Nobody would have blamed Bethany if she’d never surfed 2 Key Reading Skill
again. Instead, she recovered with surprising speed. Less Predicting To predict what the
article will say about Bethany,
than a month after the attack, she was surfing again. On
think about these facts:
January 10, she entered a major competition. She took fifth
• The title of the selection is
place out of 24. “A Year of Living Bravely.”
• Bethany says she recovered
What helped Bethany recover so quickly? She loves to surf, fast to return to surfing.
and she wanted to start again. “Desire is the answer,” she From these facts, you can guess
says, “and I had that.” 2 that the article will tell in more
detail what Bethany did during
the year after the shark attack.
Suddenly Famous 3
Bethany has adjusted to a one-armed life without
much trouble. But other parts of her new life have
been challenging. “I’m learning how to balance
my life—schooling, surfing, and my career,”
Bethany says.
Analyzing the Photo Hamilton appears with Damien Fahey, veejay of MTV’s Total Request
Live, in 2003. How might Hamilton’s story encourage other teens who face setbacks?
Practice the Skills
People and Teen Vogue. She co-wrote a book called Soul
Surfer. 4 She has a movie in the works. The ESPN sports 4 English Language Coach
network gave her an Espy Award. She made an appearance at Prefixes That Show
the Teen Choice Awards. She threw out the first pitch at the Relationships The prefix co-
Oakland A’s season opener. She has done hundreds of means “with,” “together,” or
“partner.” What does co-wrote
interviews for magazines.
mean?
Vocabulary
exotic (eg ZOT ik) adj. strangely beautiful and foreign
surfing!’ ” her best friend, Alana Blanchard, told USA Today. Practice the Skills
“She just always wants to surf.”
But she admits that sometimes being in the ocean feels weird.
She gets a little scared. When that happens, she calls to
5
friends surfing nearby. Or she sings a song to herself.
Do you think it was important
for Bethany to surf after her
“I have nightmares,” Bethany confesses. When the night- accident? Explain why or why
mares come, she says it helps to think about other people’s not. Write your answer on the
problems. This summer, Bethany hopes to raise $50,000 for “A Year of Living Bravely” page
disabled kids through a charity called World Vision. of Foldable 5. Your response
will help you complete the Unit
Challenge later.
Bethany notes that there are 120 million disabled kids
worldwide. Landmines3 injured many of them. In poor
countries, few disabled kids get to go to school. Some poor
families abandon disabled kids. Thinking about such
hardships, Bethany knows how lucky she really is.
3. Landmines are explosive devices that are placed on or beneath the ground.
Vocabulary
hardships (HARD ships) n. things that cause pain or suffering; misfortunes
Answering the
1. From reading “A Year of Living Bravely,” what have you learned about
how someone stays true to himself or herself?
2. Recall How did Bethany lose her left arm?
T IP Right There
3. Recall What does Bethany say she does to get over her nightmares?
T IP Right There
Critical Thinking
4. Interpret What does Bethany mean when she says, “I am complete
without [the plastic arm]”?
T IP Author and Me
5. Analyze What is the main idea of the article? Write it in your own
words. Then explain which facts, details, and other clues in the article
helped you find the main idea.
T IP Author and Me
6. Evaluate Would you recommend this article to other eighth-graders?
Why or why not? Use details from the article to support your answer.
T IP On My Own
In Writing Workshop Part 1 you wrote a draft of your short story. Now it’s
ASSIGNMENT Write a time to improve it. Keep a copy of your story in your writing portfolio so
short story that you and your teacher can evaluate your writing progress over time.
Purpose: To tell a story
about a character who Revising
struggles to stay true to
himself or herself Make It Better
Audience: Your teacher
and your classmates Take a fresh look at your draft. This is your chance to improve it.
1. Read your draft quickly and put it aside. Then think about the general
impression you get from your story. Ask yourself these questions.
Revising Rubric
• Does my writing tell the story I want to tell? Does everything in it con-
Your revised short story
tribute to one overall effect without wandering away from the point?
should have
• Are there any parts that are awkward or confusing?
• a clear focus and effective
organization • Do my characters seem like real people? (See the next section for help
• well-developed characters
in developing your characters.)
• a plot with a clear • Is the conflict understandable?
beginning, conflict, and • Is the resolution satisfying?
resolution • Do I describe the setting well enough that readers can picture it?
• a setting that fits your plot
• Does my story have a consistent point of view? Is everything seen
• realistic dialogue
through the same character’s eyes?
2. Reread the draft slowly. Mark places where you want to rewrite.
Editing
Finish It Up
Writing Tip When you are satisfied with your story, look carefully to see whether there
Spelling If you are using a
are any errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics.
computer, you can use the
Use the Editing Checklist to spot and correct errors. Get rid of any words that
Spell Check feature, but the
only way to be 100 percent
aren’t needed. If you have trouble recognizing your mistakes, try reading
sure of a word’s spelling is to
your story aloud. Hearing the words may help you catch mistakes that you
look it up in a dictionary. miss when you only see the words on the page.
Editing Checklist
✓ Pronouns agree with their antecedents.
❑
✓ The writing is free of sentence fragments and run-ons.
❑
✓ All verbs agree with their subjects.
❑
✓ Punctuation is correct.
❑
✓ Spelling and capitalization are correct.
❑
Take one last quick look through your short story before you hand it in.
Ask yourself, Is this as good as I can make it? Did I miss anything?
Presenting
Show It Off
Writing Tip Stories are meant to be read! With your classmates, make a book of short
Read Aloud Another way to stories that you can share with other classes. Your character’s struggle to stay
present your story is to read it true may help readers handle something they are going through.
to your class. You can act out 1. Neatly copy your story or, if possible, use a word-processing program
scenes, use different voices for to enter and print out a final copy of your story.
different characters—whatever 2. If you want to, add pictures to your story to help readers visualize a
you feel like doing. Have fun character, setting, or mood (the general feeling of your story). You can
performing! draw an illustration, find a picture in a magazine or newspaper, or search
the Internet for an image you can use. Be sure that the image you choose
captures an event or mood from your story.
3. Put all of the stories and pictures together in a binder. Now you have a
collection of short stories about many different characters and situations
but about the same theme (staying true to oneself in a difficult situation).
4. Finally, work together as a class to brainstorm possible titles for your
collection. Vote to choose one of them.
Analyzing Cartoons
Would Calvin have found
Tommy’s story funny if he
had read it in a book?
icate, Inc.
Permission of King Features Synd
© Zits Partnership. Reprinted with
Analyzing Cartoons
What clue tells Jeremy’s dad that
the phone call was for Jeremy?
634 UNIT 5
© Zits Partnership. Reprinted with Permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Practice It!
Do you agree with the student’s inferences? List positive things the narrator
says about his brother. Then jot down notes about anything negative about
their relationship. Think about similar brother or sister relationships you’ve
seen or experienced. Write a few sentences describing the relationship
between the narrator and his brother.
Use It!
As you read “The Fire Pond” and from Savion!: My Life in Tap, make
inferences based on details and descriptions in the texts.
Vocabulary Preview
fortune (FOR chun) n. luck; riches (p. 639) When he won the lottery,
the old man could not believe his good fortune.
recedes (ree SEEDS) v. moves or pulls back; form of the verb recede
(p. 641) Whenever we have hot, dry weather for several days, the
water in the pond recedes.
M ic salvaged (SAL vujd) v. saved from ruin; rescued; form of the verb salvage
h a e l J. R o s e n
(p. 641) We salvaged a few pieces of furniture and some pictures from
our home after the flood.
Meet the Author
calculating (KAL kyoo lay ting) v. using math or logic to figure out some-
Michael J. Rosen writes, edits,
thing; form of the verb calculate (p. 646) My sister is calculating how
and illustrates books. He lives
long it will take her to save for a new bicycle.
in the country and loves
nature. He works hard for
the humane treatment of On Your Own In your Learner’s Notebook, write a sentence for each
dogs. Rosen believes that of the vocabulary words. Be sure to use each word correctly.
to succeed at any task takes
persistent effort. He says, English Language Coach
“Inspiration’s overrated. Prefixes That Show Position Knowing what common prefixes mean
Strike until the iron is hot.” will help you unlock the meaning of many words. Look at the chart below.
All the prefixes on the chart show position. As you read “The Fire Pond,”
look for words that begin with these and other prefixes that show position.
EL
Author Search For more Prefix Meaning Word Examples
about Michael J. Rosen, go to
www.glencoe.com. out- “outside” or “beyond” outfield, outbuilding
Partner Work For each prefix, write a word that begins with the prefix.
Objectives (pp. 636–649) (Do not repeat the words on the chart.) Then use the word in a sentence.
Reading Make inferences • Make
connections from text to self Work with a classmate, and use a dictionary if you need to.
Literature Identify literary elements:
setting
Vocabulary Use structural analysis:
prefixes
Keep Moving
Use these skills as you read “The Fire Pond.”
The
Fire Pond
by Michael J. Rosen
handfuls around the dock so the rainbows surface, blurring Practice the Skills
Grandpa’s reflection until it’s gone and, looking down, the
fish are all you can see.
He talks to the fish whether I’m there or not. Tells them
stuff the way I guess I talk to the cats when they follow me
around the barn.
“I do all the talking,” Grandpa says. “I’m not expecting
them to answer.”
3 Key Reading Skill
We have two farm cats—and also this Lab-shepherd mix
Making Inferences What
that’s owned by Mrs. Collins, except he spends all day across do you think the fish mean to
the road at our place following whoever of us is on the Grandpa? Think about these
tractor. Grandpa never takes much notice of them. The clues:
rainbows are what he’s got instead of pets—instead of lots • He talks to them.
of things. He walks the edge of the fire pond every day, just • He has them instead of pets
looking, just admiring what he’s got there. It’s like the story or other interests.
about the king—or was it the thief?—who has to count his • He admires them every day.
riches every day because,
well, I guess he can’t believe
his fortune or his luck. Not
that Grandpa’s really lucky
or fortunate. Not that a
bunch of fish swimming
around a fire pond is
something you count on. 3
“That one’s big as a
railroad tie!” 2 he’ll shout to
me, if I’m walking with him,
which I do, especially since
Grandma died.
“At least,” I answer.
“I don’t go in for
exaggerating and you know
that. Don’t need to when
they’re this beautiful big.
But you’re my witness, just
in case someone doubts.”
Analyzing the Photo The
2. A railroad tie is a piece of wood that joins the two rails on which trains run and narrator’s grandpa spends a lot of
holds them in place. time at the pond. Why might this
be? What is it about the pond that
he seems to love most?
Vocabulary
fortune (FOR chun) n. luck; riches
Analyzing the Photo How does this picture illustrate the changed landscape that the narrator describes?
Rainbow’s the only fish that Grandpa will eat. “No other Practice the Skills
fish worth catching, neither,” he says. Me, I like tuna fish
better. (Only fish Mom and Dad love is the perch on those all-
you-can-eat nights at the lodge.) I like trawling 3 for bluefish,
too, which I’ve done twice, on visits with Mom’s family in
Maryland. So I think I like what all the fish mean to Grandpa
4 Reviewing Elements
more than what the fish mean to me. Mainly, it’s cool to
Sensory Imagery Have you
watch their shiny bodies darting like the sun’s shine on the ever seen the sun shining on a
water, only under. 4 lake or pond? The slightest bit of
wind causes the water to ripple
Every house I visit is filled with rainwater to the doors— Practice the Skills
inside and outside. Creek water. Pond water. Lots of farms
are worse than ours, but to see our place, it looks like another
country, like you’re looking down from an airplane and
seeing these islands in an ocean—like Hawaii—except it’s
all just our two hundred acres. Our whole farm is all pond
except for the stables across the road, and the highest spots
in the meadow, and the animal buildings, which were built
on higher ground just for a time like now that was never
supposed to happen. The fire pond connects with the creeks,
and it’s deep enough for powerboats, and there are some, too,
trying to save the washed-away things—ours, and stuff from
nearby houses—that float or bob to the surface. So much lost
and stranded livestock,6 too, that take weeks to return to their
farms. And drowned ones, too. 6 6 Key Literary Element
Over and over Mom says things like, “No matter what we Setting At the beginning of the
lost, we’re still blessed.” 7 story, the fire pond was a very
As for the rainbows, they’re spilled like oil spots down the peaceful place. How does the
flood cause problems for the
highway.
characters living in this setting?
It’s hard to know if any are left in our pond when the
water recedes —when the banks of the fire pond are where
I remember them, when the rain stops long enough to pump 7 Key Reading Skill
the water from the buildings. We start two lists: what’s been Making Inferences After the
ruined or lost, and what can be salvaged. It’s months, really, problems the flood causes, why
before the house feels dry, and then the winter cold seeps in, might the mother think the fam-
ily is still blessed?
freezing all that extra water into frost and ice—at least, that’s
how it feels.
It’s more months before the check arrives from the
insurance people, which doesn’t pay for hardly anything, and
the check from the state and federal governments on account
of our being declared a disaster area. Almost every day I
remember some little thing I used to have and didn’t realize
the flood had swept it away. But our damages are minor
compared with some people we meet, compared with
families in Knapp Creek, or nearer the Allegheny.
6. Livestock are farm animals, such as cows and sheep, which farmers raise for profit.
Vocabulary
recedes (ree SEEDS) v. moves or pulls back
salvaged (SAL vujd) v. saved from ruin; rescued
only Grandma could do—and once in a blue moon, she could Practice the Skills
actually succeed. It’s a year before I can get my license.
10. A grain auger is a farm machine with a long tube that lifts grain from a truck
to the top of a tall storage building.
new fish have learned the sound of his boots on the dock, Practice the Skills
the scattering of food on the water that follows. From
faraway as the front yard, I can see how the glassy surface
of the moonlight shatters into ripples by the dock where
the rainbows are chomping at the empty air.
I help strap the Indian fire pumps on a few of the
volunteers, and they join the truck at the barn to do what
they can. The fire’s already spread to the corn crib, where
Grandpa’s stationed himself.
Now, after a whole year, Grandpa will laugh if someone
makes a joke about the fire. “If only we’d have grown popping
corn, the fire would have popped enough corn to serve all
the whole crowd! It looked like a drive-in movie with all
those cars.” But that night, the dried field-corn burns so fast
and hot that the sweat steams beneath Grandpa’s rubber
coat—but he won’t turn away except until he passes out from
the heat, and the smoke, too. 11 11 Reviewing Skills
A man I don’t know carries Grandpa to the house, where Clarifying Notice that the
he checks his breathing, his eyes, and his pulse. (All the sequence, or order, of events
volunteers—Dad’s one, too—take first-aid courses.) shifts during this part of the
story. How much time has
“Your grandpa’s fine. Long as he stays inside and rests,”
passed since the fire occurred?
he tells me, and I believe him, though Grandpa won’t: He is Reread the paragraph if you’re
going to catch his breath and head back out. I learn the man’s not sure.
name is Hawkins when he phones to tell some doctor that
he’s needed here.
Mom makes me stay with Grandpa. Her voice is so serious,
I think even Grandpa might listen for once.
“Tell them to let the barn burn!” he orders Hawkins before
he leaves the house. “No barn’s going to stand on a half-burnt
frame. And move the horses.”
“But the stables are across the road . . .” I start to say, and
then answer my own question. The twelve horses have got
to be spooked. And even if they’re safe for now, they’ll get to
panicking and kick through their stalls, break a bone or tear
themselves up on the wire. 12 English Language Coach
Grandpa gives me a reason I hadn’t thought of. “Look out Prefixes The word outlined
there. Too much wind.” contains the prefix out-, which
Even though the fire’s around the other side, from the back means “outside” or “beyond.” It
means “to make a line around
door that faces the stables and the corral, I see them outlined
the outside” of something. Does
like by moonlight, only it’s orange because of the flames. 12 I that make sense in this sen-
see Mom shove the gates free. She slides open the stable’s door, tence?
jumping clear since the horses charge out instantly and all at Practice the Skills
once. The horses are pitch-black, but the fire’s light gives them
even darker shadows, however that’s possible. A few horses
bolt along the fence to the entrance of the meadow, and some
of them leap the rails as though it weren’t the fence at all that
kept them here every day, but something else. We’ve lost a
horse before, accidentally, but never all of them at once, and
never in a panicking herd. But now isn’t the time for asking
how we’ll find them. We will. People around here know us
even if we are spread out far from one another. 13 13 Key Literary Element
Then there’s a new sound, louder, closer than the fire. Setting The narrator and his
Before I can turn to ask Grandpa the question, he tells me, family don’t stop to look for the
“It’s all right,” which suddenly makes me think it’s not. A horses because they believe
the animals will be returned to
spray of water bursts on the picture window. The jet runs
them. What does that tell you
across the wall and back, back and forth, across and back, about the community where the
as though it were erasing something. story takes place?
“That means the house’s caught fire?” I ask.
“No, no. Just preventing it,” he says, but his voice is too
faint; it’s a whisper like a part of the farm already gone up
in smoke.
Which makes me say and ask at the same time (that has to
be possible): “Grandpa, we’re going to be okay.”
His nodding means yes and at the same time I don’t know.
The one hose pounds the roof and wall and doesn’t stop.
It’s like our own storm: one thunderbolt rumbling right
against the house, but more like heat lightning since it’s
bright in all the windows. Water pours down the panes in
sheets, and the view is blurred and wobbly, like looking
through the sheer curtains when the window’s cracked open
in Grandpa’s room. But even so, I know what’s out there: I
watch the embers float, slower than pennies in a wishing
well, from the barn to the stables, to the milk house, to the
grain elevator that’s thirty-six feet tall—the tallest thing for
miles—and over to one and then the other silo.
Behind me, from the couch where Grandpa’s supposed to
be lying still, I hear him talking like he’s talking to the
rainbows, or like he’s giving directions and he’s still out there
fighting the flames. I can see the fire outside in his eyes,
which must mean it’s reflected in my eyes, too, if Grandpa
looks up to see it.
“The pond’s not deep enough,” Grandpa tells me, as if he’d Practice the Skills
just remembered how deep they’d dug it. I bring him some
juice from the fridge. I don’t know why I can’t be doing some-
thing more than watching Grandpa—though if I weren’t here,
he wouldn’t be either. 14 14 Key Reading Skill
There’s so much light, I keep forgetting it’s night. Besides Making Inferences Grandpa
the flames, there’s the white flash of cameras: someone from says that the pond “isn’t deep
the insurance company and a photographer for the Journal. enough.” What isn’t it deep
enough for?
And probably people just wanting to shoot some cool pictures.
And then, even at the farther-away dark edges, there are
yellower lights, and red ones—new ones: headlights and
taillights of cars pulling in. (The Journal, which only comes
out once a week, will say that two thousand people attended
the fire—drove from nearby towns like we were some kind
of county fair that opened after midnight. There should have
been another story to say how people kept coming for days—
not thousands, but more than just people we know by
name—strangers coming to drop off things they had extra
of, like a milking machine or a bridle, and, of course, things
to eat, as though the fire had burned the kitchen, too, but it
didn’t—only whatever it is inside a person that’s supposed
to make us want to eat or want to wake up.) 15 15 Reviewing Skills
When I crack the front door just to see something clearly, Connecting Sometimes
a burst of smoke slips in before my eyes can really make disasters bring out the best
out much. in people. Strangers go out
of their way to help others in
“Seems like maybe there’s even more firemen now,
need. What real-life examples
Grandpa,” I tell him, and he nods, as though he’d been of this can you give?
calculating how long it’d take the volunteers from each
of the neighboring villages to make their way here.
“Probably. Probably be at least three fire trucks by now.”
And then, after too long a pause, he finishes. “Look at it go.
Fire’s just like trout heading upstream: slow and certain of
where it’s going.”
That’s when Mom comes in again with one of the cats,
bringing not only the smell but also the heat of the fire in
her clothes and hair. She confirms what Grandpa guessed:
“There’s three trucks pumping water now. And so many
other people wanting to help, they’ve got two men just
Vocabulary
calculating (KAL kyoo lay ting) v. using math or logic to figure out something
keeping the crowd back.” Her eyes leak tears down her
cheek—maybe it’s just from the smoke—her talk has more
Practice the Skills
important things to do than sob. We fill bottles and jugs of
water at the sink to take to the firefighters.
The seven thousand hay bales blaze all night, glowing
right alongside the dawn, when all that’s left of the barn is
an arch that frames the sunrise. It’s quiet, then, suddenly,
like an alarm clock went off, but one that wakes you with
silence since the night was so loud. The firemen coil their
hoses half-filled with pond sludge, and the last of the crowds
drive home to Portville, Ischua, and Knapp Creek. 16 16 Key Reading Skill
Friends in Olean, and farther south than Hinsdale, smell Making Inferences How do
the smoke at sunup, the dead fish at dusk. The phone is you think Grandpa feels about
always ringing. One call is from the Luthers, who have having all the water drained
from the pond? Why do you
managed to pen the four horses that escaped. They’ll hold
think so?
them as long as we need them to.
It’s three days before the coals lose heat, before Mom and
Dad are done meeting the insurance people and the county
agents. Grandpa and I comb the
property after supper. The
machines are still clustered in the
pasture like cows, as though the
only job they had was to wait.
Since nothing else stands but the
house and the woods—and the
stables across the road, which
were unharmed, after all—we
watch the ground as if
something were left here and
we had to come to look. Instead
of grass or dirt it’s ashes, wet
wherever we step. Across the
meadow where the fire pond
was, there’s a mud valley now
that’s like a mirage of water,
shimmering the way a highway in
the summer heat looks wet until
you get closer and see it’s not.
The pond shimmers, but closer
up, it’s the silt rippling where the
tails are flaring beneath. Analyzing the Photo How does this
picture illustrate changes in the pond?
When Grandpa takes off his shoes and socks, I take off Practice the Skills
mine. We set them on the dock and climb down to the muck
of the bottom. Forty years ago, I think to myself, Grandpa
stood on the bottom like this.
We start off walking, our feet sinking into the clay, then
popping free with a suction sound.
“It’s raining,” Grandpa announces to me, or maybe he’s just
used to talking to himself at the pond. He’s smiling, even
though no amount of water—not from clouds, not from our
springs or our well, not from tanker trucks with nothing
better to do than to cart water here—nothing will save the
rainbows. The ones at the shallow end are dead. These last
few that move have already drowned in the air.
Grandpa says, “I already hear them talking.”
“Who, Grandpa?” I ask. I know he doesn’t mean the fish. 17 Key Reading Skill
“Just people. I hear them. ‘You’d think that old fool’d have Making Inferences Do you
learnt that first time never to stock a fire pond.’” 17 think Grandpa cares whether
“No, they’re not, Grandpa,” I answer him, “they won’t,” other people think he’s a fool?
though this is just another thing I don’t know. I don’t know if Why or why not?
Grandpa’s thinking about restocking the pond, or if I should 18 Reviewing Skills
plead with him not to if only so he’ll slap me hard enough to Predicting Do you think
let me cry. I don’t know even why I think this, because he’d Grandpa will restock the pond
never do that. 18 with rainbows? Explain.
“I’m going to tell you something,” he says, “and I don’t Practice the Skills
care if you’re old enough to think you should start ignoring
advice.”
I do know I should tell him I’m not, that I’m listening, to go
ahead, to keep walking—something. So I take a step forward.
Grandpa’s planted there like he’s a boot that just slipped off
your foot and stuck there. So I have to step back.
“You stock your life with what all makes you happy, you
hear me? You put rainbows anyplace you like, not excepting
your young heart.”
And then it’s Grandpa who turns, ready to complete our
tour, if that’s what we’re doing, drawing a circle with footstep
dashes around the fire pond like it’s something you could cut
out. But before I can say anything like I’m sorry or I believe 19
you, he adds: “I’m not expecting you to answer.” How does Grandpa stay true
to himself? Write your answer
Grandpa’s footprints are the size of mine (the size of the
on “The Fire Pond” page of
fingerlings—grown a lot, of course, since May): They’re Foldable 5. Your response
little ponds the coming rain will fill, then flood, then wash will help you answer the Unit
away. 19 ❍ Challenge later.
Analyzing the Photo Look closely at the water. How does the photo help you picture what
the rainbows in the fire pond look like?
Answering the
1. What did you learn about staying true to yourself from reading
the story?
2. Recall What is the first natural disaster in the story?
T IP Right There
3. Summarize In two or three sentences, sum up what happens to
the fire pond during the course of the story.
T IP Think and Search
Critical Thinking
4. Analyze How does the narrator feel about Grandpa at the end of
the story? Give evidence from the story to back up your answer.
T IP Author and Me
5. Analyze What do you think the narrator learns from his experiences?
Support your answer with evidence from the story.
T IP Author and Me
6. Evaluate Do you think Grandpa would be foolish to restock the
pond with rainbows? Explain why or why not.
T IP On My Own
Key Literary Element: Setting Run-On: Estela loves to play the piano it relaxes her.
8. Grandpa dug the fire pond years before the story
begins. How else has he influenced the setting? To fix a run-on sentence, put a period between the
two independent clauses, or simple sentences. The
9. How might the story change if it were set in a big
period shows readers where one thought ends and
city? Identify at least two events that would turn
the next begins.
out differently, and explain the differences.
Correct: Estela loves to play the piano. It relaxes her.
Reviewing Skills: Connecting
10. What part of the story could you most easily Another way to fix a run-on sentence is to separate
relate to, or connect with? Why? the independent clauses with a comma and a coordi-
11. How did making the connection help you better nating conjunction.
understand or enjoy the story?
Correct: Estela loves to play the piano, and it
Reviewing Skills: Interpreting relaxes her.
12. What does Grandpa mean when he says, “You You can also correct a run-on sentence by adding
put rainbows anyplace you like, not excepting a subordinating conjunction to one of the clauses.
your young heart”? Support your answer with
details from the story. Correct: Estela loves to play the piano because it
relaxes her.
Vocabulary Check Grammar Practice
Match each word with the word or phrase that means On another sheet of paper, copy and fix the following
the opposite. run-on sentences, using each of the ways listed above.
13. salvaged a. destroyed 19. She practices every day she doesn’t mind.
14. recedes b. using instincts 20. She wants to be a music teacher someday
15. fortune c. advances she must learn to play different instruments.
16. calculating d. poverty
Writing Application Review your Write About Your
17. English Language Coach Copy the following Reading activity. Find and fix any run-on sentences.
words on another sheet of paper. Circle the prefix
on each word. Then define the word. Check your
definitions in a dictionary.
outpatient • subtitle • undersea • overreach
Web Activities For eFlashcards, Selection
18. Academic Vocabulary If a theme is implied, Quick Checks, and other Web activities,
is it directly stated? Explain why or why not. go to www.glencoe.com.
dancer and
ov
New York
eb
ce
Bru Times. He also
writes for many Suffix Part of Speech Word Example
magazines.
-ly adverb quickly
-ic adjective poetic
Author Search For more about -ive adjective selective
Savion Glover and Bruce Weber, -ful adjective playful
go to www.glencoe.com.
-ous adjective marvelous
Partner Work With a classmate, look at each word below and decide
what part of speech it is. Then separate the word into its base word and
suffix. Decide what part of speech the base word is. Then use both the
Objectives (pp. 652–659)
Reading Make inferences • Make
word and suffix in a sentence.
connections from text to self • gruffly
Literature Identify literary elements:
tone
• heroic
Vocabulary Use structural analysis: • protective
suffixes
• sorrowful
from Savion!:
My Life in Tap
by Savion Glover and Bruce Weber
understudy’s rehearsals, and what did I know about scripts Practice the Skills
and scenes and blocking and upstaging and cues 2 and
exit lines and all that? I had no idea how to change clothes
between scenes in time to get back on. Someone’s going to
change me? Whoa! Hinton Battle,3 the star, he was always
on us kids about warming up, getting ready. And other stuff
too, like hygiene. I can remember him pulling me aside and
saying, “Yo, man, I don’t know if you’re using any deodorant,
but you better get some.” And he was right. I was funky
that day.
My opening night I was nervous, out of my mind
nervous. 2 Butterflies in my stomach and everywhere else. 2 English Language Coach
I’m not that great a singer to begin with, but that night my Adjective and Adverb
voice was shaky as milk. The only thing that saved me was Suffixes What is the base
my family. There was a scene in the show on the Roosevelt word of nervous? How does
adding the suffix change the
Island tram, and I rode across the stage on this tram, and
part of speech?
while I was riding it, I saw my mom for the first time, and
this relaxing feeling came over me. I saw her face, and it was,
like, relief. I was comfortable from then on.
What I learned from The Tap Dance Kid was the basics,
really the basics. The basic basics. Familiarity with the stage.
How to position myself. How to prepare. How to listen.
How to react to the audience. I took it on myself to learn
the theater, walked around it as if I were working there,
went up on the catwalks4 to see what the guys do up there,
backstage, all that. It was, like, I’m here to perform, but I’m
also interested in what’s behind the secret door. I guess I
was ready for it to be real, not so magical anymore. You
know, I was part of it. The magician has to know what the
explanation for his magic is.
Anyway, that was why Tap Dance Kid was important for
me. As for my performance, I didn’t really feel like I was
2. An understudy is an actor who knows another performer’s part and can substitute if needed.
Blocking is working out the places on stage where the actors should stand during the different
scenes. Upstaging is drawing attention to oneself and taking it away from another actor. A cue
is the action or line that tells an actor to enter the stage or give a speech.
3. Hinton Battle won a Tony award for Best Actor for Tap Dance Kid. He learned to tap to play the
role and has been known as a dancer ever since.
4. A catwalk is a narrow bridge above a stage from where the stage crew works the sets and lights.
Vocabulary
hygiene (HY jeen) n. cleanliness; habits that lead to good health
performing. That was my life up there, and being onstage Practice the Skills
was just like sitting around the kitchen table telling a story
about what happened to me that day. And every night,
when we’d take our solo bow, I felt like: These people aren’t
clapping for me, for Savion; they’re clapping for Willie, the
Tap Dance Kid. I never felt like Savion was taking that bow.
It was after I got started on Black and Blue that I began to
understand it didn’t have to be that way. During the show I’d
go out and do double times,5 big steps, trying to please the
audience, and then afterward I was hanging out with Slyde
and Chaney, and just by watching them, I saw it wasn’t about
pleasing the audience; it was about expressing yourself. 3 It 3 Key Reading Skill
didn’t happen right away. You don’t just wake up and find Making Inferences What
your voice, your style. It has to develop. But during Black and do you think the difference is
between pleasing the audience
and expressing oneself?
5. Dancing double time is dancing very fast by doing twice the number of steps that the
beat calls for.
Blue was when I started realizing I could create my own kind Practice the Skills
of dance. Up to that point all I was doing was dancing.
It wasn’t anything they told me, not really. It was just being
there every day. During rehearsals in New York I’d just be
looking—at Slyde, at Chaney,6 at Chuck, even at the women,
like Dianne7—and I’d be watching them, saying to myself:
This is nothing like what I was taught in dance class. The
sounds, their bodies, the way they handled themselves. Once
we got over to Paris, I’m in the wings watching them, I’m in
Chaney’s back pocket when he comes offstage. I was like that
with all of them. I just wanted to follow them around. I don’t
know why; they were interesting, is all. This was a club I
wanted to join.
I was learning how to hang out, to enjoy. People think I
hung out with them and only learned dance. But remember,
I had no father image in my life. And these cats were men,
and they were accepting me, and I was just this little kid
running around, and they let me hang out with them
everywhere. We went out. We went to clubs. You ask what
they taught me? Everything. About life. About being a man.
About how to be. The point is I still spend time conversating
with myself about these men. It doesn’t matter where I
am, something one of them said’ll hit me, mad things, like
footnotes—“Make sure you put the right foot first, even if it’s
the left one,” or “If you can’t flow with it, don’t go with it”—
and I’ll have to ask myself: Are you talking about the dance
or life? 4 4 Literary Element
Slyde would drop info on me. He’s such a wise man. Tone What is Savion’s attitude
Through the dance he’d tell me, “Swing a little, sing the toward the men who helped
song.” I would always come out and do double time, all the him learn about dancing and
life? Does that attitude come
time fast, fast, and Slyde told me, “You should try swinging.”
across clearly in the tone of this
And the first time I tried it, I danced for seven minutes, paragraph?
and my breathing was different. I was relaxed, not tense,
not holding my breath. I felt like I was singing what I was
dancing. So that was something he told me that helped my
dancing. But he was always telling me, “Stay comfortable.”
Now is that about just dancing?
6. Jimmy Slyde has been a tap dancer since the 1940s. His stage name comes from his style
of dancing that makes him appear to slide across the stage. Lon Chaney is part of Slyde’s
generation of tap dancers and has influenced many younger artists.
7. Chuck Green began dancing as a child in the 1920s. Audiences loved him for his graceful style.
Dianne Walker is known as an elegant dancer. Her dance students call her “Aunt Dianne.”
And Chaney would tell me, “Hit it! Put it down, young Practice the Skills
man!” and I understand that as a dancer and as a man. I
can take that information about the dance and use it in my
everyday life. It translates. You see what I’m saying? And I
remember Chuck telling me, “Keep on the cardboard.” What
does that mean? I have no idea. “Keep on the cardboard.”
But I remember it, and I know, like twenty years from now,
it’ll come to me. That’s what Chuck meant!
When we came back to Broadway, I was really trying
to find myself as a tap dancer. My performance began to
change, and even my mom noticed. I wasn’t smiling as much,
not trying to please so much. It wasn’t, like, Hey, I’m here,
it’s show time! anymore. It was more, like, Hey, let’s go out
and dance! Forget what they think they want to see. Chaney,
Slyde, those cats—they saw my progress. It was real. I was
finally asking, Why am I performing?
And then came Jelly’s,8 which was really the turning
point, the first time I ever performed in a show and felt like
it was me. Savion, up there, getting the applause and not
the character I was pretending to be. But mostly Jelly’s was
important to me because of Gregory.9 He took me under his
wing after Tap, and it was Gregory who made sure I got cast
in Jelly’s.
He wasn’t like Slyde, who’s more a grandfather type, with
all the mysterious wisdom he lays on me. For me, knowing
Gregory is like knowing you have a pops but not meeting
him until you’re twenty years old, and it turns out he’s been
very cool all this time. We met in Paris when he came to see
Black and Blue, and little did I know he was setting up this
audition for Tap. Right away he was calling me Save, which
only my brothers call me. After that we just started hanging
out. We’d go to Knicks games; he’d come over to family
barbecues. 5 5 Literary Element
Tone Describe Savion’s tone.
What words and sentences does
he use to describe Slyde and
Gregory Hines?
8. The full name of the musical is Jelly’s Last Jam.
9. Gregory Hines began dancing as a child in the 1950s. He was also an actor, and many
of his movies included dancing.
Vocabulary
translates (TRANZ laytz) v. changes successfully into another form or language
Anyway, that relationship made it easy for me to, like, Practice the Skills
complete my education as a tap dancer, putting the finishing
touches on all the stuff that Slyde and them had begun
to teach me. And in Jelly’s, I was playing the kid and he
was playing the adult, and it seemed perfect to me that we
were just there being two sides of the same person. And
that number in the second act, Jelly’s Isolation Dance, that
was the highlight. I would do everything he did, right
away, right away, keep spitting back to him what he was
handing me, and we’d really be laying it down some nights.
It was supposed to be a five-minute number, but it went on
longer and longer and longer, we’d go on and on, jamming, 6
and some nights people would just gather in the wings How does Savion stay true to
himself? Write your answer on
and watch. It was six, seven, eight minutes of joy every
the Savion!: My Life in Tap page
performance. And yeah, it felt like he was passing the torch of Foldable 5. Your response
down to me every night. 6 will help you answer the Unit
It was humbling. Still is. ❍ Challenge later.
Critical Thinking
4. Evaluate Do you think Savion had the right attitude and work ethic
to become successful as a tap dancer?
T IP Author and Me
5. Analyze In what ways did Savion’s role models set positive examples
for him? Give details from the article to support your answer.
T IP Author and Me
6. Analyze Savion says that when he watched older performers he
thought, “This is nothing like what I was taught in dance class.” Do you
think Savion feels his classes were not useful? How is what he learned
from the performers different from what he learned in his classes?
T IP On My Own
A
A RETRIEVED
REFORMATION
by O. Henry & RETRIEVED
REFORMATION
adapted by Gary Gianni
Skills Focus
You will use these skills as you read and
compare the following selections:
• “A Retrieved Reformation,” p. 665
• Adaptation of “A Retrieved Have you ever watched a movie that was based on a book?
Reformation,” p. 675 If so, you’ve seen an adaptation. The word adapt means
“change.” An adaptation is a changed, or new, version of
Reading an existing literary work.
• Comparing and contrasting
literary elements in texts Adaptations tell the same story in different ways. In this
workshop, you will read a short story and its illustrated,
Literature graphic story adaptation. As you read, pay attention to the
similarities and differences between the two versions of the
• Comparing and contrasting story. Notice what things you are told in words in the print
characterization in stories version of the story and what things you are told in pictures
in the graphic story version.
Vocabulary
• Using word analysis
How to Compare Literature:
• Academic Vocabulary:
Characterization
reveal Characterization refers to the methods that an author uses
to show what characters are like. An author may reveal
what a character does, says, and thinks as well as what
other characters or the narrator says. In print stories
authors often reveal character through descriptions of
actions and thoughts. In graphic stories authors often
reveal character through dialogue and pictures.
Academic Vocabulary
reveal (rih VEEL) v. show
his speech
his actions
his thoughts
his appearance
You also may decide to illustrate a storyboard about the characters you’ve
chosen. (A storyboard is a panel of drawings that shows a story’s action.) For
example, one frame may show the mother from a story you’ve read talking
with her child, and the other may show your mother talking with you. Keep
it brief—use four to six frames.
Vocabulary Preview
compulsory (kum PUL suh ree) adj. required (p. 666) The final exam
was compulsory for everyone in the course.
retribution (re trih BYOO shun) n. punishment for past deeds (p. 668)
The judge believed that all crimes deserved stiff retribution.
simultaneously (sy mul TAY nee us lee) adv. at the same time (p. 671)
Both doors slammed simultaneously, creating a loud noise.
O . He n r y
Set Your Own Purpose What else would you like to learn from the
selection to help you answer the Big Question? Write your own purpose
on the “A Retrieved Reformation” page of Foldable 5.
A RETRIEVED
Reformation
by O. Henry
“Take him back, Cronin,” smiled the warden, “and fix Practice the Skills
him up with outgoing clothes. Unlock him at seven in the
morning, and let him come to the bull-pen. Better think over
my advice, Valentine.”
At a quarter past seven on the next morning Jimmy stood
in the warden’s outer office. He had on a suit of the villain-
ously fitting, ready-made clothes and a pair of stiff, squeaky
shoes that the state furnishes to its discharged compulsory
guests.
The clerk handed him a railroad ticket and the five-dollar
bill with which the law expected him to rehabilitate himself
into good citizenship and prosperity. The warden gave him a
cigar, and shook hands. Valentine, 9762, was chronicled on
the books “Pardoned by Governor,” and Mr. James Valentine
walked out into the sunshine.
Disregarding the song of the birds, the waving green trees,
and the smell of the flowers, Jimmy headed straight for a
restaurant. There he tasted the first sweet joys of liberty in
the shape of a broiled chicken and a bottle of white wine—
followed by a cigar a grade better than the one the warden
had given him. From there he proceeded leisurely to the
depot. He tossed a quarter into the hat of a blind man sitting
by the door, and boarded his train. Three hours set him
down in a little town near the state line. He went to the café
of one Mike Dolan and shook hands with Mike, who was
alone behind the bar. 3 3 Comparing Literature
“Sorry we couldn’t make it sooner, Jimmy, me boy,” said Characterization What does
Mike. “But we had that protest from Springfield to buck Jimmy’s behavior reveal about
his character? Keep in mind the
against, and the governor nearly balked. Feeling all right?”
time of the story. With only five
“Fine,” said Jimmy. “Got my key?” dollars, Jimmy was able to buy
He got his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of a a broiled chicken, a bottle of
room at the rear. Everything was just as he had left it. There wine, and a good cigar. But he
on the floor was still Ben Price’s collar-button that had been wouldn’t have much more left
than the quarter he gave the
torn from that eminent detective’s shirt-band when they had
blind man.
overpowered Jimmy to arrest him. 4
Pulling out from the wall a folding-bed, Jimmy slid back a
4 Comparing Literature
panel in the wall and dragged out a dust-covered suitcase.
Characterization In this one
He opened this and gazed fondly at the finest set of burglar’s
sentence, the author introduces
a new character. How much
Vocabulary does that sentence tell you about
Ben Price?
compulsory (kum PUL suh ree) adj. required
tools in the East. It was a complete set, made of specially Practice the Skills
tempered steel, the latest designs in drills, punches, braces
and bits, jimmies, clamps, and augers, with two or three
novelties invented by Jimmy himself, in which he took pride.
Over nine hundred dollars they had cost him to have made
at , a place where they make such things for the
profession.
In half an hour Jimmy went downstairs and through the
café. He was now dressed in tasteful and well-fitting clothes,
and carried his dusted and cleaned suitcase in his hand. 5 5 Comparing Literature
“Got anything on?” asked Mike Dolan, genially. Characterization How do
“Me?” said Jimmy, in a puzzled tone. “I don’t understand. the author’s descriptions help
I’m representing the New York Amalgamated Short Snap you picture Jimmy? Make notes
on your chart about the way
Biscuit Cracker and Frazzled Wheat Company.”
O. Henry describes Jimmy’s
This statement delighted Mike to such an extent that Jimmy appearance.
had to take a seltzer-and-milk on the spot. He never touched
“hard” drinks.
A week after the release of Valentine, 9762, there was a neat
job of safe-burglary done in Richmond, Indiana, with no clue
to the author. A scant eight hundred dollars was all that was
secured. Two weeks after that a patented, improved, burglar-
proof safe in Logansport was opened like a cheese to the tune
of fifteen hundred dollars, currency; securities and silver 3
untouched. That began to interest the rogue catchers. Then
an old-fashioned bank safe in Jefferson City became active
and threw out of its crater an eruption of banknotes
amounting to five thousand dollars. The losses were now
high enough to bring the matter up into Ben Price’s class
of work. By comparing notes, a remarkable similarity in
the methods of the burglaries was noticed. Ben Price
investigated the scenes of the robberies, and was heard to
remark: “That’s Dandy Jim Valentine’s autograph. He’s
resumed business. Look at that combination knob—jerked
out as easy as pulling up a radish in wet weather. He’s got
the only clamps that can do it. And look how clean those
tumblers were punched out! Jimmy never has to drill but
one hole. Yes, I guess I want Mr. Valentine. He’ll do his bit
next time without any short-time or clemency foolishness.”
3. Currency is paper money, securities are stocks and bonds, and silver is silver coins.
Valentine is careful not to steal securities that could be difficult to sell or silver that
could be heavy and attention-getting. He doesn’t want to get caught.
Ben Price knew Jimmy’s habits. He had learned them while Practice the Skills
working up the Springfield case. Long jumps, quick get-
aways, no confederates,4 and a taste for good society—these
ways had helped Mr. Valentine to become noted as a
successful dodger of retribution. It was given out that Ben
Price had taken up the trail of the elusive cracksman, and
other people with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease. 6 6 Comparing Literature
One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his suitcase climbed Characterization Make notes
out of the mailhack5 in Elmore, a little town five miles off the on your chart about Jimmy’s
railroad down in the blackjack country of Arkansas. Jimmy, characteristics as a thief.
looking like an athletic young senior just home from college,
went down the board sidewalk toward the hotel.
A young lady crossed the street, passed him at the corner,
and entered a door over which was the sign “The Elmore
Bank.” Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he
was, and became another man. She lowered her eyes and
colored slightly. Young men of Jimmy’s style and looks were
scarce in Elmore. 7 7 Comparing Literature
Characterization Based on
Vocabulary
retribution (re trih BYOO shun) n. punishment for past deeds
7. A four-in-hand is a necktie.
One day Jimmy sat down in his room and wrote this letter, Practice the Skills
which he mailed to the safe address of one of his old friends
in St. Louis:
While they were thus engaged Ben Price sauntered in and Practice the Skills
leaned on his elbow, looking casually inside between the
railings. He told the teller that he didn’t want anything; he
was just waiting for a man he knew.
Suddenly there was a scream or two from the women, and
a commotion. Unperceived by the elders, May, the nine-year-
old girl, in a spirit of play, had shut Agatha in the vault.
She had then shot the bolts and turned the knob of the
combination as she had seen Mr. Adams do.
The old banker sprang to the handle and tugged at it for a
moment. “The door can’t be opened,” he groaned. “The clock
hasn’t been wound nor the combination set.”
Agatha’s mother screamed again, hysterically.
“Hush!” said Mr. Adams, raising his trembling hand. “All
be quiet for a moment. Agatha!” he called as loudly as he
could. “Listen to me.” During the following silence they could
just hear the faint sound of the child wildly shrieking in the
dark vault in a panic of terror.
“My precious darling!” wailed the mother. “She will die
of fright! Open the door! Oh, break it open! Can’t you men
do something?”
“There isn’t a man nearer than Little Rock who can open
that door,” said Mr. Adams, in a shaky voice. “My God!
Spencer, what shall we do? That child—she can’t stand it long
in there. There isn’t enough air, and, besides, she’ll go into
convulsions from fright.”
Agatha’s mother, frantic now, beat the door of the vault
with her hands. Somebody wildly suggested dynamite.
Annabel turned to Jimmy, her large eyes full of anguish,
but not yet despairing. To a woman nothing seems quite
impossible to the powers of the man she worships.
“Can’t you do something, Ralph—try, won’t you?”
He looked at her with a queer, soft smile on his lips and
in his keen eyes. 12 12 Comparing Literature
“Annabel,” he said, “give me that rose you are wearing, Characterization Why does
will you?” Jimmy give a strange smile
Hardly believing that she had heard him aright, she when Annabel asks him to do
something?
unpinned the bud from the bosom of her dress, and placed
it in his hand. Jimmy stuffed it into his vest pocket, threw
off his coat and pulled up his shirt sleeves. With that act
Ralph D. Spencer passed away and Jimmy Valentine took Practice the Skills
his place.
“Get away from the door, all of you,” he commanded,
shortly.
He set his suitcase on the table, and opened it out flat. From
that time on he seemed to be unconscious of the presence
of anyone else. He laid out the shining, queer implements
swiftly and orderly, whistling softly to himself as he always
did when at work. In a deep silence and immovable, the
others watched him as if under a spell.
In a minute Jimmy’s pet drill was biting smoothly into the
steel door. In ten minutes—breaking his own burglarious
record—he threw back the bolts and opened the door. 13 13 Comparing Literature
Agatha, almost collapsed, but safe, was gathered into her Characterization Are you
mother’s arms. surprised that Jimmy is willing
Jimmy Valentine put on his coat, and walked outside the to “burglarize” the safe to save
Agatha? Why or why not?
railings toward the front door. As he went he thought he
heard a faraway voice that he once knew call “Ralph!” But
he never hesitated. At the door a big man stood somewhat 14
in his way.
Jimmy risks losing his new life
“Hello, Ben!” said Jimmy, still with his strange smile. when he decides to crack the
“Got around at last, have you? Well, let’s go. I don’t know safe. Do you think he stays
that it makes much difference, now.” true to himself by making
And then Ben Price acted rather strangely. that decision? Explain. Write
your answer on the first “A
“Guess you’re mistaken, Mr. Spencer,” he said. “Don’t
Retrieved Reformation” page
believe I recognize you. Your buggy’s waiting for you, of Foldable 5. Your response
ain’t it?” will help you complete the Unit
And Ben Price turned and strolled down the street. 14 ❍ Challenge later.
Vocabulary Preview
eminent (EM uh nunt) adj. of outstanding rank or quality (p. 676) In an
effort to fully understand her condition, the patient consulted several
eminent physicians.
flourishing (FLUR ish ing) v. thriving; doing extremely well; form of the
verb flourish (p. 680) The flowers Sharma planted were flourishing in the
summer sun.
G a r y G ia n n i
sauntered (SAWN turd) v. walked leisurely; form of the verb saunter
(p. 682) Looking cool and relaxed, Julio sauntered into the library.
Meet the Author
Gary Gianni spends months—
and sometimes years—
English Language Coach
creating all the pen and ink Multiple Affixes Some words have both prefixes and suffixes. Study
drawings and oil paintings the chart below. Look for words in “A Retrieved Reformation” that follow
needed to illustrate a book. a pattern similar to the word unperceived.
The work is often painstak-
ing. In addition to his two Word Base Word Prefix Suffix
graphic novel adaptations,
unperceived perceive = to see un- = not -ed = past tense
Gianni has written and
drawn for Dark Horse
Comics. Gary Gianni is
also the creator of The Get Ready to Read
Monstermen Mysteries.
Connect to the Reading
Jimmy Valentine’s life changed for the better when he fell in love with
Annabel. What other forces can change people’s lives in a positive way?
Author Search For more Think of the people and things that influence you.
about Gary Gianni, go to
www.glencoe.com. Set Purposes for Reading
Read Gary Gianni’s version to help you think further
about what Jimmy Valentine risked to stay true to himself.
Set Your Own Purpose What would you like to learn from the selection
Objectives (pp. 674–683) to help you answer the Big Question? Write your own purpose on the
Reading Compare and contrast: “A Retrieved Reformation” page of Foldable 5.
characterization
Vocabulary Use structural analysis:
affixes
1 Comparing Literature
Characterization Notice
Jimmy’s facial expressions and
posture in the first nine frames.
Look at the warden’s gestures
toward Jimmy. Make notes on
your chart about your impression
of Jimmy in this story so far. Did
you have the same impression of
him at the beginning of the print
1 version? Why or why not?
2 Comparing Literature
Characterization What do you
think Jimmy feels when he looks
at the button?
3 Comparing Literature
Characterization How does
this picture make Jimmy—and
his profession—seem more
2 3 menacing?
Vocabulary
eminent (EM uh nunt) adj. of outstanding rank or quality
5 5 Comparing Literature
Characterization In your
opinion, does this illustrated
version of the story leave out
important parts of the original?
Do you think this version is
1 true to O. Henry’s descriptions?
Explain your answers on your
chart.
6 6 Comparing Literature
Characterization How does
Gianni illustrate Jimmy’s change?
On your chart, list the items in
this frame that stand for feelings
of peace and love.
7 7 Comparing Literature
Characterization On your
chart describe Jimmy’s posture.
Does he seem confident or
uncertain? Serious or relaxed?
How does this picture affect what
you know or think about Jimmy?
9 9 Comparing Literature
Characterization Notice
Jimmy’s facial expression and
gesture. How does this Jimmy
Valentine seem different from the
one who arrived in Elmore? How
do the other drawings in this
frame show other people’s views
of Jimmy?
2. A phoenix is a bird in Greek mythology that burns up when it dies and is reborn from
its own ashes.
10 10 Comparing Literature
Characterization Imagine
that this page of the story did
not include words. From the
sketches in this frame, what
would you say Jimmy values
most now?
Vocabulary
flourishing (FLUR ish ing) adj. thriving; doing extremely well
12 12 Comparing Literature
Characterization Does this
version of the story show that
Jimmy is trying to look
uninterested in the safe? Do
the sketches create a strong
sense of danger about the
vault? If so, how? Write your
answers in your chart.
13 13 Comparing Literature
Characterization How
does Gianni show Jimmy’s
transformation? Look at
Jimmy’s posture, gestures,
and facial expression. Also,
pay attention to the shape of
Jimmy’s face. Does it seem
harder or more angular than
in previous frames? Why might
this be? Make notes in your
chart.
Vocabulary
sauntered (SAWN turd) v. walked leisurely
14 14 Comparing Literature
Characterization Jimmy
hangs his head in shame or
sorrow in this version, but
not in the original. Why
might Gianni have added this
gesture? How could it affect
your impression of Jimmy?
15 15
What did Jimmy have to do
to stay true to himself? What
did he risk? Do you think he’s
glad that he stayed true to
himself? Write your answer
on the second “A Retrieved
Reformation” page of Foldable
5. Your response will help you
complete the Unit Challenge
later.
Copy the sentences below. Draw a line through the italicized word
or phrase; then replace it with the vocabulary word that fits.
You have read about people who worked to figure out how to stay true to themselves. Now use what
you learned to do the Unit Challenge.
Wrap-Up 687
UNIT 5
Your Turn: Read and Apply Skills
Thank You
Na
We sold everything we had and left the Our parents had closed their imported-
country. The move had been brewing for gifts stores. Our mother ran a little shop in
months. We took a few suitcases each. My our neighborhood in St. Louis and our
mother cried when the piano went. I wished father ran a bigger one in a Sheraton Hotel
we could have saved it. My brother and I downtown. For years my brother and I had
had sung so many classics over its been sitting with them behind the counters
keyboard—“Look for the Silver Lining” after school, guessing if people who walked
and “Angels We Have Heard on High”— through the door would buy something or
that it would have been nice to return to a only browse. We curled up with our library
year later, when we came straggling back. books on Moroccan hassocks1 and Egyptian
I sold my life-size doll and my toy sewing camel saddles. I loved the stacks of waiting
machine. I begged my mother to save her white paper bags as they lay together, and
red stove for me, so I could have it when I the reams of new tissue. I’d crease the folds
grew up—no one else we knew had a red as our smooth father in dark suit and daily
stove. So my mother asked some friends to
1. Moroccan hassocks are large, tightly stuffed cushions made in
save it for me in their barn. Morocco, an Arab country in North Africa.
drench of cologne counted change. Our I said, “Hindu.” We had a swami,3 and
mother rearranged shelves and penned the sandalwood incense. It was over our heads,
perfect tags with calligrapher’s ink. My but we liked it and didn’t feel very attracted
brother and I helped unpack the crates: to the idea of churches and collection baskets
nested Russian dolls, glossy mother-of-pearl and chatty parish good will.
earrings from Bethlehem, a family of Now and then, just to keep things balanced,
sandalwood2 fans nestled in shredded we attended the Unity Sunday School. My
packaging. Something wonderful was teacher said I was lucky my father came from
always on its way. the same place Jesus came from. It was a
But there were problems too. Sometimes passport to notoriety. She invited me to bring
whole days passed and nobody came in. artifacts for Show and Tell. I wrapped a red
It seemed so strange to wait for people to and white keffiyah 4 around my friend Jimmy’s
give you money for what you had. But curly blond head while the girls in lacy socks
that’s what stores did everywhere. Then giggled behind their hands. I told about my
the stockroom filled with pre-Christmas father coming to America from Palestine on
inventory caught on fire and burned up, the boat and throwing his old country clothes
right when our father was between overboard before docking at Ellis Island.5 I
insurance policies. We could hear our felt relieved he’d kept a few things, like the
parents in the living room, worrying and keffiyah and its black braided band. Secretly it
debating after we went to bed at night. made me mad to have lost the blue pants from
Finally they had to give the business up. Jericho with the wide cuffs he told us about.
What seemed like such a good idea in the I liked standing in front of the group,
beginning—presents from around the talking about my father’s homeland. Stories
world—turned into the sad sound of a felt like elastic bands that could stretch and
broom sweeping out an empty space. stretch. Big fans purred inside their metal
Our father had also been attending the shells. I held up a string of olivewood6
Unity School for Christianity for a few years, camels. I didn’t tell our teacher about the
but decided not to become a minister after all. Vedanta Society. We were growing up
We were relieved, having felt like imposters ecumenical, though I wouldn’t know that
the whole time he was enrolled. He wasn’t word till a long time later in college. One
even a Christian, to begin with, but a gently night I heard my father say to my mother
nonpracticing Muslim. He didn’t do anything in the next room, “Do you think they’ll be
like fasting or getting down on his knees five confused when they grow up?” and knew
times a day. Our mother had given up the he was talking about us. My mother, bless
stern glare of her Lutheran ancestors, raising 3. Vedanta is a branch of the Hindu religion that studies several
my brother and me in the Vedanta Society of holy books called the Vedas. A Hindu teacher is called a swami.
St. Louis. When anyone asked what we were, 4. A keffiyah is a cloth headdress for a man that is held in place by
a rope.
5. Ellis Island in New York City was the station where immigrants
entered the United States on the East Coast from 1892 until the
2. Sandalwood is the wood of several trees that grow in Asia. mid-twentieth century.
It has a sweet, perfumed smell. 6. Olivewood is the wood of the olive tree.
her, knew we wouldn’t be. She said, “At And that’s where we were going, to
least we’re giving them a choice.” I didn’t Jerusalem. We shipped our car, a wide
know then that more clearly than all the golden Impala, over on a boat. We would
stories of Jesus, I’d remember the way our meet up with it later.
Hindu swami said a single word three The first plane flight of my whole life was
times, “Shantih, shantih, shantih”—peace, the night flight out of New York City across
peace, peace. the ocean. I was fourteen years old. Every
Our father was an excellent speaker—he glittering light in every skyscraper looked
stood behind pulpits and podiums7 easily, like a period at the end of the sentence.
delivering gracious lectures on “The Holy Good-bye, our lives.
Land” and “The Palestinian Question.” He We stopped in Portugal for a few weeks.
was much in demand during the Christmas We were making a gradual transition. We
season. I think that’s how he had fallen into stopped in Spain and Italy and Egypt,
the ministerial swoon.8 While he spoke, my where the pyramids shocked me by sitting
brother and I moved toward the backs of right on the edge of the giant city of Cairo,11
gathering halls, hovering over and eyeing not way out in the desert as I had imagined
the tables of canapes and tiny tarts, slipping them. While we waited for our baggage to
a few into our mouths or pockets. clear customs, I stared at six tall African
What next? Our lives were entering a men in brilliantly patterned dashikis12
new chapter, but I didn’t know its title yet. negotiating with an Egyptian customs agent
We had never met our Palestinian and realized I did not even know how to
grandmother, Sitti9 Khadra, or seen say “thank you” in Arabic. How was this
Jerusalem, where our father had grown up, possible? The most elemental and important
or followed the rocky, narrow alleyways of of human phrases in my father’s own
the Via Dolorosa,10 or eaten an olive in its tongue had evaded me till now. I tugged on
own neighborhood. Our mother hadn’t his sleeve, but he was busy with visas and
either. The Arabic customs we knew had passports. “Daddy,” I said. “Daddy, I have
been filtered through the fine net of to know. Daddy, tell me. Daddy, why didn’t
folktales. We did not speak Arabic, though we ever learn?” An African man adjusted
the lilt of the language was familiar to us— his turban. Always thereafter, the word
our father’s endearments, his musical shookrun, so simple, with a little roll in the
blessings before meals. But that language middle, would conjure up the vast African
had never lived in our mouths. baggage, the brown boxes looped and
looped in African twine.
7. A pulpit is the stand inside a church from which a preacher
We stayed one or two nights at the old
delivers a sermon. A podium is a raised platform used by a Shepheard’s Hotel downtown but couldn’t
speaker or music conductor. sleep due to the heat and honking traffic
8. To fall into the ministerial swoon is to get enthusiastic
about becoming a minister.
beneath our windows. So our father moved
9. Sitti means grandmother.
10. The Via Dolorosa is the Way of Sorrow, the streets Jesus 11. Cairo is the capital of Egypt.
walked on the way to his death. 12. A dashiki is a loose-fitting, colorful African shirt.
Guests of Egypt’s Mena House Hotel get a bird’s-eye view of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
Analyzing the Photo How does this photo help you better understand Nye’s overseas experience?
us to the famous Mena House Hotel next mentioned. We lay in bed for a week. The
to the pyramids. We rode camels for the aged doctor tripped over my suitcase every
first time, and our mother received a dozen time he entered to take our temperatures.
blood-red roses at her hotel room from a We smothered our laughter. “Shookrun,” I
rug vendor who apparently liked her pale would say. But as soon as he left, to my
brown ponytail. The belly dancer at the brother, “I feel bad. How do you feel?”
hotel restaurant twined a gauzy pink scarf “I feel really, really bad.”
around my brother’s astonished ten-year- “I think I’m dying.”
old head as he tapped his knee in time to “I think I’m already dead.”
her music. At night we heard the sound and lights
Back in our rooms, we laughed until we show14 from the pyramids drifting across
fell asleep. Later that night, my brother and the desert air to our windows. We felt our
I both awakened burning with fever and lives stretching out across a thousand miles.
deeply nauseated, though nobody ever The pharaohs stomped noisily through my
threw up. We were so sick that a doctor head and churning belly. We had eaten
hung a Quarantine sign in Arabic and spaghetti in the restaurant. I would not be
English on our hotel room door the next day. able to eat spaghetti again for years.
Did he know something we didn’t know? I Finally, finally, we appeared in the
kept waiting to hear that we had malaria or restaurant, thin and weakly smiling, and
typhoid,13 but no dramatic disease was ever ordered the famous Mena House shorraba,
13. To quarantine is to separate people from everyone else to keep
them from spreading diseases. Malaria is a disease that causes 14. A sound and lights show is a narrated presentation that uses
fever and chills. Typhoid causes intestinal problems. sound effects and lighting effects.
lentil soup, as my brother nervously among fields and white stones and
scanned the room for the belly dancer. wandering sheep. My brother was enrolled
Maybe she wouldn’t recognize him now. in the Friends Girls School and I was
In those days Jerusalem, which was then enrolled in the Friends Boys School in the
a divided city, had an operating airport town of Ramallah16 a few miles farther
on the Jordanian side. My brother and I north—it all was a little confused. But the
remember flying in upside down, or in a Girls School offered grades one through
plane dramatically tipped, but it may have eight in English and high school continued
been the effect of our medicine. The land at the Boys School. Most local girls went to
reminded us of a dropped canvas, graceful Arabic-speaking schools after eighth grade.
brown hillocks and green patches. Small I was a freshman, one of seven girl
and provincial, the airport had just two students among two hundred boys, which
runways, and the first thing I observed as would cause me problems a month later.
we climbed down slowly from the stuffy I was called in from the schoolyard at
plane was all my underwear strewn across lunchtime, to the office of our counselor
one of them. There were my flowered who wore shoes so pointed and tight her
cotton briefs and my pink panties and my feet bulged out pinkly on top.
slightly embarrassing raggedy ones and my “You will not be talking to them
extra training bra, alive and visible in the anymore,” she said. She rapped on the desk
breeze. Somehow my suitcase had popped with a pencil for emphasis.
open in the hold and dropped its contents “To whom?”
the minute the men pried open the cargo “All the boy students at this institution.
door. So the first thing I did on the home It is inappropriate behavior. From now on,
soil of my father was re-collect my under- you will speak only with the girls.”
wear, down on my knees, the posture of “But there are only six other girls! And
prayer over that ancient holy land. I like only one of them!” My friend was
Our relatives came to see us at a hotel. Anna, from Italy, whose father ran a small
Our grandmother was very short. She wore factory that made matches. I’d visited it
a long, thickly embroidered Palestinian once with her. It felt risky to walk the aisles
dress, had a musical, high-pitched voice and among a million filled matchboxes. Later we
a low, guttural15 laugh. She kept touching visited the factory that made olive oil soaps
our heads and faces as if she couldn’t and stacked them in giant pyramids to dry.
believe we were there. I had not yet fallen “No, thank you,” I said. “It’s ridiculous
in love with her. Sometimes you don’t fall to say that girls should only talk to girls.
in love with people immediately, even if Did I say anything bad to a boy? Did
they’re your own grandmother. Everyone anyone say anything bad to me? They’re
seemed to think we were all too thin. my friends. They’re like my brothers. I
We moved into a second-story flat in a won’t do it, that’s all.”
stone house eight miles north of the city,
16. Ramallah is a town north of Jerusalem. The majority of the
15. A guttural laugh is a throaty laugh. population is Christian.
The counselor conferred with the head- at birthday parties in the United States.
master and they called a taxi. I was sent Wouldn’t that taste good right now?” Our
home with a little paper requesting that I mother said she was thinking about
transfer to a different school. The charge: mayonnaise. You couldn’t get it in Jerusalem.
insolence. My mother, startled to see me She’d tried to make it and it didn’t work. I
home early and on my own, stared out the felt too gloomy to talk about food.
window when I told her. My brother said, “Let’s go let Abu
My brother came home from his school Miriam’s chickens out.” That’s what we
as usual, full of whistling and notebooks. always did when we felt sad. We let our
“Did anyone tell you not to talk to girls?” fussy landlord’s red-and-white chickens
I asked him. He looked at me as if I’d gone loose to flap around the yard happily,
goofy. He was too young to know the puffing their wings. Even when Abu
troubles of the world. He couldn’t even Miriam shouted and waggled his cane
imagine them. and his wife waved a dishtowel, we knew
“You know what I’ve been thinking the chickens were thanking us.
about?” he said. “A piece of cake. That puffy My father went with me to the St.
white layered cake with icing like they have Tarkmanchatz Armenian17 School, a
solemnly ancient stone school tucked deep
Old City, Jerusalem.
into the Armenian Quarter of the Old City
Analyzing the Photo What can you learn about Jerusalem’s
climate and architecture from this photo? of Jerusalem. It was another world in there.
He had already called the school officials
on the telephone and tried to enroll me,
though they didn’t want to. Their school
was for Armenian students only, kinder-
garten through twelfth grade. Classes
were taught in three languages: Armenian,
Arabic and English, which was why I
needed to go there. Although most Arab
students at other schools were learning
English, I needed a school where classes
were actually taught in English—otherwise
I would have been staring out the windows
triple the usual amount.
The head priest wore a long robe and a
tall cone-shaped hat. He said, “Excuse me,
please, but your daughter, she is not an
Armenian, even a small amount?”
“Not at all,” said my father. “But in case an hour-and-a-half break and I lived too
you didn’t know, there is a stipulation in far to go to my own house.
the educational code books of this city Their houses were a thousand years old,
that says no student may be rejected solely clustered bee-hive-fashion behind ancient
on the basis of ethnic background, and if walls, stacked and curled and tilting and
you don’t accept her, we will alert the dark, filled with pictures of unsmiling
proper authorities.” relatives and small white cloths dangling
They took me. But the principal wasn’t crocheted edges. We ate spinach pies and
happy about it. The students, however, white cheese. We dipped our bread in olive
seemed glad to have a new face to look oil, as the Arabs did. We ate small sesame
at. Everyone’s name ended in -ian, the cakes, our mouths full of crumbles. They
beautiful, musical Armenian ending— taught me to say “I love you” in Armenian,
Boghossian, Minassian, Kevorkian, which sounded like yes-kay-see-goo-see-rem.
Rostomian. My new classmates started I felt I had left my old life entirely.
calling me Shihabian. We wore uniforms, Every afternoon I went down to the base-
navy blue pleated skirts for the girls, white ment of the school where the kindergarten
shirts, and navy sweaters. I waited during class was having an Arabic lesson. Their desks
the lessons for the English to come around, were pint-sized, their full white smocks tied
as if it were a channel on television. While around their necks. I stuffed my fourteen-
other students were on the other channels, year-old self in beside them. They had rosy
I scribbled poems in the margins of my cheeks and shy smiles. They must have
pages, read library books, and wrote a lot thought I was a very slow learner.
of letters filled with exclamation points. All More than any of the lessons, I remember
the other students knew all three languages the way the teacher rapped the backs of
with three entirely different alphabets. How their hands with his ruler when they made
could they carry so much in their heads? I a mistake. Their little faces puffed up with
felt humbled by my ignorance. One day I quiet tears. This pained me so terribly I
felt so frustrated in our physics class—still forgot all my words. When it was my turn
another language—that I pitched my book to go to the blackboard and write in Arabic,
out the open window. The professor made my hand shook. The kindergarten students
me go collect it. All the pages had let loose whispered hints to me from the front row,
at the seams and were flapping free into but I couldn’t understand them. We learned
the gutters along with the white wrappers horribly useless phrases: “Please hand me
of sandwiches. the bellows18 for my fire.” I wanted words
Every week the girls had a hands-and- simple as tools, simple as food and yesterday
fingernails check. We had to keep our nails and dreams. The teacher never rapped my
clean and trim, and couldn’t wear any hand, especially after I wrote a letter to the
rings. Some of my new friends would invite city newspaper, which my father edited,
me home for lunch with them, since we had
18. A bellows is an accordion-like tool that pumps air through a
tube. It is used to blow oxygen into a fire to make it burn hotter.
protesting such harsh treatment of young We wore our beat-up American tennis
learners. I wish I had known how to talk shoes and our old sweatshirts and talked
to those little ones, but they were just about everything we wanted to do and
beginning their English studies and didn’t everywhere else we wished we could go.
speak much yet. They were at the same place “I want to go back to Egypt,” my brother
in their English that I was in my Arabic. said. “I sort of feel like I missed it. Spending
From the high windows of St. all that time in bed instead of exploring—
Tarkmanchatz, we could look out over the what a waste.”
Old City, the roofs and flapping laundry “I want to go to Greece,” I said. “I want
and television antennas, the pilgrims and to play a violin in a symphony orchestra in
churches and mosques, the olivewood Austria.” We made up things. I wanted to
prayer beads and fragrant falafel 19 lunch go back to the United States most of all.
stands, the intricate interweaving of Suddenly I felt like a patriotic citizen. One of
cultures and prayers and songs and my friends, Sylvie Markarian, had just been
holidays. We saw the barbed wire shipped off to Damascus, Syria, to marry a
separating Jordan from Israel then, the man who was fifty years old, a widower.
bleak, uninhabited strip of no-man’s land Sylvie was exactly my age—we had turned
reminding me how little education saved fifteen two days apart. She had never met
us after all. People who had differing ideas her future husband before. I thought this
still came to blows, imagining fighting was the most revolting thing I had ever
could solve things. Staring out over the heard of. “Tell your parents no thank you,”
quiet roofs of afternoon, I thought it so I urged her. “Tell them you refuse.”
foolish. I asked my friends what they Sylvie’s eyes were liquid, swirling brown.
thought about it and they shrugged. I could not see clearly to the bottom of them.
“It doesn’t matter what we think about “You don’t understand,” she told me. “In
it. It just keeps happening. It happened in United States you say no. We don’t say no.
Armenia too, you know. Really, really bad We have to follow someone’s wishes. This
in Armenia. And who talks about it in the is the wish of my father. Me, I am scared. I
world news now? It happens everywhere. never slept away from my mother before.
It happens in your country one by one, yes? But I have no choice. I am going because
Murders and guns. What can we do?” they tell me to go.” She was sobbing,
Sometimes after school, my brother and sobbing on my shoulder. And I was stroking
I walked up the road that led past the her long, soft hair. After that, I carried two
crowded refugee camp of Palestinians who fists inside, one for Sylvie and one for me.
owned even less than our modest relatives Most weekends my family went to the
did in the village. The little kids were village to sit with the relatives. We sat and
stacking stones in empty tin cans and sat and sat. We sat in big rooms and little
shaking them. We waved our hands and rooms, in circles, on chairs or on woven
they covered their mouths and laughed. mats or brightly covered mattresses piled
on the floor. People came in and out to
19. Falafel are fried chickpea patties.
in school lay just ahead. My father pulled my mother had been saving. I gave my extra
over and talked to me. He sighed. He kept shoes away to the gypsies. One night when
his hands on the steering wheel even when the gypsies camped in a field down the road
the car was stopped and said, “Someday, from our house, I thought about their mounds
I promise you, you will look back on this of white goat cheese lined up on skins in
period in your life and have no idea what front of their tents, and the wild oud 22 music
made you so unhappy here.” they played deep into the black belly of the
“I want to go home.” It became my night, and I wanted to go sit around their fire.
anthem. “This place depresses me. It Maybe they could use some shoes.
weighs too much. I hate all these old stones I packed a sack of old loafers that I rarely
that everybody keeps kissing. I’m sick of wore and walked with my family down the
pilgrims. They act so pious and pure. And road. The gypsy mothers stared into my
I hate the way people stare at me here.” shoes curiously. They took them into their
Already I’d been involved in two street tent. Maybe they would use them as vases
skirmishes 21 with boys who stared a little or drawers. We sat with small glasses of
too hard and long. I’d socked one in the hot, sweet tea until a girl bellowed from
jaw and he socked me back. I hit the other deep in her throat, threw back her head,
one straight in the face with my purse. and began dancing. A long bow thrummed
“You could be happy here if you tried across the strings. The girl circled the fire,
just a little harder,” my father said. “Don’t tapping and clicking, trilling a long musical
compare it to the United States all the time. wail from deep in her throat. My brother
Don’t pretend the United States is perfect. looked nervous. He was remembering the
And look at your brother—he’s not having belly dancer in Egypt, and her scarf. I felt
any problems!” invisible. I was pretending to be a gypsy.
“My brother is eleven years old.” My father stared at me. Didn’t I recognize
I had crossed the boundary from the exquisite oddity of my own life when
uncomplicated childhood when happiness I sat right in the middle of it? Didn’t I feel
was a good ball and a hoard of candy-coated lucky to be here? Well, yes I did. But some-
Jordan almonds. times it was hard to be lucky.
One problem was that I had fallen in love When we left Jerusalem, we left quickly.
with four different boys who all played in Left our beds in our rooms and our car
the same band. Two of them were even in the driveway. Left in a plane, not sure
twins. I never quite described it to my where we were going. The rumbles of
parents, but I wrote reams and reams of fighting with Israel had been growing
notes about it on loose-leaf paper that I louder and louder. In the barbed-wire no-
kept under my sweaters in my closet. man’s land visible from the windows of our
Such new energy made me feel reckless. I house, guns cracked loudly in the middle
gave things away. I gave away my necklace of the night. We lived right near the edge.
and a whole box of shortbread cookies that My father heard disturbing rumors at the
21. In war, a skirmish is a short fight. 22. An oud is a stringed instrument that is plucked like a guitar.
newspaper that would soon grow into the had just left: the piercing call of the
infamous Six Day War 23 of 1967. We were muezzin 24 from the mosque at prayer time,
in England by then, drinking tea from thin the dusky green tint of the olive groves, the
china cups and scanning the newspapers. sharp, cold air that smelled as deep and old
Bombs were blowing up in Jerusalem. We as my grandmother’s white sheets flapping
worried about the village. We worried from the line on her roof. What story hadn’t
about my grandmother’s dreams, which she finished?
had been getting worse and worse, she’d Our father used to tell us that when he
told us. We worried about the house we’d was little, the sky over Jerusalem crackled
left, and the chickens, and the children at with meteors and shooting stars25 almost
the refugee camp. But there was nothing every night. They streaked and flashed,
we could do except keep talking about it all. igniting the dark. Some had long golden
My parents didn’t want to go back to tails. For a few seconds, you could see their
Missouri because they’d already said whole swooping trail lit up. Our father and
goodbye to everyone there. They thought his brothers slept on the roof to watch the
we might try a different part of the country. sky. “There were so many of them, we
They weighed the virtues of different states. didn’t even call out every time we saw one.”
Texas was big and warm. After a chilly year During our year in Jerusalem, my brother
crowded around the small gas heaters we and I kept our eyes cast upwards whenever
used in Jerusalem, a warm place sounded we were outside at night, but the stars were
appealing. In roomy Texas, my parents different since our father was a boy. Now
bought the first house they looked at. My the sky seemed too orderly, stuck in place.
father walked into the city newspaper and The stars had learned where they belonged.
said, “Any jobs open around here?” Only people on the ground kept changing. ❍
I burst out crying when I entered a grocery
store—so many different kinds of bread.
A letter on thin blue airmail paper reached
me months later, written by my classmate,
the bass player in my favorite Jerusalem
band. “Since you left,” he said, “your empty
desk reminds me of a snake ready to strike. I
am afraid to look at it. I hope you are having
a better time than we are.”
Of course I was, and I wasn’t. Home had
grown different forever. Home had doubled.
Back home again in my own country, it
seemed impossible to forget the place we
23. The Six Day War was fought in June 1967 between Israel 24. The muezzin calls Muslims to prayer five times a day.
on one side and Egypt, Syria, and Jordan on the other. Israel 25. Meteors and shooting stars are the same thing: small heavenly
won and took control of the Old City of Jerusalem as well as bodies that burn up as they enter the earth’s atmosphere from
territory from the other three countries. outer space.
Fiction
A Hindu man tries to find a house of his own in the This World War II-era story deals with issues of
British colony of Trinidad in the Caribbean. In this aggression and pacifism in the thirteen-year-old Jubal
humorous story he is forced to overcome people’s Shoemaker’s Pennsylvania Quaker community. Are
prejudices against his culture to discover who he is there times when it is wrong to fight? Are there times
inside and stick up for himself. when it is wrong not to? Read this piece of fiction and
then decide.
Nonfiction
A collection of poems, essays, and stories written by Written by Tupac when he was 19 and not yet a star,
teenagers that look at the issues surrounding body these poems bring passion to the experience of stay-
image, food, and self-esteem. The author offers insight ing true to yourself.
as well as hope and helps young people think about
how to stay true to themselves.
And Still We
Rise: The
Counting Coup: Trials and
A True Story of Triumphs of
Basketball and Twelve Gifted
Honor on the Inner-City High
Little Big Horn School Students
by Larry Colton by Miles Corwin
Battling racism, alcoholism, and domestic violence, the Twelve seniors from an Advanced Placement English
girls on the Hardin High School basketball team learn class in Los Angeles dream of going to college. This
how to be winners on and off the court. book deals with the hard realities of their lives and
their struggle to achieve their dreams.
Test Practice
Part 1: Literary Elements
Read the passage. Then write the numbers 1–7 on a separate sheet of paper.
Next to each number, write the letter of the right answer for that question.
1 “Concentrate! Only one hour before Away,” his favorite. And I know that by
showtime, people,” Mr. Walker yells. the time the tenors and the bass join in
“You’re out of sync, son. Stand still. Don’t he will move even though Walker told
move.” A few people giggle. We know him not to because Tommy is a feeling
who he’s shouting at as he taps his baton person. And the music moves you. It was
on the podium. just that Tommy didn’t move the way the
2 Poor Tommy. His voice wasn’t bad, rest of us did. For some of our songs we
deep bass like mine. But he couldn’t sway from side to side as we sing. Walker
move in time to the music. I knew he is a perfectionist. I call him Perfect Pitch.
shouldn’t have joined our high school “We move as one body. We sing with one
gospel chorus. I tried to talk him out of voice, people,” he’d shout at us.
it. But like my girlfriend Deidre always 4 It’s our turn. As the tenors and bass
says, “Tommy’s been around us so long sing I can’t look at Tommy and he can’t
he don’t know he’s white anymore.” keep still. If I look at him I’ll get out of
3 Walker is springing up and down and whack too.
waving his arms. Tommy stands next 5 “Concentrate,” Walker shouted again.
to me and I feel him twitch when the “We move as one body.” I wish I could
altos and sopranos begin to sing “I’ll Fly help Tommy.
6 “I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away.”
Tommy sings with all of his heart.
Happy. He breaks loose and moves to
his own time.
Objectives
Literature Identify literary elements: character, plot,
theme, setting
1. In the passage, Tommy’s character is revealed 5. The first two paragraphs introduce the characters,
through setting, and situation. This part of the plot is called
A. Tommy’s dialogue. the
B. Deidre’s dialogue. A. climax.
C. Mr. Walker’s descriptions of Tommy. B. resolution.
D. the narrator’s descriptions of Tommy. C. exposition.
D. falling action.
1 One of the boy’s first memories was rested side by side upon the gleaming
of his father bending down from a great wood. His mother’s hands were small
height to sweep him into the air. Up and slim and delicate, his father’s large
the boy went, laughing with delight. and square and strong.
He could look down on his mother’s 4 As he grew, he learned to play bear.
upturned face as she watched, laughing, When it was time for his father to come
and at his father’s thick brown hair and home at night, he would hide behind the
white teeth. kitchen door. When he heard the closing
2 Then down he came, shrieking happily. of the garage doors, he would hold his
He was never afraid, not with his father’s breath and squeeze himself further into
hands holding him. No one in the world the crack behind the door. Then he would
was as strong, or as wise, as his father. be quiet.
3 He remembered a time when his father 5 It was always the same. His father
moved the piano across the room for his would open the door and stand there,
mother. He watched while she guided the backs of his long legs close enough
it into its new position. He saw the to touch. “Where’s the boy?” his father
difference in his parents’ hands as they would ask loudly.
6 The boy would glance at the
knowing smile on his mother’s face. Then
he would leap out and grab his father
about the knees. His father would look
down and shout, “Hey, what’s this? A
bear—a young cub!”
Objectives
Reading Analyze texts • Make inferences
• Ask questions • Make predictions
1. In the first and second paragraphs the author shows 4. After reading paragraph 6, readers can infer that
A. what the father looked like the mother
B. the boy’s affection for his father A. can’t wait to see the father
C. how much the boy liked to laugh B. wishes she could play bear
D. how far back the boy can remember C. needs the piano moved again
D. enjoys it when her son plays bear
Write the letter of the word or phrase that means Choose the right answer for each question.
about the same as the underlined word.
6. What is the base word of disappearing?
1. recedes quickly A. ing C. appear
A. speaks C. pulls back B. sap D. dis
B. opens up D. remembers
7. Which word belongs in the same word family
2. her authentic diamond as unfold?
A. real C. fake A. folder C. open
B. bright D. giant B. unfair D. follow
Objectives
Vocabulary Use structural analysis: roots,
bases, prefixes, suffixes
Grammar Identify clauses and phrases
• Combine sentences
3. Which of the following correctly combines 5. Which correction should be made to sentence 4?
sentences 1 and 2? A. Insert a comma after up.
A. Nina had been at a dance competition all B. Remove the comma after Since.
morning and she raced to catch up to her
C. Remove the comma after Since and insert
friends.
a comma after up.
B. Nina had been at a dance competition all
D. No change is needed.
morning, so she raced to catch up to her
friends. 6. Which correction should be made to sentence 5?
C. Nina raced to catch up to her friends she had
A. Remove the word now.
been in a dance competition all morning.
B. Insert a comma after work.
D. Because Nina raced to catch up to her
friends, she had been in a dance competition C. Insert a comma after morning.
all morning. D. Insert a period after work and capitalize now.