Unit 3 What Matters

UNIT
3 What Matters
UNIT INTRODUCTION PEER-GROUP LEARNING
VIDEO: 14-Year-Old Teaches Family the Comparing Within Genre

“Power of Half” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
FICTION
MENTOR TEXT: ARGUMENT MODEL
Briar Rose
Freedom of the Press?��306
The Brothers Grimm �� 371
WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING Awake

Tanith Lee �� 381
REALISTIC SHORT STORY
The Horned Toad PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Gerald Haslam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Words Do Not Pay
Chief Joseph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Comparing Within Genre
NONFICTION LITERARY BALLAD
Three Cheers for the Nanny State The Cremation of Sam McGee
Sarah Conly�� 333 Robert W. Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Ban the Ban!
SidneyAnne Stone Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Soda’s a Problem, but . . .

Karin Klein�� 343
MEDIA CONNECTION: N.Y. Judge Overturns
Bloomberg's Soda Ban
PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK

WRITING PROCESS SPEAKING AND LISTENING
Write an Argument: Editorial�� 354 Deliver an Oral Argument��418
xii
Essential Question When is it right to take a stand?
INDEPENDENT LEARNING PERFORMANCE-BASED

ASSESSMENT
LYRIC POEM
Translating Grandfather’s House Argumentative Essay��424
E. J. Vega Revising and Editing��426
MEMOIR
from Through My Eyes UNIT REFLECTION
Ruby Bridges
Reflect on the Unit��427
REALISTIC FICTION: SHORT STORY
The Scholarship Jacket
Marta Salinas
BIOGRAPHY
from Harriet Tubman: Conductor
on the Underground Railroad
Ann Petry
NONFICTION NARRATIVE
from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence BOOK CLUB
Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Doris Pilkington Go ONLINE for

all lessons The novels below
align to this unit.
AUDIO
HISTORICAL
VIDEO MYSTERY
Girl in the
NOTEBOOK Blue Coat
Monica Hesse
ANNOTATE
DYSTOPIAN
INTERACTIVITY
FICTION
These selections are available on Realize. Among the
DOWNLOAD Hidden
SHARE YOUR INDEPENDENT LEARNING Margaret Peterson
Haddix
Share • Learn • Reflect��423
xiii
UNIT 3
What Matters
Go ONLINE for
all lessons
AUDIO
VIDEO
NOTEBOOK
ANNOTATE
INTERACTIVITY
DOWNLOAD
WATCH THE VIDEO
DISCUSS IT When is it fair to convince others to

take difficult stands?
Write your response before sharing your ideas.
14-Year-Old Teaches Family

the “Power of Half”
302
UNIT 3
UNIT INTRODUCTION
MENTOR TEXT:
Essential Question ARGUMENT
When is it right to take a stand? Freedom of the Press?
WHOLE-CLASS PEER-GROUP INDEPENDENT

LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING
REALISTIC FICTION: SHORT STORY COMPARE WITHIN GENRE LYRIC POEM
The Horned Toad FANTASY: TRADITIONAL FAIRY TALE Translating
Gerald Haslam Briar Rose Grandfather’s House
The Brothers Grimm E. J. Vega
FANTASY: MODERN RETELLING

COMPARE WITHIN GENRE Awake MEMOIR
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY Tanith Lee from Through My
Three Cheers for the Eyes
Nanny State Ruby Bridges
Sarah Conly
PERSUASIVE SPEECH
OPINION PIECES Words Do Not Pay REALISTIC FICTION: SHORT STORY
Ban the Ban! Chief Joseph
SidneyAnne Stone The Scholarship
Jacket
Soda’s a Problem Marta Salinas
but…
Karin Klein
LITERARY BALLAD
 MEDIA CONNECTION:
NY Judge Overturns The Cremation of BIOGRAPHY
Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Sam McGee
Robert W. Service
from Harriet Tubman:
National Public Radio
Conductor on the
Underground
Railroad
Ann Petry
from Follow the
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris Pilkington
PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK SHARE INDEPENDENT LEARNING

WRITING PROCESS SPEAKING AND LISTENING Share • Learn • Reflect
Write an Editorial Deliver an Oral Argument
PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT UNIT REFLECTION
Argumentative Essay
Goals • Texts •
You will write an essay in response to the Essential Question for the unit.
Essential Question
303
UNIT 3 INTRODUCTION
Unit Goals VIDEO
Throughout this unit, you will deepen your perspective about what it means
to stand up for things that matter, by reading, writing, speaking, listening,
and presenting. These goals will help you succeed on the Unit Performance-
Based Assessment.
INTERACTIVITY
SET GOALS Rate how well you meet these goals right now. You will
revisit your ratings later when you reflect on your growth during this unit.
1 2 3 4 5
SCALE
NOT AT ALL NOT VERY SOMEWHAT VERY EXTREMELY

WELL WELL WELL WELL WELL
ESSENTIAL QUESTION Unit Introduction Unit Reflection
I can read selections that express

different points of view about 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
taking a stand and develop my
own perspective.
READING Unit Introduction Unit Reflection
I can understand and use 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

academic vocabulary words
related to argument.
I can recognize elements of

different genres, especially 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
arguments, fantasy, and short
stories.
I can read a selection of my

choice independently and make 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
meaningful connections to other
texts.
B.E.S.T.
8.V.1.1: Integrate academic WRITING Unit Introduction Unit Reflection
vocabulary appropriate to grade
level in speaking and writing.
I can write a focused, well- 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
8.V.1.2: Apply knowledge of Greek
and Latin roots and affixes to organized editorial.
determine meanings of words and
phrases in grade-level content.
I can complete Timed Writing 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of
tasks with confidence.
context clues, figurative language,
word relationships, reference
materials, and/or background SPEAKING AND LISTENING Unit Introduction Unit Reflection
knowledge to determine the
I can prepare and deliver an oral 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
connotative and denotative
meaning of words and phrases, argument.
appropriate to grade level.
304 UNIT 3 • WHAT MATTERS

Essential Question: When is it right to take a stand?
Academic Vocabulary: Argument

Academic terms can help you read, write, and discuss with precision.
Many of these words have roots, or key parts, that come from Latin
and Greek.
INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE Complete the chart.
1. Review each word, its root, and the mentor sentences.

2. With a partner, read the words and mentor sentences aloud. As you
listen, predict the meaning of each word.
3. List at least two related words for each word.
WRITE Use each academic vocabulary word in a new sentence of

your own.
WORD MENTOR SENTENCES PREDICT MEANING RELATED WORDS
retort 1. His grumpy retort made me sorry I had contort; torture

asked the question.
LATIN ROOT: 2. I fired off a retort so clever she couldn’t
-tort- think of anything to add.
“twist”
commendable 1. His interest in volunteering to help the

less fortunate is commendable.
LATIN ROOT: 2. She was awarded a medal for
-mand-/-mend- commendable actions that saved lives.
“order”;
“entrust”
rectify 1. I will try to rectify the situation, but I

think things are beyond fixing.
LATIN ROOT: 2. Don’t worry, I will rectify the problem as
-rect- soon as I get to the office.

“straight”
speculate 1. The police did not want to speculate as

to what motivated the crime.
LATIN ROOT: 2. When I’m reading a really good book, it
-spec- is hard not to speculate on how it is
“look“ going to end.
verify 1. Can you please verify that your name is

correct on this form?
LATIN ROOT: 2. The claim isn’t valid because no one can
-ver- verify the source of the information on
“truth” which it is based.
Unit Introduction 305

UNIT 3 INTRODUCTION
MENTOR TEXT | ARGUMENT MODEL
This selection is an example of an argument,

a type of writing in which an author states and
defends a position on a topic. This is the type
of writing you will develop in the Performance-
Based Assessment at the end of the unit.
READ IT As you read, notice how the writer
builds a case. Mark the text to answer this
question: What is the writer’s position, and how
is it supported?
Freedom
of the Press?
AUDIO
1
T he First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives

newspapers, magazines, and other publications the right to
print whatever they see fit, without interference from the
ANNOTATE
government. The framers of the Constitution felt that a free press
is vital to a democratic society.
2 Unfortunately, this important idea does not matter when schools
are involved. Unbelievably, just because citizens are young and
attend public school, they are not granted the First Amendment
right to express themselves freely in school newspapers.
3 The difference is technical but the threat to our values is real.
The First Amendment prevents the government from censoring
the press. However, private publishers can censor whatever they
want. Since schools and school districts pay the student
newspaper‘s publication costs, they are private publishers. This
means that they can edit information as they see fit. They can even Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
refuse to publish some articles.

4 This is a terrible lesson for budding journalists, some of whom
have challenged the restrictions. One case even made it to the
Supreme Court, in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.
5 Here are the facts. In 1983, students at Hazelwood High, a
public high school near St. Louis, Missouri, saw two pages
missing from their school newspaper, The Spectrum. They found
out that the principal, Robert Reynolds, had removed two of the
articles after finding them unfit for publication. One article, about
teen pregnancy, contained interviews with pregnant students
whose names were changed; the other article dealt with divorce.
6 Principal Reynolds said the pregnancy article was not
appropriate for a high school audience. He was also concerned

that the girls’ identities would have been revealed eventually in

such a small school. His problem with the divorce article was that
it was not “fair and balanced.” He felt it criticized parents without
providing their side of the story.
7 Some students were outraged and sued the school. They argued
that the issue was not the content of the articles, but whether or
not the school had the right to suppress them.
8 In 1988, the Supreme Court ruled 5–3 in favor of the school. The
ruling said that while students “do not shed their first amendment
rights at the schoolhouse gate,” no school should tolerate activities
“inconsistent with its basic educational mission.” In other words,
when student expression is school-sponsored, it can be censored—
as long as those doing the censoring have valid educational
reasons. The law now varies from state to state. States that
disagree with parts of the ruling have their own laws that govern
students’ freedom of expression.
9 We are now left with this basic unfairness: In my view, it is not
right that adults enjoy greater freedom of speech in their
newspapers than students do at school. Censorship of any kind
weakens American values. Rather than suppress the expression of
ideas that may be troubling to some, students should be given the
opportunities to learn about civil discourse, dialogue, and debate.
This will make them better citizens and our entire democracy
stronger.
10 The framers of the Constitution believed that if governments
could censor opinions they did not like, the public would be less
educated. Given that schools are places of education, it seems
counterproductive to limit students’ free speech. The more
opinions students are exposed to, the better equipped they will be
to handle the issues they will face later in life. ❧
INTERACTIVITY
WORD NETWORK FOR WHAT MATTERS

Vocabulary A Word Network is a

collection of words related to a topic.
As you read the selections in this unit,
identify words related to taking a right
stand and add them to your Word
Network. For example, you might
begin by adding basic words from the
democratic WHAT MATTERS
text, such as right, as well as more
complex words, such as democratic
censored
and censored. Continue to add words
as you complete this unit.
Refer to the Word Network Model

in the Tool Kit at the back of
this book.
Freedom of the Press? 307

UNIT 3 INTRODUCTION
Summary
A summary is a brief, complete overview of a text that maintains the
meaning and logical order of ideas of the original. It should not include
your personal opinions.
NOTEBOOK
WRITE IT Write a summary of “Freedom of the Press?”
Icebreaker
Class Statement
Think about this question: How do people determine what matters to Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
them and make their own choices in life? Consider your response by
completing this statement: Some things people should bear in mind
when making important decisions are
1. On a sticky note, record a brief phrase to complete the statement.

B.E.S.T. 2. Place all sticky notes with suggestions on the board; then read the
K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate suggestions aloud. Work together to group ideas that are related.
collaborative techniques and active
listening skills when engaging in a 3. Have everyone vote on the phrase or phrases they feel best complete
variety of situations. the statement. Students may vote for one, two, or three phrases.
8.R.3: Reading Across Genres |
Paraphrasing and Summarizing 4. Mark the votes by placing tally marks on the notes people choose.
8.C.1: Communicating Through 5. Use the tally results to create and edit a class thesis statement.
Writing |Argumentative Writing

QuickWrite
Consider class discussions, the video, and the Mentor Text as you think
about the Essential Question.
Essential Question
When is it right to take a stand?
At the end of the unit, you will respond to the Essential Question again
and see how your perspective has changed.
NOTEBOOK
WRITE IT Record your first thoughts here.

INTERACTIVITY
EQ When is it right to take a

Notes stand?
As you read the selections in this MY IDEAS / TEXT EVIDENCE /
TITLE OBSERVATIONS INFORMATION
unit, use a chart like the one shown
to record your ideas and list details
from the texts that support them.
Taking notes as you go will help you
clarify your thinking, gather relevant
information, and be ready to
respond to the Essential Question.
Refer to the EQ Notes

Model in the Tool Kit at
the back of this book.
Unit Introduction 309
WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING
Essential Question
What ideas are worth defending? In today’s complex world, it’s important to
get our priorities straight. Each of us must decide for ourselves what matters
most—a principle, another human being, or the right to express ourselves. As you
read, you will work with your whole class to explore some of the issues that have
inspired people to take a stand.
VIDEO
Whole-Class Learning Strategies INTERACTIVITY
Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career,

you will continue to learn and work in large-group environments.
Review these strategies and the actions you can take to practice them as
you work with your whole class. Add ideas of your own for each step.
Get ready to use these strategies during Whole-Class Learning.
STRATEGY MY ACTION PLAN

Listen actively
• Put away personal items to avoid
becoming distracted.
• Try to hear the speaker’s full message
before planning your own response.
Demonstrate respect
• Show up on time and make sure you
are prepared for class.
• Avoid side conversations while in class.
Describe personal connections

• Recognize that literature explores
human experience—the details may
differ from your own life, but the
emotions it expresses are universal.
• Actively look for ways in which your
personal experiences help you find
meaning in a text.
• Consider how your own experiences
help you understand characters’
actions and reactions.

CONTENTS
The Horned Toad

Gerald Haslam
A family learns the importance of love and

acceptance across generations.
COMPARE WITHIN GENRE

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Three Cheers for the Nanny State

Sarah Conly
Is being told what to do actually in our best

interests?
OPINION PIECES
Ban the Ban!

SidneyAnne Stone
Soda’s a Problem but…

Karin Klein
When food choices are regulated, do we stop thinking

for ourselves?
 MEDIA CONNECTION: NY Judge Overturns

Bloomberg’s Soda Ban
National Public Radio
PERFORMANCE TASK: WRITING PROCESS
Write an Editorial
The Whole-Class readings focus on people who take a stand for something that
matters deeply to them. After reading, you will write an editorial in which you
develop an argument about a social problem you think is worth greater attention.
Whole-Class Learning 311

LEARN ABOUT GENRE: FICTION
Reading Realistic Short Stories

A short story is a brief work of fiction. Realistic short stories are
fictional, but their characters and situations seem true to real life.
THE HORNED TOAD
The selection you are

about to read is a realistic
short story.
Author’s Purpose
 to tell a true-to-life story
Characteristics
 settings, events, and characters like those
you might encounter in real life
 conflicts like those people actually face
 themes, or insights about life or human
nature
Structure
 a plot that follows a pattern of exposition,
rising action, climax, falling action, and
resolution
 often, a plot that focuses on a single
conflict that develops and resolves
over a limited period of time
Take a Minute! NOTEBOOK
DISCUSS IT With a partner, think of a well-known work of

fantasy, whether a book or a movie. Discuss three or four
changes you would need to make to transform it into a work of
realistic fiction. Consider changes to characters, settings, and
events.
B.E.S.T.
8.R.1.2: Analyze two or more
themes and their development
throughout a literary text.

Genre / Text Elements

TIP: A theme cannot
be stated in one word.
Theme A theme is an insight about life that an author develops through • Not a Theme:
the interactions of characters, events, and other details in a story. Friends
• An explicit theme is stated directly by the narrator or a character. • Theme: Honesty is
essential to real
• An implicit theme is not stated directly. To determine an implicit friendship.
theme, analyze story details and consider how they connect to create
meaning. For example, you might ask questions like these:
Characters Plot
• What are they like? • What happens?
• What do they say? • Why does each event occur?
• What do they learn? • How does the story end?
• Do they change? How? • How do the story events connect?
THEME
Conflict Setting
• What struggle does the story • How are settings described?
address? • How are characters affected by the setting?
• Does the conflict end neatly? • Does the cultural setting (values, beliefs)
• If so, how? If not, why not? play a role in the story?
Many stories convey more than one theme. All themes are valid so long
as they can be supported by story details. Universal themes apply to
people regardless of their location or culture.
ANNOTATE
PRACTICE Read the passage, and then answer the question.
NOTEBOOK
During the ceremony, Moya couldn’t even pretend happiness. She

watched as Reese, looking serene and humble, accepted the gleaming
trophy. Moya felt her chest compress with ugly, dark emotions. Her
mind put words to the feelings: forgotten, jealous, overlooked. But
Reese...Reese was her best friend, the companion of her childhood, her
sister-in-arms. How do I slay dragons without her? Moya thought.
1. Which statement best expresses a theme of this passage?

Some people win and some people lose.
Envy can destroy a friendship.
2. Review the passage, and state another possible theme that is being
developed. What passage details led to your interpretation?
Learn About Genre 313

PREPARE TO READ
About the Author

The Horned Toad
Concept Vocabulary
You will encounter the following words as you read the story. Before
reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Using a scale of 1
Gerald Haslam was born (do not know it at all) to 5 (know it very well), indicate your knowledge
in Bakersfield, California, of each word.
in 1937. His father was an
oil worker, and Haslam INTERACTIVITY
worked as a farm field
hand, a store clerk, and an WORD YOUR RANKING
oil field worker before
attending college and desert
graduate school. Haslam
vacant
taught at Sonoma State
University for more than abundance
30 years. He received the
2016 Eric Hoffer Award for desolation
Legacy Fiction.
verdancy
progeny
Comprehension Strategy ANNOTATE
Make Connections
Deepen your understanding of a text by making connections as you
read. You may connect with a text in several different ways:
• Consider how ideas in a text connect to your personal
experiences, or what you already know about life.
• Notice how ideas in a text connect to ideas in other texts you have
read, including both fiction and nonfiction.
• Analyze how ideas in a text connect to society, or the world

around you, including your own school or community.
PRACTICE As you read, use the open space next to the text to
write down connections you make to personal experiences, ideas in
other texts, and society.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend
grade-level complex texts proficiently.

The
Horned Toad
Gerald Haslam
BACKGROUND
The real town of Oildale, California, is the setting for this fictional story. The AUDIO
town began as a trading center for oil workers who flocked to the area
soon after the first oil well was dug in 1899. Within two years, the ANNOTATE
population boomed to about 7,000 people. By the 1940s—the time of this
story—the oil industry had become the most important economic activity
in the town.
CLOSE READ
“
E XPECTORAN SU SANGRE!” exclaimed great-grandma ANNOTATE: Mark the
when I showed her the small horned toad I had removed Spanish words in
paragraphs 2–4. Then
from my breast pocket. I turned toward my mother, who
mark their English
translated: “They spit blood.” translations.
2 “De los ojos,” Grandma added. “From their eyes,” Mother
explained, herself uncomfortable in the presence of the small beast. QUESTION: Why does the
writer use Spanish
3 I grinned, “Awwwwww.”
expressions in an English-
4 But my great-grandmother did not smile. “Son muy tóxicos,” she language story?
nodded with finality. Mother moved back an involuntary step, her
CONCLUDE: What does
hands suddenly busy at her breast. “Put that thing down,” she
the use of both languages
ordered. tell you about the setting
5 “His name’s John,” I said. and characters?
The Horned Toad 315

6 “Put John down and not in your pocket, either,” my mother
nearly shouted. “Those things are very poisonous. Didn’t you
understand what Grandma said?”
7 I shook my head.
8 “Well . . .” Mother looked from one of us to the other—
spanning four generations of California, standing three feet
apart—and said, “Of course you didn’t. Please take him back
where you got him, and be careful. We’ll all feel better when you
do.” The tone of her voice told me that the discussion had ended,
so I released the little reptile where I’d captured him.
9 During those years in Oildale, the mid-1940s, I needed only to
desert (DEH zuhrt) n. walk across the street to find a patch of virgin desert. Neighborhood
extremely dry land, usually kids called it simply “the vacant lot,” less than an acre without
with few or no plants
houses or sidewalks. Not that we were desperate for desert then,
vacant (VAY kuhnt) adj. since we could walk into its scorched skin a mere half-mile west,
empty; not occupied north, and east. To the south, incongruously, flowed the icy Kern
River, fresh from the Sierras and surrounded by riparian forest.
10 Ours was rich soil formed by that same Kern River as it ground
Sierra granite and turned it into coarse sand, then carried it down
into the valley and deposited it over millennia along its many
changes of channels. The ants that built miniature volcanoes on the
vacant lot left piles of tiny stones with telltale markings of black on
white. Deeper than ants could dig were pools of petroleum that led
to many fortunes and lured men like my father from Texas. The dry
hills to the east and north sprouted forests of wooden derricks.
abundance (uh BUHN duhns) 11 Despite the abundance of open land, plus the constant lure of
n. large amount; more the river where desolation and verdancy met, most kids relied on
than enough of something
the vacant lot as their primary playground. Even with its
desolation (des uh LAY bullheads and stinging insects, we played everything from
shuhn) n. state of being
football to kick-the-can on it. The lot actually resembled my
bare, empty, and lifeless
father’s head, bare in the middle but full of growth around the
verdancy (VUR duhn see) n. edges: weeds, stickers, cactuses, and a few bushes. We played our
state of being filled with
games on its sandy center, and conducted such sports as ant fights
green, growing plants
and lizard hunts on its brushy periphery.
12 That spring, when I discovered the lone horned toad near the
back of the lot, had been rough on my family. Earlier, there had been
quiet, unpleasant tension between Mom and Daddy. He was a silent
man, little given to emotional displays. It was difficult for him to
show affection and I guess the openness of Mom’s family made him
uneasy. Daddy had no kin in California and rarely mentioned any in
Texas. He couldn’t seem to understand my mother’s large, intimate
family, their constant noisy concern for one another, and I think he
was a little jealous of the time she gave everyone, maybe even me.
13 I heard her talking on the phone to my various aunts and uncles,
usually in Spanish. Even though I couldn’t understand—Daddy had
warned her not to teach me that foreign tongue because it would

hurt me in school, and she’d complied—I could sense the stress. I
had been afraid they were going to divorce, since she only used
Spanish to hide things from me. I’d confronted her with my
suspicion, but she comforted me, saying, no, that was not the
problem. They were merely deciding when it would be our turn to
care for Grandma. I didn’t really understand, although I was
relieved.
14 I later learned that my great-grandmother—whom we simply
called “Grandma”—had been moving from house to house within
the family, trying to find a place she’d accept. She hated the city,
and most of the aunts and uncles lived in Los Angeles. Our house
in Oildale was much closer to the open country where she’d
dwelled all her life. She had wanted to come to our place right
away because she had raised my mother from a baby when my
own grandmother died. But the old lady seemed unimpressed
with Daddy, whom she called “ese gringo.”1
15 In truth, we had more room, and my dad made more money in
the oil patch than almost anyone else in the family. Since my
mother was the closest to Grandma, our place was the logical one
for her, but Ese Gringo didn’t see it that way, I guess, at least not at
first. Finally, after much debate, he relented.
16 In any case, one windy afternoon, my Uncle Manuel and Aunt
Toni drove up and deposited four-and-a-half feet of bewigged,
bejeweled Spanish spitfire: a square, pale face topped by a tightly-
curled black wig that hid a bald head—her hair having been lost
to typhoid nearly sixty years before—her small white hands
veined with rivers of blue. She walked with a prancing bounce
that made her appear half her age, and she barked orders in
Spanish from the moment she emerged from Manuel and Toni’s
car. Later, just before they left, I heard Uncle Manuel tell my dad,
“Good luck, Charlie. That old lady’s dynamite.” Daddy only
grunted.
17 She had been with us only two days when I tried to impress her
with my horned toad. In fact, nothing I did seemed to impress her,
and she referred to me as el malcriado,2 causing my mother to
shake her head. Mom explained to me that Grandma was just old
and lonely for Grandpa and uncomfortable in town. Mom told me
that Grandma had lived over half a century in the country, away
from the noise, away from clutter, away from people. She refused
to accompany my mother on shopping trips, or anywhere else.
She even refused to climb into a car, and I wondered how Uncle
Manuel had managed to load her up in order to bring her to us.
1. ese gringo (EH say GREEN goh) (Spanish) n. that gringo. In Latin America and Spain, a
gringo is a non-Hispanic person. (The term is often insulting or offensive.)
2. malcriado (mahl kree AH doh) (Spanish) n. spoiled or rude child.
The Horned Toad 317

18 She disliked sidewalks and roads, dancing across them when she
had to, then appearing to wipe her feet on earth or grass. Things too
civilized simply did not please her. A brother of hers had been killed
in the great San Francisco earthquake and that had been the end of
her tolerance of cities. Until my great-grandfather died, they lived on
a small rancho near Arroyo Cantua, north of Coalinga.3 Grandpa,
who had come north from Sonora as a youth to work as a vaquero,
had bred horses and cattle, and cowboyed for other ranchers,
scraping together enough of a living to raise eleven children.
19 He had been, until the time of his death, a lean, dark-skinned
man with wide shoulders, a large nose, and a sweeping handle-
bar mustache that was white when I knew him. His Indian blood
progeny (PRAH juh nee) n. darkened all his progeny so that not even I was as fair-skinned as
children; descendants my great-grandmother, Ese Gringo for a father or not.
20 As it turned out, I didn’t really understand very much about
Grandma at all. She was old, of course, yet in many ways my
parents treated her as though she were younger than me, walking
her to the bathroom at night and bringing her presents from the
store. In other ways—drinking wine at dinner, for example—she
was granted adult privileges. Even Daddy didn’t drink wine
except on special occasions. After Grandma moved in, though, he
began to occasionally join her for a glass, sometimes even sitting
with her on the porch for a premeal sip.
CLOSE READ 21 She held court on our front porch, often gazing toward the
desert hills east of us or across the street at kids playing on the lot.
ANNOTATE: Mark the Occasionally, she would rise, cross the yard and sidewalk and
verbs in paragraph 21 that
street, skip over them, sometimes stumbling on the curb, and wipe
describe Grandma’s
actions. her feet on the lot’s sandy soil, then she would slowly circle the
boundary between the open middle and the brushy sides,
QUESTION: How do the
searching for something, it appeared. I never figured out what.
actions in this paragraph
help you understand what
22 One afternoon I returned from school and saw Grandma perched
Grandma is like? on the porch as usual, so I started to walk around the house to

avoid her sharp, mostly incomprehensible, tongue. She had already
CONCLUDE: How does
spotted me. “Venga aquí!” she ordered, and I understood.
the narrator’s description
reflect his initial feelings 23 I approached the porch and noticed that Grandma was
about Grandma? vigorously chewing something. She held a small white bag in one
hand. Saying “Qué deseas tomar?” she withdrew a large orange
gumdrop from the bag and began slowly chewing it in her
toothless mouth, smacking loudly as she did so. I stood below her
for a moment trying to remember the word for candy. Then it
came to me: “Dulce,” I said.
24 Still chewing, Grandma replied, “Mande?”
25 Knowing she wanted a complete sentence, I again struggled,
then came up with “Deseo dulce.”
3. Coalinga a small town in central California.

26 She measured me for a moment, before answering in nearly
perfect English, “Oh, so you wan’ some candy. Go to the store an’
buy some.”
27 I don’t know if it was the shock of hearing her speak English for
the first time, or the way she had denied me a piece of candy, but I
suddenly felt tears warm my cheeks and I sprinted into the house
and found Mom, who stood at the kitchen sink. “Grandma just
talked English,” I burst between light sobs.
28 “What’s wrong?” she asked as she reached out to stroke
my head.
29 “Grandma can talk English,” I repeated.
30 “Of course she can,” Mom answered. “What’s wrong?”
31 I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but after considering, I told Mom
that Grandma had teased me. No sooner had I said that than the
old woman appeared at the door and hiked her skirt. Attached to
one of her petticoats by safety pins were several small tobacco
sacks, the white cloth kind that closed with yellow drawstrings. She
carefully unhooked one and opened it, withdrawing a dollar, then
handed the money to me. “Para su dulce,” she said. Then, to my
mother, she asked, “Why does he bawl like a motherless calf?”
32 “It’s nothing,” Mother replied.
33 “Do not weep, little one,” the old lady comforted me, “Jesus and
the Virgin love you.” She smiled and patted my head. To my
mother she said as though just realizing it, “Your baby?”
34 Somehow that day changed everything. I wasn’t afraid of my
great-grandmother any longer and, once I began spending time
with her on the porch, I realized that my father had also begun
directing increased attention to the old woman. Almost every
evening Ese Gringo was sharing wine with Grandma. They talked
out there, but I never did hear a real two-way conversation between
them. Usually Grandma rattled on and Daddy nodded. She’d
chuckle and pat his hand and he might grin, even grunt a word or
two, before she’d begin talking again. Once I saw my mother

standing by the front window watching them together, a smile
playing across her face.
35 No more did I sneak around the house to avoid Grandma after
school. Instead, she waited for me and discussed my efforts in class
gravely, telling Mother that I was a bright boy, “muy inteligente,”
and that I should be sent to the nuns who would train me. I would
make a fine priest. When Ese Gringo heard that, he smiled and said,
“He’d make a fair-to-middlin’ Holy Roller preacher, too.” Even
Mom had to chuckle, and my great-grandmother shook her finger
at Ese Gringo. “Oh you debil, Sharlie!” she cackled.
36 Frequently, I would accompany Grandma to the lot where she
would explain that no fodder4 could grow there. Poor pasture or
4. fodder (FAH duhr) n. food for animals.
The Horned Toad 319

not, the lot was at least unpaved, and Grandma greeted even the
tiniest new cactus or flowering weed with joy. “Look how
beautiful,” she would croon. “In all this ugliness, it lives.” Oildale
was my home and it didn’t look especially ugly to me, so I could
only grin and wonder. Because she liked the lot and things that
grew there, I showed her the horned toad when I captured it a
second time. I was determined to keep it, although I did not discuss
my plans with anyone. I also wanted to hear more about the bloody
eyes, so I thrust the small animal nearly into her face one afternoon.
She did not flinch.
37 “Ola señor sangre de ojos,” she said with a mischievous grin.
“Qué tal?” It took me a moment to catch on.
38 “You were kidding before,” I accused.
39 “Of course,” she acknowledged, still grinning.
40 “But why?”
41 “Because the little beast belongs with his own kind in his own
CLOSE READ place, not in your pocket. Give him his freedom, my son.”
42 I had other plans for the horned toad, but I was clever enough
ANNOTATE: Mark the
words in paragraphs
not to cross Grandma. “Yes, Ma’am,” I replied. That night I placed
37–41 that describe the the reptile in a flower bed cornered by a brick wall Ese Gringo had
attitudes of Grandma and built the previous summer. It was a spot rich with insects for the
the narrator. toad to eat, and the little wall, only a foot high, must have seemed
QUESTION: What do massive to so squat an animal.
these words suggest 43 Nonetheless, the next morning, when I searched for the horned
about the relationship toad it was gone. I had no time to explore the yard for it, so I
between Grandma and trudged off to school, my belly troubled. How could it have
the narrator? escaped? Classes meant little to me that day. I thought only of my
CONCLUDE: How has the lost pet—I had changed his name to Juan, the same as my great-
relationship between grandfather—and where I might find him.
these two characters 44 I shortened my conversation with Grandma that afternoon so I
changed? could search for Juan. “What do you seek?” the old woman asked
me as I poked through flower beds beneath the porch.

45 “Praying mantises,” I improvised, and she merely nodded,
surveying me. But I had eyes only for my lost pet, and I continued
pushing through branches and brushing aside leaves. No luck.
46 Finally, I gave in and turned toward the lot. I found my horned
toad nearly across the street, crushed. It had been heading for the
miniature desert and had almost made it when an automobile’s
tire had run over it. One notion immediately swept me: if I had
left it on its lot, it would still be alive. I stood rooted there in the
street, tears slicking my cheeks, and a car honked its horn as it
passed, the driver shouting at me.
47 Grandma joined me, and stroked my back. “The poor little
beast,” was all she said, then she bent slowly and scooped up
what remained of the horned toad and led me out of the street.
“We must return him to his own place,” she explained, and we

trooped, my eyes still clouded, toward the back of the vacant lot.
Carefully, I dug a hole with a piece of wood. Grandma placed Juan
in it and covered him. We said an Our Father and a Hail Mary,5
then Grandma walked me back to the house. “Your little Juan is
safe with God, my son,” she comforted. We kept the horned toad’s
death a secret, and we visited his small grave frequently.
48 Grandma fell just before school ended and summer vacation
began. As was her habit, she had walked alone to the vacant lot
but this time, on her way back, she tripped over the curb and
broke her hip. That following week, when Daddy brought her
home from the hospital, she seemed to have shrunken. She sat
hunched in a wheelchair on the porch, gazing with faded eyes
toward the hills or at the lot, speaking rarely. She still sipped wine
every evening with Daddy and even I could tell how concerned he
was about her. It got to where he’d look in on her before leaving
for work every morning and again at night before turning in. And
if Daddy was home, Grandma always wanted him to push her
chair when she needed moving, calling, “Sharlie!” until he
arrived.
49 I was tugged from sleep on the night she died by voices
drumming through the walls into darkness. I couldn’t understand
them, but was immediately frightened by the uncommon sounds of
words in the night. I struggled from bed and walked into the living
room just as Daddy closed the front door and a car pulled away.
50 Mom was sobbing softly on the couch and Daddy walked to
her, stroked her head, then noticed me. “Come here, son,” he
gently ordered.
5. Our Father and a Hail Mary common prayers of the Catholic church.
The Horned Toad 321

51 I walked to him and, uncharacteristically, he put an arm around
me. “What’s wrong?” I asked, near tears myself. Mom looked up,
but before she could speak, Daddy said, “Grandma died.” Then he
sighed heavily and stood there with his arms around his weeping
wife and son.
52 The next day my Uncle Manuel and Uncle Arnulfo, plus Aunt
CLOSE READ Chintia, arrived and over food they discussed with my mother
ANNOTATE: Mark details where Grandma should be interred. They argued that it would be
in paragraph 52 that too expensive to transport her body home and, besides, they could
relate to reasons the more easily visit her grave if she was buried in Bakersfield. “They
relatives want Grandma have such a nice, manicured grounds at Greenlawn,” Aunt Chintia
buried in Bakersfield.
pointed out. Just when it seemed they had agreed, I could remain
QUESTION: How do these silent no longer. “But Grandma has to go home,” I burst. “She has to!
details contrast with the It’s the only thing she really wanted. We can’t leave her in the city.”
words the narrator uses to
53 Uncle Arnulfo, who was on the edge, snapped to Mother that I
describe how Grandma
belonged with the other children, not interrupting adult
should be buried?
conversation. Mom quietly agreed, but I refused. My father
CONCLUDE: What does walked into the room then. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
this contrast show about
54 “They’re going to bury Grandma in Bakersfield, Daddy. Don’t
differences in priorities
between the relatives and let 'em, please.”
the narrator? 55 “Well, son . . .”
56 “When my horny toad got killed and she helped me to bury it,
she said we had to return him to his place.”
57 “Your horny toad?” Mother asked.
58 “He got squished and me and Grandma buried him in the lot.
She said we had to take him back to his place. Honest she did.”
59 No one spoke for a moment, then my father, Ese Gringo, who
stood against the sink, responded: "That's right . . .” he paused,
then added, “We’ll bury her.” I saw a weary smile cross my
mother’s face. “If she wanted to go back to the ranch then that’s
where we have to take her,” Daddy said.
60 I hugged him and he, right in front of everyone, hugged back.

61 No one argued. It seemed, suddenly, as though they had all
wanted to do exactly what I had begged for. Grown-ups baffled me.
Late that week the entire family, hundreds it seemed, gathered at the
little Catholic church in Coalinga for mass, then drove out to Arroyo
Cantua and buried Grandma next to Grandpa. She rests there today.
62 My mother, father, and I drove back to Oildale that afternoon
across the scorching westside desert, through sand and
tumbleweeds and heat shivers. Quiet and sad, we knew we had
done our best. Mom, who usually sat next to the door in the front
seat, snuggled close to Daddy, and I heard her whisper to him,
“Thank you, Charlie,” as she kissed his cheek.
63 Daddy squeezed her, hesitated as if to clear his throat, then
answered, “When you’re family, you take care of your own.”

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
1. Personal Connections Describe an experience you've had that is similar Answer the questions
in any way to those of the boy or another character in the story. in your notebook. Use
text evidence to
explain and justify your
Comprehension reasoning.
2. Reading Check (a) Why does Grandma come to live with the narrator’s
family? (b) Where did Grandma live before her husband died? (c) What
happens to Grandma at the end of the story?
3. Strategy: Make Connections (a) Cite one example each of a personal

connection, a textual connection, and a societal connection you made
while reading this story. (b) In what ways did making connections add to
your reading experience? Explain.
Analysis
4. Interpret In paragraph 34, the narrator says “Somehow that day
changed everything.” Explain what happened and why you think these
events led to such a profound change.
5. (a) Contrast Grandma tells the narrator to put the toad back, but he
ignores her advice. What does this interaction show about differences in
the two characters’ attitudes toward nature? (b) Analyze How does this
difference explain Grandma’s reaction to the toad’s death?
(c) Interpret Why is it important to the boy that Grandma help bury the
toad and keep its death secret?
6. (a) Make Inferences What gives the narrator the courage to resist his
relatives in their discussion about Grandma’s burial? (b) Analyze Why is
he surprised at their response? (c) Make Inferences Why do you think

the adults change their attitude?
7. (a) Draw Conclusions Why do you think Gerald Haslam titled this story
“The Horned Toad”? (b) Interpret What might the horned toad
symbolize, or represent?
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain
and justify reasoning.
EQ When is it right to take grade-level complex texts proficiently.
Notes a stand? K12.EE.3.1: Make inferences to
support comprehension.
What have you learned about taking a stand from reading this story?
8.R.3.1: Analyze how figurative
Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and language contributes to meaning and
thoughts about “The Horned Toad.” explain examples of symbolism in
text(s).
The Horned Toad 323

ANALYZE AND INTERPRET
Close Read ANNOTATE
1. The model passage and annotation show how one reader analyzed
part of paragraph 9 from the story. Find another detail in the passage
THE HORNED TOAD to annotate. Then, write your own question and conclusion.
ANNOTATE: This is
CLOSE-READ MODEL extremely powerful figurative
language.
Neighborhood kids called it
simply “the vacant lot,” less QUESTION: Why does the
author present this setting
than an acre without houses or with such a vivid, harsh
sidewalks. Not that we were image?
desperate for desert then, since
CONCLUDE: Perhaps the
we could walk into its scorched harshness of the setting is
skin a mere half-mile west, part of its power.
north, and east.
MY QUESTION:
MY CONCLUSION:
2. For more practice, answer the Close-Read notes in the selection.

3. Choose a section of the story you found especially important. Mark
important details. Then, jot down questions and write your conclusions
in the open space next to the text.

Inquiry and Research NOTEBOOK
Research and Extend Practice responding to research questions by

conducting a brief, informal inquiry to find facts about horned toads.
Identify and gather relevant information from at least two sources.
The narrator refers to the horned toad as a reptile. Is he correct?

B.E.S.T. Find the answer and two additional facts about this animal.
8.R.1.2: Analyze two or more
themes and their development Write a brief explanation of the information you discover during
throughout a literary text.
your research.
8.C.4.1: Conduct research to answer
a question, drawing on multiple
reliable and valid sources, and
generating additional questions for
further research.


Theme A theme, or message of a story, can be expressed as a
statement about life. Some stories are so rich in conflicts, character
interactions, and events that readers can find multiple themes in them, as
well as universal themes that apply to people everywhere. Often, the
author does not state the themes explicitly. Instead, he or she develops
the message implicitly through details. Readers examine connections
among the details to infer themes.
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Answer the questions and complete the activity. INTERACTIVITY
1. (a) Interpret One theme of this story is expressed by the narrator’s

father in a closing line of dialogue: “When you’re family, you take care
of your own.” Explain what he means. (b) Connect Identify at least
three details, character interactions, or events from the story that
support the explicit theme expressed in this line.
2. Analyze Use the chart to gather details that show what the
relationship is like between the narrator and Grandma at different
points in the story. How does their relationship change over time?
CHARACTER INTERACTIONS: NARRATOR AND GRANDMA
BEGINNING OF STORY MIDDLE OF STORY END OF STORY

3. (a) Analyze What misunderstandings occur early in the story between

the narrator and Grandma? (b) Analyze Which events help them to
understand each another? (c) Interpret What theme does the author
express through this changing relationship? Is this a universal theme?
Explain.
4. (a) Compare In what ways are Grandma’s life and fate similar to that of
the horned toad? Explain. (b) Interpret What implicit theme about the
relationship between people and nature is developed through these
similarities? Explain.
The Horned Toad 325

STUDY LANGUAGE AND CRAFT
Concept Vocabulary NOTEBOOK
Why These Words? The concept vocabulary words are associated with
productiveness or fruitfulness, or the lack of these qualities. For example, a
field shows verdancy if it is covered in green, growing plants. If it is vacant,
THE HORNED TOAD however, it has few signs of life.
desert vacant abundance
desolation verdancy progeny
PRACTICE Answer the questions.

1. How do the concept vocabulary words help you understand the story’s
setting?
WORD NETWORK 2. Find three other words in the story that relate to productiveness or its
opposite.
Add interesting words
about taking a stand
from the text to your 3. How can you judge the verdancy of an area if your eyes are closed?
Word Network.
4. How can a family tree help identify someone’s progeny?
5. What might you see in a vacant landscape?
6. What natural event could cause desolation?
7. What problems could an abundance of mosquitos cause?
8. Is it easy or difficult for animals to live in a desert? Explain. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
B.E.S.T.
8.C.3.1: Follow the rules of standard
English grammar, punctuation,
Word Study NOTEBOOK
capitalization, and spelling
appropriate to grade level. Latin Root: -gen- The Latin root -gen- means “give birth.” The
8.V.1.2: Apply knowledge of Greek vocabulary word progeny is built on this root. It means “the children
and Latin roots and affixes to that a parent produces.”
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context
PRACTICE Complete the following items:
clues, figurative language, word
relationships, reference materials, 1. Use a dictionary to define each of the following words and explain
and/or background knowledge to how the root -gen- adds to its meaning: generate, gene, genealogy.
determine the connotative and
denotative meaning of words and 2. Use a dictionary to find two more words that share the root -gen-.
phrases, appropriate to grade level. Explain how the root contributes to each word’s meaning.

Conventions
Subject-Verb Agreement in Complex Sentences A complex
sentence is made up of an independent clause and one or more
TIP: A clause has
dependent clauses.
subject-verb agreement
• An independent clause has a subject and a verb and can stand alone when its verb agrees
as a sentence. with its subject in
person and number.
• A dependent clause also contains a subject and a verb, but it cannot
•P erson: A first-
stand alone as a sentence.
person subject takes
Managing subject-verb agreement in a complex sentence can be tricky. a first-person verb,
and so on.
This is especially true when the dependent clause comes between the
•N umber: A singular
subject and the verb of the independent clause. In this example, the verb
subject takes a
wants agrees with its subject, the singular noun friend, rather than with singular verb. A
the plural noun toads: plural subject takes a
plural verb.
My friend, even though he likes to find toads, wants to do
something else today.
NOTEBOOK
READ IT Mark the dependent clause in each complex

sentence. Then, mark the subject and verb of the
independent clause.
1. Family, even if individuals sometimes get mad at one another, cares for
its members.
2. My uncle, although he loves hiking and having adventures, reads

constantly.
WRITE IT Edit each sentence to correct subject-verb

agreement errors.
1. The family members, although they loved me, was not interested in
my opinion.
2. My mother’s relatives, even though they do not realize the harm, fails
to think about her wishes.
The Horned Toad 327

SHARE IDEAS
Composition
A memorial is an artistic work that pays tribute to the life of a person.
THE HORNED TOAD

AS SI GN M EN T
Imagine that you are the narrator of “The Horned Toad.” How
would you memorialize Grandma? Choose an option:
EDITING TIPS
Review your draft, and Write a poem that uses poetic language and devices to
make sure you have share your feelings about Grandma.
used correct subject-
verb agreement Create a eulogy, a spoken or written tribute in honor of
consistently in all types someone who has recently died.
of sentences, including
Choose your own writing form to express your feelings.
complex ones.
Follow these guidelines as you draft and edit:
• Use a respectful tone appropriate for a serious occasion.
• Include anecdotes or examples that illustrate qualities that
made Grandma special or highlight your relationship with her.
• Describe Grandma, including details about where she lived
and what was most important to her.
Use New Words

Try to use one or more of the concept vocabulary words in your writing:
desert vacant abundance desolation verdancy progeny
NOTEBOOK
Reflect on Your Writing Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
PRACTICE Think about the choices you made as you wrote. Share
your experiences by responding to these questions.
1. How did writing clarify your feelings about the story?
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.6.1: Use appropriate voice 2. How can you revise your writing to make sure your tone is consistent
and tone when speaking or writing. and appropriate?
8.C.1: Communicating Through
Writing
8.C.2.1: Present information orally,
in a logical sequence, supporting the 3. WHY THESE WORDS? The words you choose make a difference
central idea with credible evidence. in your writing. Which words did you specifically choose to write a
8.V.1: Vocabulary more powerful tribute?

Research
An oral presentation is a spoken report in which you share information
and explanations about a topic.
AS SI GN M EN T
Research one aspect of the setting of “The Horned Toad” and

create an oral presentation to share your findings with the
class. Choose one of the following topics:
geographical features
plants or animals described in the story
a setting-related topic of your choosing
Develop and Revise a Research Plan

Generate Questions Choose your topic and jot down what you already
EQ Before moving
Notes on to a new
know about it. Add notes about what you want to learn. Use those notes selection, go to your
to generate two to three questions to answer through research. Then, Essential Question
locate at least two relevant sources. Notes and record any
additional thoughts or
observations you may
have about “The
Horned Toad.”
Create and Adjust Your Plan As you gather facts and details, consider
whether the sources you identified are adequate. Are you finding the
information you need? Also, decide whether you need to change your
research questions, perhaps making them more specific. Revise your
research plan as needed and continue to gather information.
Develop a Central Idea Review the evidence you have gathered and
formulate your central idea. Decide on how you will introduce your
central idea to your audience. Consider creating a title for your

presentation that conveys its central idea.
Organize Your Findings Now, decide on a logical sequence for

presenting the evidence you collected. Since the presentation is oral, you
may want to use numbered lists or bulleted lists to organize details you
present.
Deliver Your Presentation When presenting your findings, speak clearly

and loudly enough to be heard and understood. Also, vary your tone to
emphasize key points. At the end of your presentation, take questions
from the class.
The Horned Toad 329

Nonfiction
In an argumentative essay, a writer defends a
position by presenting a formal analysis of the
THREE CHEERS FOR THE topic. In an opinion piece, a writer supports a • BAN THE BAN!
NANNY STATE position using reasoning and emotional appeals. • SODA’S A PROBLEM BUT …
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Author ’s Pu rpo se
 to present an analysis
and
defend a position
audience,
 to convince a particular
or group of readers
Characte ristics
or claim
 s tatement of a position
supported with evidence
rclaim, or
 consideration of counte
opposing views
 explanation and analy
sis of a topic OPINION PIECE
 appeals to readers’ sen
se of logic,
ethics, or feelings
 to influence readers’ opinions or
 serious, formal tone get them to take action
Structu re Characte ristics

t
 formal organization tha  statement of a position or claim
supports a logical flow of ideas Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
 supporting reasons and evidence
 introduction, body, and  appeals to emotions
conclusion
 may include loaded language
 may vary in tone, from informal
B.E.S.T.
to formal
8.R.2.3: Explain how an author
establishes and achieves purpose(s) Structu re
through rhetorical appeals and/or
figurative language.
 may take the form of letters to
8.R.2.4: Track the development
the editor, blogs, or essays
of an argument, analyzing the
types of reasoning used and their
effectiveness, identifying ways in
which the argument could be
improved.

Genre/Text Elements TIP: Writers use the

following types of
Characteristics and Structures of Argument Arguments have a evidence and elaboration
number of characteristics that distinguish them from other kinds of in arguments:
writing. • F acts: statements that
can be proved
• Claim: the position a writer presents and defends •E xpert Opinions:
statements by well-
• Counterclaims: opposing views the writer discusses and disproves informed authorities
• Reasons and Evidence: information that supports the claim and •D ata: information
gathered scientifically
shows that it is right or true
•A necdotes: true
Argumentative writers keep their intended readers in mind when stories that illustrate
choosing persuasive details and strategies. For example, they may use ideas
logos, an appeal to logic, to draw on readers’ sense of reason; pathos, •P ersonal
an appeal to emotion, to draw on their feelings; or ethos, an appeal Observations: the
writer’s own
based on the writer’s expertise or ethical principles, to draw on their
experiences
respect for knowledge.
INTERACTIVITY
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Complete the activity and answer the question.
1. Each lettered item is part of an opinion piece about school vending

machines. Use the labels to identify which element of an argument
each sentence represents.
claim supporting reason 1 supporting reason 2 counterclaim
(a) Some people feel that students should be able

to choose any foods they want. ___________________
(b) Candy should not be available in school vending

machines. ___________________
(c) However, students cannot be trusted to make

healthy decisions on their own. ___________________
(d) Excessive sugar consumption can lead to

diabetes and other health issues. ___________________
2. Which group of people do you think is the intended audience

of the argument shown in item 1? Students? Parents?
School administrators? Explain your thinking.
Compare Within Genre 331

PREPARE TO READ
Compare Nonfiction
In this lesson, you will read and compare texts
that argue different sides of an issue. First, you
will read the argumentative essay “Three Cheers
THREE CHEERS FOR THE • BAN THE BAN!
NANNY STATE for the Nanny State.” Then, you will read two
• SODA’S A PROBLEM BUT...
opinion pieces about the same topic.
About the Author Three Cheers for the Nanny State
Concept Vocabulary INTERACTIVITY
You will encounter the following words as you read the essay. Before
reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Then, rank the words
in order from most familiar (1) to least familiar (5)
Sarah Conly holds the title
of Associate Professor of
Philosophy at Bowdoin WORD YOUR RANKING
College in Brunswick, impose
Maine. She is the author of
numerous essays, journal rational
articles, and opinion pieces
justifiable
focusing on issues of
personal choice and public principle
policy.
status quo
Evaluate Details to Determine Central Ideas

The details in a text are not all of equal importance. When you
evaluate details to determine central ideas, you identify details Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
that stand out or repeat. You then evaluate those details to figure out
the larger central idea(s) they support.
EXAMPLE Here is an example of how you might apply this

strategy to this essay:
Marked Details: It’s fair to stop us, Mill argued, when we are acting
out of ignorance and doing something we’ll pretty definitely regret.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend Determine Central Idea: These details relate to poor decisions.
grade-level complex texts proficiently. The central idea may question whether people always act in their own
8.R.2.2: Analyze two or more central best interest.
ideas and their development
throughout a text.
PRACTICE As you read the essay, mark details that seem
Comparative Reading. important. Then, evaluate them to determine the central ideas.

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Three Cheers
for the Nanny State Sarah Conly
BACKGROUND
The term “nanny state” is a negative nickname for a welfare state, which
AUDIO
is a model of government that takes direct responsibility for the
protection and well-being of its citizens. Welfare states offer basic social
ANNOTATE
support, such as free health care or low-income housing, but also create
laws and policies that attempt to control or influence how people behave.
W hy has there been so much fuss about New York City’s

attempt to impose a soda ban,1 or more precisely, a ban on
large-size “sugary drinks”? After all, people can still get as much
impose (im POHZ) v. force a
law, idea, or belief on
someone by using
authority
soda as they want. This isn’t Prohibition. It’s just that getting it
would take slightly more effort. So, why is this such a big deal?
2 Obviously, it’s not about soda. It’s because such a ban suggests CLOSE READ
that sometimes we need to be stopped from doing foolish stuff, ANNOTATE: In paragraph
and this has become, in contemporary American politics, highly 1, mark the questions that
controversial, no matter how trivial the particular issue. (Large the author does not
cups of soda as symbols of human dignity? Really?) answer.
3 Americans, even those who generally support government QUESTION: Why might
intervention in our daily lives, have a reflexive response to being the author have begun the
told what to do, and it’s not a positive one. It’s this common article with several
unanswered questions?
desire to be left alone that prompted the Mississippi Legislature
CONCLUDE: What effect
1. soda ban In 2013, New York City passed a regulation prohibiting soda containers larger do these questions have
than 16 ounces in volume. The New York State Court of Appeals later overturned the
regulation.
on the reader?
Three Cheers for the Nanny State 333

earlier this month to pass a ban on bans—a law that forbids
municipalities to place local restrictions on food or drink.
rational (RASH uh nuhl) adj. 4 We have a vision of ourselves as free, rational beings who are
able to make decisions totally capable of making all the decisions we need to in order to
based on reason rather
create a good life. Give us complete liberty, and, barring natural
than emotion; sensible
disasters, we’ll end up where we want to be. It’s a nice vision, one
that makes us feel proud of ourselves. But it’s false.
justifiable (juhs tuh FY 5 John Stuart Mill2 wrote in 1859 that the only justifiable
uh buhl) adj. able to be reason for interfering in someone’s freedom of action was to
defended as correct;
prevent harm to others. According to Mill’s “harm principle,”
reasonable and logical
we should almost never stop people from behavior that
principle (PRIHN suh puhl) n.
affects only themselves, because people know best what they
moral rule or set of ideas
about right or wrong that themselves want.
influences individuals to 6 That “almost,” though, is important. It’s fair to stop us, Mill
behave in a certain way argued, when we are acting out of ignorance and doing something
we’ll pretty definitely regret. You can stop someone from crossing
a bridge that is broken, he said, because you can be sure no one
wants to plummet into the river. Mill just didn’t think this would
happen very often.
7 Mill was wrong about that, though. A lot of times we have a
good idea of where we want to go, but a really terrible idea of how
to get there. It’s well established by now that we often don’t think
very clearly when it comes to choosing the best means to attain
CLOSE READ
our ends. We make errors. This has been the object of an enormous
ANNOTATE: In paragraphs amount of study over the past few decades, and what has been
8–10, mark the types of discovered is that we are all prone to identifiable and predictable
bias, or judgments and
miscalculations.
prejudices, the author
describes. 8 Research by psychologists and behavioral economists,
including the Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman and his
QUESTION: Why does
research partner Amos Tversky, identified a number of areas in
the author include these
explanations of different
which we fairly dependably fail. They call such a tendency a
biases? “cognitive3 bias,” and there are many of them—a lot of ways in

which our own minds trip us up.
CONCLUDE: How does
9 For example, we suffer from an optimism bias, that is we tend
this information affect
the persuasiveness of her to think that however likely a bad thing is to happen to most
argument? people in our situation, it’s less likely to happen to us—not for
any particular reason, but because we’re irrationally optimistic.
Because of our “present bias,” when we need to take a small, easy
step to bring about some future good, we fail to do it, not because
we’ve decided it’s a bad idea, but because we procrastinate.
10 We also suffer from a status quo bias, which makes us value
status quo (STAT uhs kwoh) what we’ve already got over the alternatives, just because we’ve
n. existing state or condition
at a particular time 2. John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) British philosopher.
3. cognitive (KOG nih tihv) adj. related to thinking.

already got it—which might, of course, make us react badly to
new laws, even when they are really an improvement over what
we’ve got. And there are more.
11 The crucial point is that in some situations it’s just difficult for
us to take in the relevant information and choose accordingly. It’s
not quite the simple ignorance Mill was talking about, but it turns
out that our minds are more complicated than Mill imagined.
Like the guy about to step through the hole in the bridge, we
need help.
12 Is it always a mistake when someone does something
imprudent, when, in this case, a person chooses to chug 32 ounces
of soda? No. For some people, that’s the right choice. They don’t
care that much about their health, or they won’t drink too many
big sodas, or they just really love having a lot of soda at once.
13 But laws have to be sensitive to the needs of the majority. That
doesn’t mean laws should trample the rights of the minority, but
that public benefit is a legitimate concern, even when that may
inconvenience some.
14 So do these laws mean that some people will be kept from CLOSE READ
doing what they really want to do? Probably—and yes, in many ANNOTATE: In paragraph
ways it hurts to be part of a society governed by laws, given that 14, mark the example the
laws aren’t designed for each one of us individually. Some of us author uses to support
can drive safely at 90 miles per hour, but we’re bound by the same her claim.
laws as the people who can’t, because individual speeding laws QUESTION: Why might
aren’t practical. Giving up a little liberty is something we agree the author have chosen
to when we agree to live in a democratic society that is governed this specific example as
support?
by laws.
15 The freedom to buy a really large soda, all in one cup, is CONCLUDE: How does the
something we stand to lose here. For most people, given their inclusion of this example
desire for health, that results in a net gain. For some people, yes, affect the author’s
argument?
it’s an absolute loss. It’s just not much of a loss.
16 Of course, what people fear is that this is just the beginning:
today it’s soda, tomorrow it’s the guy standing behind you
making you eat your broccoli, floss your teeth, and watch
PBS NewsHour4 every day. What this ignores is that successful
paternalistic5 laws are done on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis:
if it’s too painful, it’s not a good law. Making these analyses is
something the government has the resources to do, just as now it
sets automobile construction standards while considering both the
need for affordability and the desire for safety.
4. PBS NewsHour television news program in the United States.

5. paternalistic (puh tuhr nuh LIHS tihk) adj. protective, but controlling; in the manner of a
parent.

17 Do we care so much about our health that we want to be forced
to go to aerobics every day and give up all meat, sugar and salt?
No. But in this case, it’s some extra soda. Banning a law on the
grounds that it might lead to worse laws would mean we could
have no laws whatsoever.
18 In the old days we used to blame people for acting imprudently,
and say that since their bad choices were their own fault, they
deserved to suffer the consequences. Now we see that these errors
aren’t a function of bad character, but of our shared cognitive
inheritance. The proper reaction is not blame, but an impulse to
help one another.
19 That’s what the government is supposed to do, help us get
where we want to go. It’s not always worth it to intervene, but
sometimes, where the costs are small and the benefit is large, it is.
That’s why we have prescriptions for medicine. And that’s why, as
irritating as it may initially feel, the soda regulation is a good idea.
It’s hard to give up the idea of ourselves as completely rational.
We feel as if we lose some dignity. But that’s the way it is, and
there’s no dignity in clinging to an illusion. ❧

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
1. Personal Connections Describe a personal connection you made to Answer the questions
this essay. For example, have you ever noticed yourself experiencing in your notebook. Use
optimism bias? text evidence to
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) What health-related law was proposed in New York
City in 2013? (b) What is a “cognitive bias”? (c) According to the author,
what did people dislike about the 2013 law? (d) According to the author,
what would most people have gained from the soda ban?
3. Strategy: Evaluate Details to Determine Central Ideas (a) What detail

about automotive standards does the writer introduce in paragraph 16?
(b) What key idea does this detail suggest about government and laws?
Analysis
4. Distinguish What is the author’s tone, or attitude toward her subject and
audience? Which words and phrases in the essay create that tone? Explain.
5. (a) The author uses the example of the soda ban to address a larger issue.
What is that issue? (b) Analyze Why do you think the author uses the
soda-ban debate as a means to address a more complex issue? Explain.
6. Analyze The author uses this example of personification in paragraph 13:

“That doesn’t mean laws should trample the rights of the minority, ….”
How does her use of personification in this sentence support an appeal to
emotion?
7. (a) Interpret In paragraph 14, Conly claims, “it hurts to be part of a

society governed by laws, given that laws aren’t designed for each one
of us individually.” What do you think the author means by this
statement? (b) Make a Judgment Do you agree with this statement?
Why, or why not?
B.E.S.T.
EQ When is it right to take K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain

Notes a stand? K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend
What have you learned about taking a stand from reading this essay?
Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and 8.R.3.1: Analyze how figurative
language contributes to meaning and
thoughts about “Three Cheers for the Nanny State.” explain examples of symbolism in
text(s).

Close Read ANNOTATE
part of paragraph 16 of the essay. Find another detail in the passage
THREE CHEERS FOR THE to annotate. Then, write your own question and conclusion.
NANNY STATE
ANNOTATE: The author lists
CLOSE-READ MODEL activities.
Of course, what people fear is QUESTION: Why does the

that this is just the beginning: author list these activities?
today it’s soda, tomorrow it’s CONCLUDE: Each activity is

the guy standing behind you considered “good” for people,
but probably would not
making you eat your broccoli,
appeal to teen readers.
floss your teeth, and watch PBS
NewsHour every day.
MY QUESTION:
MY CONCLUSION:
2. For more practice, answer the Close-Read notes in the selection.

3. Choose a section of the essay you found especially important. Mark
important details. Then, jot down questions and write your conclusions
in the open space next to the text.
Research and Extend Some New York City lawmakers sought a ban
of extra-large sodas out of concern for the health risks and costs of
excessive calorie intake. Research the calorie counts of different sizes
B.E.S.T.
8.R.2.4: Track the development of an
of sugary drinks, such as soda, sweetened iced tea, and fruit juices.
argument, analyzing the types of Compare your findings to the recommended daily allowance of
reasoning used and their effectiveness, calories for children and adults. Discuss whether the information
identifying ways in which the
argument could be improved. clarifies issues discussed in the essay.
8.C.4.1: Conduct research to answer
a question, drawing on multiple
reliable and valid sources, and
generating additional questions for
further research.

TIP: To analyze and

Genre / Text Elements respond to arguments,
ask these questions:
Characteristics and Structures of Argument In an argument, the claim is • Is the author’s claim
the author’s position, the idea he or she wants the audience to accept. An reasonable? Is the
author develops an argument step by step, structuring the ideas and leading evidence sound?
the audience through the logic. Many arguments follow this structure: • Is the counterclaim
valid, or is the
author’s claim
SAMPLE ARGUMENT STRUCTURE stronger?
1. Introduction, often with presentation of the claim • Does the structure
• Evidence and reasons that support the claim; these may include show logical
appeals to logic, expertise, and emotions. reasoning?
2. Introduction of the counterclaim Take your answers into
• Evidence and reasons that disprove the counterclaim account and then
3. Restatement of the claim either defend or
• Evidence and reasons that again support the claim challenge the author’s
4. Memorable or powerful ending or conclusion argument.
The author may change that structure to express ideas in powerful ways.
The author’s job is to convince the audience. The readers’ job is to
evaluate whether the claim is well supported and convincing.
NOTEBOOK
1. (a) Analyze Writers often introduce the claim at the beginning of an

essay; Conly does not. Where does she state her claim?
(b) Paraphrase In your own words, restate Conly’s claim about the
government and personal freedoms.
2. (a) Analyze What counterclaim does Conly examine in the first six
paragraphs? (b) Summarize How does she disprove this counterclaim
in paragraphs 7–12? Explain.
3. (a) Draw Conclusions Who is Conly’s audience? Do you think she

believes her audience mainly supports or mainly disapproves of a soda
ban? Explain. (b) Hypothesize How might Conly’s sense of her
audience have contributed to her decision to deal with counterclaims
before stating her own claim?
4. Analyze In paragraph 2, Conly asks: “Large cups of soda as symbols

of human dignity? Really?” Do you think this question appeals to the
audience’s emotions or reason? Explain.
5. Take a Position Are you convinced by Conly’s evidence and reasoning

that her claim is right? Defend or challenge her claim, citing text
details to support your position. If you think Conly’s evidence for her
claim is weak, identify ways she could improve it.

Why These Words? These vocabulary words help the author discuss rules
and laws. For example, part of deciding whether a law is justifiable, or
defensible, is to see if it is rational, or reasonable. Rules are often based on
THREE CHEERS FOR THE a principle, or established idea, about cooperation or safety.
NANNY STATE
impose justifiable status quo
rational principle
PRACTICE Complete the items.

1. How do the vocabulary words sharpen the reader’s understanding of
the reasons for laws?
2. What other words in the essay connect to rules or laws?
3. Use each vocabulary word in a sentence that shows your understanding

of the word’s meaning.
WORD NETWORK
Add interesting words Word Study NOTEBOOK
from the text to your Latin Root: -just- The Latin root -just- means “law” or “fair and right.”
Word Network. In “Three Cheers for the Nanny State,” the author refers to John Stuart
Mill’s idea that preventing harm to others is the only justifiable reason
for interfering with a person’s freedom. Mill felt that this was the only
“fair and right” reason to interfere. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
B.E.S.T. PRACTICE Complete the items.

establishes and achieves purpose(s) 1. Think about how the root -just- contributes to the meaning of the
through rhetorical appeals and/or
vocabulary word justifiable. Then, write a sentence in which you
figurative language.
correctly use justifiable. Remember to include context clues
language contributes to meaning and that show the relationship between the root -just- and the word’s
explain examples of symbolism in meaning.
text(s).
8.R.3.4: Explain how an author uses
rhetorical devices to support or
advance an appeal. 2. Using your knowledge of the Latin root -just-, explain how the root
8.V.1.2: Apply knowledge of Greek contributes to the meaning of the following words: adjust, justice,
and Latin roots and affixes to justification.

Author’s Craft
Rhetorical Devices Writers of argumentative texts often use rhetorical
devices, special patterns of language or ideas, to achieve specific
purposes: to create emphasis, to clarify ideas, or to stir emotion. Analogy,
antithesis, and irony are three rhetorical devices often used in arguments.
Rhetorical devices can be used to strengthen or advance appeals to logic,
to the writer’s authority, and to emotion.
RHETORICAL DEVICES: ANALOGY, ANTITHESIS, AND IRONY

DEVICE EXAMPLE PURPOSE AND EFFECT
Analogy: comparison that shows A child’s mind is a hungry puppy; makes complex ideas clearer to
a surprising similarity between feed it well. readers; appeals to logic
two different ideas or things
Antithesis: parallel arrangement We can pull together and emphasizes contrast or differences
of strongly contrasting words, achieve victory or pull apart and between ideas; appeals to
clauses, sentences, or ideas that suffer defeat. emotion
are placed side by side
Irony: language that says the My opponent’s experience as a emphasizes a contradiction; may
opposite of what is actually painter certainly makes her more be used to mock an idea; appeals
meant qualified than I, a physician, to to ethos (authority of the writer)
comment on vaccinations.
NOTEBOOK

1. (a) Identify a sentence in paragraph 4 in which Conly uses irony.
(b) Analyze How does her use of irony in this sentence support the
author’s appeal to logic? Explain.
2. (a) In paragraph 7, identify a sentence in which Conly uses
antithesis. Then, identify the two parallel phrases in the sentence.
(b) Analyze How does Conly use this example of antithesis to argue
against Mill’s “harm principle”?
3. (a) What two laws does the author refer to in paragraph 14?
(b) Distinguish Is this reference an example of analogy or antithesis?
Explain. (c) Analyze How does this rhetorical device support the
author’s claim?
4. (a) Make a Judgment Do you think the author uses analogies,
antithesis, and irony effectively to support her appeal to logic, or
reason? Why, or why not? (b) Evaluate If you think the author’s use of
rhetorical devices is ineffective, what could she do to improve support
for her appeal?

PREPARE TO READ
Compare Nonfiction
You will now read two opinion pieces. After
analyzing the arguments in “Ban the Ban!” and
“Soda’s a Problem but. . .,” compare these
THREE CHEERS FOR THE • BAN THE BAN!
NANNY STATE authors’ positions with the argument in “Three
• SODA’S A PROBLEM BUT. . .
Cheers for the Nanny State.”
About the Authors Ban the Ban! • Soda’s a

SidneyAnne Stone Problem but. . .
is a freelance writer,
entrepreneur, marathoner,
breast cancer survivor, and
activist. She is currently Concept Vocabulary INTERACTIVITY
working on her first novel
and documentary. You will encounter these words as you read. Before reading, note how
familiar you are with each word. Then, rank the words from most familiar
Karin Klein has won (1) to least familiar (6).
awards for her editorial
and environmental writing.
She attended Wellesley WORD YOUR RANKING
College and the University
of California–Berkeley, and implemented
she is now an adjunct mandates
professor at Chapman
University in Orange, intervene
California.
intentions
dictate
exemption
Comprehension Strategy ANNOTATE Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Synthesize Information
To determine your own position on an issue, synthesize information,
or combine ideas, from multiple arguments. Follow these steps:
1. Read sources with different perspectives and identify their most
persuasive ideas.
2. Note common ground or strong contrasts.
3. Evaluate, eliminate, and combine ideas and evidence to create a
new understanding or informed position.
B.E.S.T.
PRACTICE As you read each essay, mark strong ideas and
evidence. After you read, synthesize information to create a new
Comparative Reading. understanding.

OPINION PIECES
Ban the Ban! SidneyAnne Stone
Soda’s a Problem but. . .

Karin Klein
BACKGROUND
In 2012, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg pushed for a regulation
AUDIO
limiting the sizes of sugary drinks as part of his focus on public health.
The regulation won the approval of the city’s Board of Health, but industry
ANNOTATE
groups claimed it was illegal because it interfered with consumers’
choices. Before the regulation could go into effect, a judge ruled against it
because it excluded certain businesses and did not apply to all beverages.
Ban the Ban!

1
W hen Mayor Bloomberg implemented laws banning smoking implemented (IHM pluh
in bars, parks and restaurants, that made sense. Whether or mehnt ihd) v. carried out;
put into effect
not I agreed, I understood the rationale because other people’s
health would inadvertently be impacted by the smoke. When he
insisted on calorie counts being posted, I think many of us cringed
but, again, it made sense. If you want to know how many calories
something is before you indulge, it is now spelled out for you. On
days when you feel like being especially naughty, you just don’t
look and order it anyway! That’s what life is all about, isn’t it?
Choices. Informed decisions. I respect being given information
that enables me to make an informed decision. What I do not
respect is having my civil liberties stripped away.
2 When you take away the option to order a soda over a certain
size, you have now removed my options. I no longer have a
choice. That is not what this country is all about. I agree
Ban the Ban! • Soda’s a Problem but. . . 343

wholeheartedly that obesity is an issue that needs to be addressed.
It is one that needs to be addressed with education, compassion
and support, not government mandates. If, despite all those
mandates (MAN dayts) n. efforts, someone chooses to have a sugary drink anyway, that is
orders or commands their choice and their right. If they know all the facts and they do
intervene (ihn tuhr
it anyway, that is a personal choice. It is not the place of our
VEEN) v. interfere with; elected officials to intervene.
take action to try to stop a 3 We cannot allow our government to make these kinds of
dispute or conflict decisions for us. I have said it before and I will say it again, once
you allow the government to make choices on your behalf, it
becomes a very slippery slope. I, personally, feel that it goes against
everything this country stands for—we are a country built on
freedom. That includes basic freedoms like what you are going to
drink while watching a movie, and eating what will soon be
un-buttered and un-salted popcorn, according to Mayor
Bloomberg. Remember the days when New York was a really cool
and fun place to live? Me too. Now a simple thing like going to the
movies has even lost its “flavor.”
4 The people of New York need to show our mayor that money
can’t buy him everything. He says he’s going to “fight back” to get
CLOSE READ this pushed through. Well, it is our responsibility to fight back too.
ANNOTATE: Mark the People might think it is not important because it is just soda but it
term in the fourth is so much more than that—it is about freedom and the freedom to
sentence of paragraph 4 make your own decisions about what you do and what you put
that the author repeats.
into your bodies. It started with soda and he has already moved
QUESTION: Why do you on to salt. What is going to be next? If you’re reading this and you
think the author repeats are not a New Yorker, don’t think you are not going to be affected.
this term?
You will! It starts here and it will spread throughout the nation. I
CONCLUDE: What effect hope you will all start to speak up about this issue or, before you
does this repetition have know it, it won’t be the “land of the free and home of the brave”
on the reader? anymore. One day in the not too distant future we are all going to
wake up in the land of “Big Brother”1 with a list of things we can

and cannot do, eat, drink, say, and so on, and we’ll be wondering
how we got there. Well, this is how. ❧
Soda’s a Problem but. . .

intentions (ihn TEHN 1 The intentions of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may
shuhnz) n. purposes for or be laudable, but it’s wrong for one man, even an elected official
goals of one’s actions
and even a well-meaning one at that, to dictate to people how big
dictate (DIHK tayt) v. give a cup of sugary soda they’re allowed.
orders to control or 2 Not that I have tremendous regard for soda. It’s bad for you,
influence something
especially in large quantities. The evidence against it mounts on a
semi-regular basis. But the mayor’s initiative goes further than
1. the land of “Big Brother” place in which the government or another organization
exercises total control over people’s lives; the term “Big Brother” was coined by George
Orwell in his famous dystopian novel, 1984.

something like a soda tax, which might aim to discourage people
from purchasing something by making it cost a bit more but leaves
the decision in their hands. Bloomberg is playing nanny in the
worst sort of way by interfering in a basic, private transaction
involving a perfectly legal substance. In restaurants and other
establishments overseen by the city’s health inspectors, it would
exemption (ihg ZEHMP
have been illegal to sell a serving of most sugary drinks (except shuhn) n. permission not to
fruit juice; I always wonder about that exemption, considering the do or pay for something
sugar calories in apple juice) that’s more than 16 ounces. that others are required to
do or pay
3 Convenience stores such as 7-Eleven are overseen by the state
and would be exempt, but a Burger King across the street would be
restricted. A pizza restaurant would not be able to sell a 2-liter
bottle of soda that would be shared out among the children at a
birthday party. But they could all have a 16-ounce cup. The inherent
contradictions that make it easy to sneer at such rules have been
well-reported and were a good part of why earlier this week a
judge stopped the new rules from being implemented. But he also
pointed out a deeper problem: Bloomberg essentially made this
decision himself. It was approved by the Board of Health, but that’s
a board of the administration, appointed by the mayor. That was an
overreach that thwarted the system of checks and balances,
according to the judge: The separately elected City Council would
have to approve the law.
4 That still leaves the question of whether governments or their
CLOSE READ
leaders can begin dictating the look of an individual’s meal, the
portion sizes for each aspect. There are times when government has ANNOTATE: Mark the text
to step in on obviously dangerous situations—especially those, in paragraph 4 in which
the author makes
such as smoking, that affect people other than the person whose
exceptions to her claims.
behavior would be curbed—but it’s my belief that we want to
scrutinize them carefully and keep them to a minimum. For that QUESTION: Why might
the author have chosen to
matter, it’s not as though the mayor is moving to limit sales of
include this information,
tobacco to two cigarettes per transaction.
which does not support
5 Not that government has to aid and abet the situation. Schools her argument?
don’t have to sell junk foods, and, thankfully, after years of
CONCLUDE: What effect
sacrificing their students’ health to their desire to raise more money,
does the author’s inclusion
most of them have stopped allowing vending machines stocked of this information have
with sodas. Governments are under no obligation to sell such stuff on the reader?
in park or pool vending machines or in their offices. In such cases,
government is simply the vendor making a decision about what it
wants to sell.
6 I don’t buy the argument that people are helpless in the face of
sugar and that it’s better to have the government rather than the
corporations dictate their behaviors. If people are so helpless
against soda, the mayor’s edict would be even more meaningless
because people would simply buy two 16-ounce cups. But people
are not helpless, and it’s worrisome to promote a philosophy that

infantilizes the individual. The public is simply ill-informed. It
takes a while for people to become aware, but they do and they
react. Soda consumption already is slipping nationwide.
7 Let’s not forget that scientists and even governments have at
times pushed people—with better intentions than food
corporations, certainly—into eating high levels of refined
carbohydrates and sugars by sending out word that the only
thing that really matters when it comes to obesity is to eat a very
low-fat diet. ❧
MEDIA CONNECTION AUDIO
DISCUSS IT Listen to the broadcast and take

notes to confirm your understanding of what is
said. Then, discuss this question with a partner:
Does this radio broadcast present a balanced view
of the proposed ban on oversized sugary drinks?
Why or why not?
NY Judge Overturns Bloomberg’s

Soda Ban

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
1. Personal Connections Which opinion piece do you find more Answer the questions
convincing? Why? in your notebook. Use
text evidence to
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) Who is Michael Bloomberg? (b) According to the
author of “Ban the Ban!,” what is “life all about”? (c) What does the
author of “Soda’s a Problem but. . .” think of the argument that “people
are helpless in the face of sugar?”
3. Strategy: Synthesize Information In what ways did you create a new

understanding of this topic? Did your new understanding involve a change
of opinion? Explain.
Analysis
4. (a) According to the author of “Soda’s a Problem but…,” why did the
judge stop the ban from going into effect? (b) Connect What
contradictions in the ban does the author believe the judge’s opinion
reflects? Explain.
5. (a) Analyze How does the author of “Soda’s a Problem but. . .” view the
general public? (b) Make a Judgment Do you agree with her assessment
of “the public”? Why or why not?
6. (a) Analyze In “Soda’s a Problem but...” what point about incorrect

information does the author make in the final paragraph?
(b) Interpret Why do you think she ends with this idea? Explain.
EQ When is it right to take a stand?

Notes
What have you learned about taking a stand from these opinion pieces? B.E.S.T.
Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain
thoughts about “Ban the Ban!” and “Soda’s a Problem but. . .” and justify reasoning.

Close Read ANNOTATE
part of paragraph 6 of “Soda’s a Problem but...” Find another detail in
BAN THE BAN! | SODA’S A the passage to annotate. Then, write your own question and
PROBLEM BUT . . . conclusion.
ANNOTATE: The author

CLOSE-READ MODEL repeats the word helpless. She
also uses a negative word that
If people are so helpless against suggests people are being
soda, the mayor’s edict would treated like babies (infants).
be even more meaningless QUESTION: Why does the
because people would simply author stress the idea of
buy two 16-ounce cups. But helplessness?
people are not helpless, and it’s CONCLUDE: She stresses this
worrisome to promote a idea to stir up readers’
philosophy that infantilizes the emotions. Adults do not want
individual. to be treated like helpless
infants.
MY QUESTION:
MY CONCLUSION:
2. For more practice, answer the Close-Read notes in the selections.

3. Choose a section of each opinion piece that you found especially
important. Mark important details. Then, jot down questions and write
your conclusions in the open space next to the text. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
B.E.S.T.
8.R.2.4: Track the development of an
argument, analyzing the types of
reasoning used and their effectiveness,
identifying ways in which the argument
could be improved.
language contributes to meaning and Research and Extend With a partner, identify two statements in
explain examples of symbolism in
text(s).
each opinion piece and fact-check them. Find reliable sources that
either confirm or refute each item. Do the facts and statements in
8.R.3.4: Explain how an author uses
rhetorical devices to support or the opinion pieces check out? Prepare a list of academic citations for
advance an appeal. all of your sources, following the style your teacher prefers.
8.C.4.1: Conduct research to answer a
question, drawing on multiple reliable
and valid sources, and generating
additional questions for further
research.


Characteristics and Structures of Argument Opinion pieces often
appear in newspapers and blogs, and are written in response to current
events. Like all arguments, they include claims, evidence, and reasons, and
target a specific audience, or group of readers. Typically, opinion pieces
are brief, and follow a structure that helps the writer develop ideas in a
memorable way.
TIP: Writers often
• Opening statement that establishes the author’s reasonable nature or strengthen their
position of authority appeals by using
• Statement of claim, along with supporting evidence, reasons, and rhetorical devices, such
appeals as parallel structures
and rhetorical
• Statements that address counterclaims, along with evidence and
questions. Example: We
reasons that disprove them
must think, we must act,
• Memorable ending and we must triumph.
Another distinguishing quality of opinion writing is the use of different
types of appeals, including appeals to logic, expertise, and emotion.
Opinion writers choose appeals and evidence to reinforce the views of
supporters and to persuade skeptics to change their minds.
INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE Answer the questions. NOTEBOOK
1. Compare and Contrast Reread the first three paragraphs of each piece:
(a) What are the writers’ claims, and how are they similar and different?
(b) Explain similarities in the structures of the two pieces.
2. (a) Categorize Use the chart to identify two examples of each type of
appeal used in each piece. (b) Summarize Write a one-sentence
summary of the claim each set of appeals supports.
TITLE APPEALS TO LOGIC APPEALS TO EMOTION SUMMARY
Ban the Ban!

Soda’s a Problem but…
3. (a) Make Inferences In paragraph 4 of “Ban the Ban!,” why do you

think the author includes allusions, or references, to “land of the free and
home of the brave” and “Big Brother”? (b) Draw Conclusions How
does the use of allusion help strengthen the author’s appeal to her
audience? Explain.
4. (a) Summarize In paragraph 2 of “Ban the Ban!,” what

counterclaim does the author introduce with the words “I agree”?
(b) Evaluate Does she effectively disprove the counterclaim? Explain.
5. Take a Position Are both writers equally convincing in support of

their claims? If you think one or both of the arguments are weak,
make suggestions for improving them.

Why These Words? The concept vocabulary words are related to roles
and responsibilities. For example, in “Ban the Ban!,” the author feels that
it is not the government’s place to intervene in, or interfere with, an
BAN THE BAN! | SODA’S A individual’s personal choice.
PROBLEM BUT . . .
implemented mandates intervene
intentions dictate exemption

1. How do the concept vocabulary words sharpen your understanding of
the different roles that government can play?
2. What other words in the opinion pieces connect to the concept of roles
and responsibilities?
3. Use the vocabulary words to complete each sentence. Use each word
only once.
(a)
Roberto’s repeated efforts to help shows that he has good
.
WORD NETWORK (b) My school a new dress code this year that requires all
Add interesting words students to wear uniforms.
about taking a stand (c)
Some large companies receive a tax when they move to
from the texts to your a rural area in the hope that they will improve the local economy.
Word Network.
(d) Local require that all dogs be on leashes in parks.
(e) The doctor felt it was necessary to when he saw a
patient being given the wrong treatment. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
B.E.S.T. (f) The new community council will the terms and

8.R.2.4: Track the development of an conditions of the new development.
reasoning used and their effectiveness,
argument could be improved. Word Study NOTEBOOK
8.V.1.2: Apply knowledge of Greek
and Latin roots and affixes to
Latin Root: -mand-/-mend- The Latin root -mand- or -mend- comes
phrases in grade-level content. from the Latin word mandare, which means “order or command” and
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context may be related to the Latin root -man-, meaning “hand.”
clues, figurative language, word PRACTICE
relationships, reference materials,
Complete the activity.
and/or background knowledge to
Explain how the Latin root word -mand- or -mend- contributes to the
denotative meaning of words and meaning of each of the following words: command, commend,
phrases, appropriate to grade level. recommendation.

Author’s Craft
Logical Reasoning and Logical Fallacies A strong, valid argument is TIP: Recognizing
based on logical reasoning, thinking that is clear, well-organized, and logical fallacies allows
based on facts. Logical reasoning follows a series of connected steps that an audience to
are each based on what is true. It can start with a general principle and evaluate the strength
move to specific facts, or it can start with specific facts and move to a of a claim and make
general principle. Some arguments appear to be logical, but close reading an informed decision
reveals that they are based on logical fallacies, types of faulty reasoning about whether to
that weaken arguments. accept or reject it.
COMMON LOGICAL FALLACIES
TYPE DEFINITION EXAMPLE

Bandwagon Statement that assumes the broad Every reasonable person in the state
popularity or unpopularity of an idea wants this reform!
Ad hominem Statement that attacks or criticizes a What arrogance! She will force this law
person’s character down our throats if we don’t take action.
Slippery slope Statement that creates alarm by If we make an exception in this case,
assuming that an unlikely worst-case everyone will demand the same thing!
scenario is inevitable The floodgates will open!
NOTEBOOK

INTERACTIVITY
1. Distinguish Determine whether the passage shows logical reasoning or

if it is an example of logical fallacy.
LOGICAL REASONING OR
PASSAGE
LOGICAL FALLACY?
Convenience stores such as 7-Eleven are overseen by the state and would
be exempt, but a Burger King across the street would be restricted. A
pizza restaurant would not be able to sell a 2-liter bottle of soda that
would be shared out among the children at a birthday party. But they
could all have a 16-ounce cup. —from Soda’s a Problem but . . .
2. (a) Identify an example of a slippery slope fallacy in paragraph 4 of

“Ban the Ban! (b) Analyze Explain the author’s likely purpose for
using this fallacy.
3. (a) Compare Which of the two opinion pieces contains more
logical fallacies? Explain. (b) Evaluate How could this opinion piece
be improved?

TEST PRACTICE
Compare Nonfiction
Multiple Choice INTERACTIVITY

THREE CHEERS FOR THE
NANNY STATE These questions are based on “Three Cheers for the Nanny State” by
Sarah Conly, “Ban the Ban!” by SidneyAnne Stone, and “Soda’s a Problem
but. . .” by Karin Klein. Choose the best answer to each question.
1. How do the writers respond to New York City’s proposed soda ban?
A Conly and Stone argue against the ban, but Klein argues in favor of it.
B Conly and Stone are in favor of the ban, but Klein argues against it.
• BAN THE BAN! C Conly is in favor of the ban, but Klein and Stone argue against it.
• SODA’S A PROBLEM
BUT. . . . D All three writers argue against the ban, but provide different
evidence.
2. Read these two excerpts from the texts. How do the writers’ ideas
about the effects of the ban compare?
from Three Cheers for the Nanny from Ban the Ban! by SidneyAnne
State by Sarah Conly Stone
Of course, what people fear is that this I have said it before and I will say it
is just the beginning: today it’s soda, again, once you allow the government
tomorrow it’s the guy standing behind to make choices on your behalf, it
you making you eat your broccoli, floss becomes a very slippery slope. I,
your teeth, and watch PBS NewsHour personally, feel that it goes against
every day. What this ignores is that everything this country stands for—we
successful paternalistic laws are done are a country built on freedom.
on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis: if
it’s too painful, it’s not a good law.
A Both writers think the soda ban will lead to other bans.
B Neither writer thinks the soda ban will lead to other bans.

C Conly suggests the soda ban will lead to other bans, but Stone
rejects this idea.
D Stone believes the soda ban will lead to other bans, but Conly
rejects this idea.
B.E.S.T. 3. Which answer choice best describes the writers’ attitudes toward
8.R.2.4: Track the development of an the topic?
reasoning used and their effectiveness, A All three approach the ban from a philosophical standpoint.
argument could be improved.
B Conly approaches the topic from a philosophical standpoint, but Klein
and Stone argue from an emotional perspective.
Comparative Reading C Klein and Stone approach the topic from a philosophical standpoint,
8.C.1.4: Write expository texts to but Conly argues from an emotional perspective.
explain and analyze information from
multiple sources, using relevant D All three writers are very emotional about the topic.
supporting details, logical organization,
and varied purposeful transitions.

NOTEBOOK
Short Response
1. (a) Analyze How does Conly deal with the slippery slope argument in Answer the questions
paragraph 16 as a counterclaim to her position? (b) Analyze How in your notebook.
Use text evidence to
does Stone use the term “slippery slope” as a main argument?
explain and justify
your reasoning.
2. (a) Analyze Why do you think Conly includes information about

cognitive bias but the other authors do not? (b) Make Inferences
What different attitudes toward human nature do the three authors
express? Explain.
3. Compare and Contrast How do Conly and Klein respond to the idea
that people always make choices that are beneficial?
Timed Writing
A comparison-and-contrast essay is a piece of writing in which you
discuss similarities and differences among two or more topics.
AS SI GN M EN T
Write a comparison-and-contrast essay in which you explain similarities

and differences among the arguments presented in the essay and opinion
pieces, and take a position about which one is the strongest. Briefly
explain how the weakest opinion piece could be improved.
5-MINUTE PLANNER
1. Read the assignment carefully and completely.

2. Decide what you want to say—your claim or main idea.
3. Decide which arguments and evidence from each text you will
include. EQ Before moving
Notes on to a new
4. Organize your ideas, making sure to address these points: selection, go to your
• Clearly express your own position, or claim. Essential Question
Notes and record any
• Use ideas and evidence from all three selections to
support your response.
• Evaluate the strength and fairness of each writer’s have about “Three
argument. Cheers for the Nanny
State” and both
• Suggest how the author of the weakest piece could
opinion pieces.
improve it.
Test Practice 353

PERFORMANCE TASK
Write an Argument: Editorial

Editorials are short persuasive essays that appear in newspapers and on
news sites. People write them to explain and support their opinions about
current events or problems.
AS SI GN M EN T
Write an editorial that answers this question:

What social or community problem do you think
needs greater attention?
Base your essay on your own observations and experiences, but
also research the problem to gather valid evidence about it. In
your essay, define the problem and explain why it should get more
attention. Include the elements of an editorial in your writing.
ELEMENTS OF AN EDITORIAL
Purpose: to argue and support a position
WRITING GALLERY
Visit the Writing Gallery
to watch video tutorials.
Characteristics
 a clear claim that expresses an engaging idea and shows
depth of thought
 different types of credible evidence, including facts,

observations, anecdotes, and expert opinions, drawn from
multiple sources

 consideration of counterclaims and responses that disprove
them
 elements of craft, including precise word choice

 standard English conventions
B.E.S.T.
Structure
K12.EE.5.1: Use the accepted  a well-organized structure that includes
rules governing a specific format to
create quality work. • an engaging introduction
8.C.1.3: Write to argue a position, • a logical flow of ideas from paragraph to paragraph
supporting at least one claim and
rebutting at least one counterclaim • a strong conclusion
with logical reasoning, credible
evidence from sources, elaboration,
and using a logical organizational
structure.

Take a Closer Look at the Assignment

NOTEBOOK
1. What is the assignment asking me to do (in my own words)?
AUDIENCE
2. Is a specific audience mentioned in the assignment? As you write, keep your

audience, or readers in
Yes If “yes,” who is my main audience? mind.
• Explain situations they
may not know about.
No If “no,” who do I think my audience is or should be? • Take their possible
opinions into account and
address them directly.
3. Is my purpose for writing specified in the assignment?

PURPOSE
Yes If “yes,” what is the purpose?
A specific purpose, or
reason for writing, guides an
effective editorial.
No If “no,” why am I writing this editorial? General Purpose: I'll
explain that some things at
school could be better.
Specific Purpose: I'll argue
4. (a) Does the assignment ask me to use specific types of evidence? that the school day starts
too early.
Yes If “yes,” what are they?
EVIDENCE
No If “no,” what types of evidence do I think I need? Plan to use varied evidence,
or supporting details, to
support your ideas.
• Facts: information,
(b) Where will I get the evidence? What ideas can I pull from my EQ including numerical data,
Notes? that can be proved true
• Examples: specific
instances of a general idea
• Personal Observation:
5. Does the assignment ask me to follow a specific organization? ideas from your own
Yes If “yes,” what structure does it require? knowledge or experience
• Expert Opinions: words
of people who have
special knowledge
No If “no,” how can I best order my ideas?
Performance Task: Write an Editorial 355

PERFORMANCE TASK
Planning and Prewriting

Before you draft, decide what you want to say and how you want to say
it. Complete the activities to get started.
Discover Your Thinking: Freewrite!

Freewriting can help you find a great topic for your editorial. Write
quickly and freely for at least three minutes without stopping.
• As you write, think about situations in your school or community that
cause you concern.
• Don't try to write perfect sentences. Just let your ideas flow.
• When time is up, pause and read what you wrote. Mark the ideas that
interest you the most.
• Repeat the process as many times as necessary to get all your ideas out.
For each round, start with the strong ideas you marked earlier.
Get Peer Feedback When you’re done with your freewrite, briefly
discuss your ideas with a partner. Which ideas get the most positive
responses?
NOTEBOOK
WRITE IT What social or community problem do you think

needs greater attention? Why?
B.E.S.T.
8.C.1.3: Write to argue a position, supporting at least one claim and rebutting at least one counterclaim with logical reasoning, credible evidence
from sources, elaboration, and using a logical organizational structure; 8.C.1.5: Improve writing by planning, editing, considering feedback from
adults and peers, and revising for clarity and cohesiveness.

Structure Your Argument: Make a Plan

NOTEBOOK
A. Collect Your Ideas Review your freewriting and pull out the main
points you want to make. Don't worry about the order.
CLAIM
A claim is your position, the
idea you want others to
accept. In this editorial, your
claim will name your topic
and declare its importance.
B. Write a Claim
You might begin with one of
these sentence structures:
• _____ is important, but
it's being ignored.
C. Plan a Structure Decide the content for each part of your editorial. • No one is paying attention
Be sure to decide where to address a counterclaim. to _____, but it's vital.
I. Introduction: Plan an introduction that will engage your reader • We're all overlooking the
and show that your topic is important. Consider starting with an importance of _____.
anecdote that will make people want to keep reading.
II. Body: List your ideas and evidence in a logical order. Be sure to
plan to address at least one counterclaim and show why it is STRUCTURE
not valid. A clear structure, or
III. Conclusion: Plan an ending in which you restate your claim and organization of ideas, helps
leave a memorable impression. readers follow your thinking.
This structure is effective for
editorials:
I. Define the Problem:
Clearly explain all aspects
of the problem you will
write about.
II. Assert Importance: Tell
why the problem is

important by explaining its
negative effects, such as
how it threatens people,
safety, or values.
III. Present Solutions:
Conclude by talking about
ways people might find
practical, realistic
solutions.

PERFORMANCE TASK
Drafting ANNOTATE
Apply the planning work you’ve done and write a first draft. Start with
your introduction, which should grab your audience’s attention.
Read Like a Writer

Reread the beginning of the Mentor Text. Mark details you think engage
readers' interest. One observation has been done for you.
MENTOR TEXT
from Freedom of the Press?
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives Mark words that
newspapers, magazines, and other publications the right to emphasize the
print whatever they see fit, without interference from the importance of the topic.
government. The framers of the Constitution felt that a free
press is vital to a democratic society.
Unfortunately, this important idea does not matter when schools are
involved. Unbelievably, just because citizens are young and attend public The writer clearly defines
school, they are not granted the First Amendment right to express a problem; the adverb
themselves freely in school newspapers. unbelievably suggests a
strong position.
NOTEBOOK ELABORATION
Keep these points in mind as
WRITE IT Write your introduction. Follow the Mentor Text structure you draft your editorial.
and begin by clearly explaining the problem you will write about.
• Audience Remember
your audience. Choose
words they will respond to
and explain details that
may be unfamiliar.
• Tone Use a formal tone to
show that you take the Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
topic seriously.
• Development Support
your points with varied
evidence. For example, if
you cite statistics, add an
anecdote that shows what
they mean for real people.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.6.1: Use appropriate voice and tone when speaking or writing; 8.C.1.3: Write to argue a position, supporting at least one claim and rebutting
at least one counterclaim with logical reasoning, credible evidence from sources, elaboration, and using a logical organizational structure.

Create Coherence
A coherent argument is complete, focused, and logical. It shows depth
of thought and is supported by relevant facts, precise details, and vivid
examples. Use these strategies to make sure all of your ideas and
evidence work together coherently to support your claim.
• Write a topic sentence for each paragraph. This is what the paragraph
is about. The idea you express should relate directly to your claim.
NUMERICAL DATA
• Support each topic sentence with varied evidence that is relevant
Totals, percentages, and
and specific.
other numerical data can be
persuasive evidence.
Examples: Using Varied Evidence • Consult reliable sources to
Choose a variety of evidence that shows different aspects of the topic find data about your
and your claim. topic. Look for recent
studies by reputable
Numerical Data Personal Observation
organizations, such as
Later school start times would help Later school start times would universities or government
reduce the problem of sleep improve student performance. organizations.
deprivation among teens. One recent Every day, I see students • Conduct your own polls
study by the National Sleep Group struggling in first period because or surveys to collect
found that two-thirds of 17-year-olds we're all still waking up. We're unique data that applies
sleep less than seven hours a night. not lazy. We're just tired. to your community.
NOTEBOOK
WRITE IT Write the topic sentences for each of your body TRANSITIONS
paragraphs here. Then, note the type of evidence you are using to
support each one. If all your evidence is of the same kind, add variety. Use transitions that help
readers follow your ideas.
•
Transitions Within
Paragraphs: Analyze the
relationships between
sentences in each
paragraph. Choose
transitions that make
these relationships clear.
• Transitions Across
Paragraphs: Look at how
your paragraphs end and
begin. Use transitions that
make the connections
between paragraphs clear.

PERFORMANCE TASK
Revising ANNOTATE
PEER REVIEW
Now that you have a first draft, revise it to be sure it is as persuasive as Work with a peer to improve
possible. each other’s drafts. Either
upload your writing to an
Clarity and Purpose: sharpness, focus, and precision of your ideas
online collaboration tool or
Development of Ideas: a clear claim that is supported by logic and print out a copy to share.
various types of evidence from credible sources; the rebuttal of at least Then, take turns reading each
one counterclaim other’s editorials and marking
suggested revisions. Use the
Organization: a logical progression of ideas; an engaging introduction Revising elements shown here
and strong conclusion to guide your collaboration.
Language and Style: effective use of tone, diction, and syntax,
enabling your unique voice to emerge
Read Like a Writer

Review the revisions made to the Mentor Text. Then, answer the
questions in the white boxes.
MENTOR TEXT
from Freedom of the Press?
Here are the facts. In 1983, students at Hazelwood High, a
public high school near St. Louis, Missouri, saw two pages
missing from their school newspaper, The Spectrum. They
Why do you think the
found out that the principal, Robert Reynolds, had removed writer deleted this
two of the articles after finding them unfit for publication. sentence?
One article, about teen pregnancy, contained interviews with pregnant
students whose names were changed; the other article dealt with divorce.
Hazelwood High currently enrolls about 1,500 students.
The writer added
Principal Reynolds said the pregnancy article was not appropriate for a sentences to provide a
high school audience. He was also concerned that the girls’ identities more complete
would have been revealed eventually in such a small school. His problem
explanation of a situation.
with the divorce article was that it was not “fair and balanced.” He felt it criticized
parents without providing their side of the story. What problem did the
writer correct by deleting
Some students were outraged and sued the school. When they sued the this phrase?
school, They they argued that the issue was not the content of the articles,
but whether or not the school had the right to suppress them. After all,
everyone feels that suppression is the most common and most destructive
The writer cut a
form of censorship.
bandwagon appeal, a
type of logical fallacy that
suggests the reader
should accept something
as true simply because
many other people do.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.6.1: Use appropriate voice and tone when speaking or writing; 8.C.1.5: Improve writing by planning, editing, considering feedback from
adults and peers, and revising for clarity and cohesiveness; 8.C.5.2: Use a variety of digital tools to collaborate with others to produce writing.

Take a Closer Look at Your Draft

Now, revise your draft. Use the Revision Guide for Argument to evaluate
and strengthen your editorial.
REVISION GUIDE FOR ARGUMENT
EVALUATE TAKE ACTION
Clarity and Purpose

Am I clear about my If you need to clarify your purpose, say it aloud in a simple,
purpose? Is my claim strong straightforward sentence. If your claim is unclear, replace it with
and clear? a short, strong statement.
Development of Ideas
Have I given enough evidence Mark each supporting detail and the claim it supports.
for my claim and addressed Add a section that addresses a counterclaim and provide details
counterclaims? that refute it.
Add evidence to back up ideas that are not fully supported.
Have I used varied evidence Replace evidence from questionable sources with evidence from
from trustworthy sources? reliable sources.
Add facts or expert statements to strengthen your support.
Add anecdotes, examples, or observations to illustrate facts.
Is my reasoning logical? Cut unnecessary or unhelpful repetition.

Rewrite to improve faulty logic, such as bandwagon appeals or
vague generalizations. For example, instead of saying, "All
students get too little sleep," say, "Research shows that 58% of
teen students get less than 7 hours of sleep each night."
Organization
Have I organized my ideas If the structure doesn't work, reorganize ideas and details. Print
in a logical way? your paper and then cut out the paragraphs. Physically rearrange
them until you find a better order.
Are my introduction and Add a question, anecdote, quotation, or striking fact to your
conclusion strong and introduction to interest your audience. End your editorial with
engaging? an insight or quotation that connects to your claim.
Language and Style
Is my tone suitable for an Replace any slang or overly casual language with more formal
editorial in which I attempt options. For example, instead of saying "School schedules are
to persuade my audience? the pits," say "School schedules are counter-productive."
Is my diction appropriate Replace language that is too emotional or too exaggerated for
and right for my topic? your subject. Also replace weak or vague words (nice, pleasant)
with stronger choices (exciting, vital).
Does my syntax clarify my Combine a series of short, choppy sentences to create flowing,
ideas and add variety? compound and complex sentences. Add transitions as needed.

PERFORMANCE TASK
Editing ANNOTATE
Cohesive writing is free of grammatical errors and follows standard English

conventions. Reread your draft, and edit to create a cohesive editorial.
Read Like a Writer

Look at how the writer of the Mentor Text edited an early draft. Then,
follow the directions in the white boxes. The writer replaced a
period with a colon to
introduce a list of
MENTOR TEXT
questions.
We are now left with these critical questions.questions: Is it
fair for some students to have greater freedom of speech in
their high school newspapers when others are subjected to
censorship? What does this situation say about us as a
society and a nation?
The framers of the constitution believed that if Governments
Find and fix capitalization
could censor opinions they did not like, the Public would be less
errors.
educated.
Focus on Sentences
Run-Ons and Comma Splices A run-on sentence occurs when two or
more independent clauses (complete sentences) are connected without any
punctuation or with incorrect punctuation. A comma splice is a run-on in
which a comma incorrectly joins independent clauses. One way to fix run- EDITING TIPS
ons and comma splices is to create complex sentences. Turn one of the Common
independent clauses into a dependent clause by adding a subordinating subordinating
conjunction. Then, connect the dependent clause to the independent clause. conjunctions include
the words although,
EXAMPLE: because, and until.
Run-on: A free press is important people's voices need to be heard. They begin
subordinate, or
Corrected as a Complex Sentence: A free press is important because dependent, clauses
people's voices need to be heard. that cannot stand
alone as sentences.
PRACTICE Identify each sentence as a run-on or a comma splice. You must connect
Then, correct it by creating a complex sentence. dependent clauses to
independent clauses
to create complex
1. School begins early, students do not have enough time to sleep. sentences.
2. We should start just an hour later the results will be impressive.
3. The change may be difficult at first, the transition will be brief.
B.E.S.T.
8.C.1.5: Improve writing by planning, editing, considering feedback from adults and peers, and revising for clarity and cohesiveness; 8.C.3.1: Follow the
rules of standard English grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling appropriate to grade level; 8.C.5.1: Integrate diverse digital media to
emphasize the relevance of a topic or idea in oral or written tasks.

Focus on Capitalization and Punctuation

Capitalization: Proper Nouns Capitalize the names of organizations EDITING TIPS
and specific people or authorities, but not general titles. • If possible, take a break
between drafting and
• Our committee has a meeting with Principal Juarez.
editing. A little bit of
• Our committee has a meeting with the principal.
distance will help you
• The National Council of Teachers of English website is very useful.
spot errors more easily.
• The website hosted by that national council is very useful. • Read your draft for one
Punctuation: Colons and Semicolons In general, colons (:) introduce type of mistake at a
ideas, and semicolons (;) connect ideas. time. For example, you
might first look for
Use a colon to introduce a list, example, or definition. spelling errors and then
look for punctuation
EXAMPLES:
errors.
• These items will improve our town: parks, parking, and police. • Work with a partner to
• No wonder people don't take action: Everyone is confused. look for errors in each
• The new law is incomprehensible: No one can understand it. other’s editorials.
Use a semicolon to join independent clauses.

EXAMPLES:
• Preparation is the key; we must plan carefully.
• Testing is important; education is more important.
PRACTICE In the following sentences, correct capitalization and

punctuation errors. Then, review your own draft for correctness.
1. Three speakers came to our class dr. farhad, mr. owens, and our mayor.
2. My Sister wanted to help, she joined the u.s. Army.
3. Our students need Job Skills, we need stronger after-School programs.
TIP: When choosing

Publishing and Presenting digital media, consider its

relevance, or connection
Add media elements to your editorial to make it more interesting and to the particular problem
your editorial addresses.
relevant. Then, use digital tools to share the finished work with a
For example, if your
community of readers.
editorial focuses on how
INTEGRATE MEDIA Add visual elements to your editorial to engage the problem affects your
your audience and reinforce your claim. For example, add photographs city or town, select
that depict the local problem your editorial addresses or create charts to photographs that show
show data you have collected as support for your claims. local conditions. Also,
consider timeliness. If you
SHARE DIGITALLY Post your editorial to an online collaborative use an interactive chart to
platform, such as a student blog or magazine, or record it as a podcast. show how the problem is
Consider adding diverse digital media, such as digital photographs, likely to worsen over time,
interactive charts, recordings of experts’ quotations, or sound effects, to be sure the data is up to
enhance ideas related to your topic. Invite readers’ comments, and date.
respond to any questions or suggestions that will improve your editorial.

PEER-GROUP LEARNING
Essential Question
What issues matter to you? Maybe they matter to other people, too. When you
stand up for what you believe in, it can sometimes come at great personal cost.
In this section, you will work with your group to learn about situations in which
people and characters take difficult stands.
VIDEO
Peer-Group Learning Strategies INTERACTIVITY

you will continue to learn and work with others.
Review these strategies and the actions you can take to practice them
as you work in small groups. Add ideas of your own for each category.
Use these strategies during Small‑Group Learning.

Prepare
• Complete your assignments so that
you are prepared for group work.
• Take notes on your reading so that
you can share ideas with others in
your group.
Participate fully
• Make eye contact to signal that you
are paying attention.
• Use text evidence when making a
point.

Support others
• Build off ideas from others in your
group.
• Ask others who have not yet spoken
to do so.
Clarify
• Paraphrase the ideas of others to
be sure that your understanding is
correct.
• Ask follow-up questions.

FANTASY: TRADITIONAL FAIRY TALE
Briar Rose
The Brothers Grimm
In this classic fairy tale, an enchanted princess sleeps for a

hundred years in a castle surrounded by thorns.
FANTASY: MODERN RETELLING
Awake
Tanith Lee
What if the classic story isn’t what really happened?
PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Words Do Not Pay
Chief Joseph
What meaning do words have if they are not followed

by actions?
LITERARY BALLAD
The Cremation of Sam McGee

Robert W. Service
In this sometimes grim, sometimes comic, ballad, a stand against

nature has unexpected results.
PERFORMANCE TASK: SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Deliver an Oral Argument
The peer-group readings focus on people and characters who took a stand in
words, deeds, or both. After reading, your group will plan and deliver an oral
presentation about the types of situations in which it becomes necessary to take
a stand.
Peer-Group Learning 365

PEER-GROUP LEARNING
Working as a Group NOTEBOOK
1. Take a Position
In your group, discuss the following question:
What are some character traits of people who stand up for

their beliefs?
As you take turns sharing your thoughts, be sure to provide reasons that
support your ideas. After all group members have shared, discuss the ways
in which these character traits are demonstrated in the actions of those
who stand up for their beliefs.
2. List Your Rules

As a group, decide on the rules that you will follow as you work together.
Two samples are provided. Add two more of your own. You may add or
revise rules as you work through the readings and activities together.
• Everyone should participate in group discussions.

• People should not interrupt.
3. Apply the Rules

Practice working as a group. Share what you have learned about taking a
stand. Make sure each person in the group contributes. Take notes and be
prepared to share with the class one thing that you heard from another
member of your group.
4. Name Your Group

Choose a name that reflects the unit topic.
Our group’s name: ________________________________________________
5. Create a Communication Plan

Decide how you want to communicate with one another. For example, you
might use online collaboration tools, email, or instant messaging.
Our group’s plan:
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate collaborative techniques and active listening skills when engaging in discussions in a variety of
situations; 8.R.3: Reading Across Genres: Interpreting Figurative Language | Understanding Rhetoric.

INTERACTIVITY
Making an Agenda
An agenda is a formal plan that clearly lists action steps and goals, details
about the process, and due dates or deadlines. First, find out the due dates
for the peer-group activities. Then, complete your agenda with your group.
SELECTION GOALS AND ACTIVITIES DUE DATE
Briar Rose
Awake
Words Do Not Pay
Analyzing Language Choices

Writers of every genre make language choices that draw on both the meanings and
sounds of words. The language devices they choose may strengthen appeals, clarify ideas,
or build images.
• Rhetorical devices, such as the use of repetition, are patterns of words and ideas.
Zeugma is a device in which one word applies to two others but in different ways.
Example: He lost his wallet and his patience.
• Figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, is nonliteral and often involves
surprising comparisons. Personification is a type of figurative language in which a
nonhuman subject is given human characteristics, for example: The storm pounded
on the door, demanding to be let in.
• Sound Devices, such as rhyme and meter, emphasize the sound relationships among
words. Onomatopoeia, the use of a word that sounds like what it means, is another
type of sound device. In this sentence, thud is an example of onomatopoeia: The
melon rolled off the table, hitting the floor with a loud thud.
As you read, notice the language choices a writer makes. Ask: Does the writer’s language
choice clarify, develop, or deepen meaning?
Peer-Group Learning 367

Fiction
A fairy tale is a fantasy story that often employs
elements of magic and features characters from
BRIAR ROSE folklore. A modern retelling is an updated AWAKE
version of a fairy tale.
DI TIONAL FA IR Y TALE
TR A
 to tell an imaginative
story that
entertains and educates
Characte ristics
cesses, giants,
 characters (witches, prin
fairies, elves, etc.) from folklore
tests of
 conflicts that center on
love or devotion
ed
 settings that are idealiz
versions of the past (castle s,
kingdoms)
 archetypes—settings, plo
patterns, characters, and
t
MODERN RETELLING
symbols—that appear in Author ’s Pu rpo se
literature of all places and times  to tell an updated version of a
familiar tale
 themes that center on
universal ideas, such as Characte ristics
good and evil f amiliar story elements that are
changed in some way, including
Structu re : Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
al  reimagined characters, settings,

 plot that includes magic
events and follows a linear points of view, or plot events
time sequence  a shift to a more up-to-date
tone or sensibility
 new insights on classic ideas
Structu re
 may alter the time sequence
of events, introducing
non-linear events

Genre / Text Elements TIP: Archetypes appear

in modern literature also.
Archetypes in Literature Certain character types, such as the ruler and For example, a retired
the hero, are often found in traditional fairy tales, folk tales, and epics. astronaut in a modern
sci-fi story may represent
These characters are archetypes, familiar character types that recur in
the Sage, an archetype
the literature of many different cultures. Archetypal characters represent
found in traditional tales.
universal truths about human nature and make stories easier to remember
and retell.
Settings, plot patterns, and symbols also function as archetypes. For example,
a garden is an archetypal setting that represents purity and creation.
ARCHETYPES IN THE FAIRY TALE “SNOW WHITE”
ARCHETYPE DESCRIBES EXAMPLE REPRESENTS
the Innocent a character Snow White, whose envious youth, innocence, and
stepmother orders her death weakness
the Forest a setting the forest where Snow White a place of either
finds protection with the dwarfs danger or of refuge
the Apple a symbol the poisoned apple that kills temptation; evil
Snow White
Death and plot pattern Snow White‘s death and return to the cycle of life
Rebirth life after a prince kisses her
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work as a group to complete each item. INTERACTIVITY
1. Analyze With your group, choose a popular book or movie, and

then identify two archetypes that appear in it. In what way does the
use of archetypes enhance your enjoyment of the work?
2. Analyze Some archetypes are listed and described in the chart. For
each one, explain the universal meaning you think it represents.
WHAT ARCHETYPE
ARCHETYPE EXAMPLE
REPRESENTS
the Hero A warrior risks everything

to save his or her people
from being destroyed by a
monster.
the Quest Survivors of a shipwreck

struggle to establish a home
on a remote island.
the Quest A doctor sets out to find a

rumored plant with magical B.E.S.T.
qualities. 8.R.3.3: Compare and contrast the
use or discussion of archetypes in
texts.
Compare Within Genre 369

PREPARE TO READ
About the Authors

Briar Rose
Concept Vocabulary ANNOTATE
As you read “Briar Rose,” you will encounter these words.
Jacob (1785–1863) and reigned kinsmen courtyard

Wilhelm Grimm
(1786–1859) were brothers
whose collections of Reference Materials A dictionary is a resource you can use to clarify
German folktales have an unfamiliar word’s meaning as well as its syllabication, part of speech,
become known throughout pronunciation, and origin.
the world. First published
in 1812, Children’s and
SAMPLE DICTIONARY ENTRY
Household Tales presents
stories that are part of our fore•tell v. (fawr TEHL) [Middle Eng. fore (before in time) + Old Eng.
cultural heritage, including tell (to relate, narrate)] to predict; past and past part. fore•told
“Cinderella,” “Little Red
Riding Hood,” “Snow Explanation The entry gives the definition. It also shows that the word
White,” “Little Briar Rose” is a verb (v.) with two syllables and combines a Middle English prefix
(or “Sleeping Beauty”), and root.
“Hansel and Gretel,” and
“Rumpelstiltskin.”
PRACTICE As you read “Briar Rose,” use a print dictionary to
determine the meanings, syllabication, word origins, and parts of speech
of unfamiliar words.
Comprehension Strategy NOTEBOOK
Make Predictions
When you make predictions, you use story clues to guess at events that
may happen later. Doing so can deepen your appreciation of a text. The
characteristics of a particular genre, such as a fairy tale, can help you Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
make meaningful predictions.
EXAMPLE
GENRE
PASSAGE PREDICTION
CHARACTERISTIC
In “Briar Rose,” the In fairy tales, wishes are The wish may have a
B.E.S.T. queen’s wish is granted often fulfilled in ways that tragic result.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend by a magical talking fish. turn against the wisher.
relationships, reference materials, PRACTICE After reading paragraph 1 of “Briar Rose,” pause to make a
and/or background knowledge to prediction based on the characteristics of fairy tales. Write your prediction in
denotative meaning of words and
the space next to the text. Read on to confirm or correct your prediction.
phrases, appropriate to grade level.

FAIRY TALE
Briar Rose
The Brothers Grimm
BACKGROUND
The tale of Briar Rose was inspired by an oral retelling of a French
AUDIO
tale, "The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood," written down by Charles
Perrault in the 17th century. In the story, the main character is hurt by
ANNOTATE
a spindle, a slim, sharp wooden rod used to spin wool by hand or with
a mechanical wheel. The spinner twists and winds raw wool around the
spindle to form thread.
A king and queen once upon a time reigned in a country a

1 Use a dictionary or indicate
another strategy you used that
great way off, where there were in those days fairies. Now helped you determine meaning.
this king and queen had plenty of money, and plenty of fine reigned (RAYND) v.
clothes to wear, and plenty of good things to eat and drink, and a MEANING:
coach to ride out in every day: but though they had been married
many years they had no children, and this grieved them very
much indeed. But one day as the queen was walking by the side of
the river, at the bottom of the garden, she saw a poor little fish that
had thrown itself out of the water and lay gasping and nearly
dead on the bank. Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and
threw it back again into the river; and before it swam away it
lifted its head out of the water and said, “I know what your wish
Briar Rose 371

is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return for your kindness to me–you
will soon have a daughter.” What the little fish had foretold soon
came to pass; and the queen had a little girl, so very beautiful that
Use a dictionary or indicate
another strategy you used that the king could not cease looking on it for joy, and said he would
helped you determine meaning. hold a great feast and make merry, and show the child to all the
kinsmen (KIHNZ mehn) n. land. So he asked his kinsmen, and nobles, and friends, and
MEANING: neighbors. But the queen said, “I will have the fairies also, that
they might be kind and good to our little daughter.” Now there
were thirteen fairies in the kingdom; but as the king and queen
had only twelve golden dishes for them to eat out of, they were
forced to leave one of the fairies without asking her. So twelve
fairies came, each with a high red cap on her head, and red shoes
with high heels on her feet, and a long white wand in her hand:
and after the feast was over they gathered round in a ring and
gave all their best gifts to the little princess. One gave her
goodness, another beauty, another riches, and so on till she had all
Use a dictionary or indicate
that was good in the world.
helped you determine meaning. 2 Just as eleven of them had done blessing her, a great noise was
courtyard (KAWRT yahrd) n. heard in the courtyard, and word was brought that the thirteenth
MEANING: fairy was come, with a black cap on her head, and black shoes on
her feet, and a broomstick in her hand: and presently up she came
into the dining-hall. Now, as she had not been asked to the feast
she was very angry, and scolded the king and queen very much,
and set to work to take her revenge. So she cried out, “The king's
daughter shall, in her fifteenth year, be wounded by a spindle, and
fall down dead.” Then the twelfth of the friendly fairies, who had
not yet given her gift, came forward and said that the evil wish
must be fulfilled, but that she could soften its mischief; so her gift
was that the king's daughter, when the spindle wounded her,
should not really die, but should only fall asleep for a hundred
years.
3 However, the king hoped still to save his dear child altogether

from the threatened evil; so he ordered that all the spindles in the
kingdom should be bought up and burnt. But all the gifts of the
first eleven fairies were in the meantime fulfilled; for the princess
was so beautiful, and well behaved, and good, and wise that
everyone who knew her loved her.
4 It happened that, on the very day she was fifteen years old, the
king and queen were not at home, and she was left alone in the
palace. So she roved about by herself, and looked at all the rooms
and chambers, till at last she came to an old tower, to which there
was a narrow staircase ending with a little door. In the door there
was a golden key, and when she turned it the door sprang open,
and there sat an old lady spinning away very busily. “Why, how
now, good mother,” said the princess; “what are you doing there?”
“Spinning,” said the old lady, and nodded her head, humming a

tune, while buzz! went the wheel. “How prettily that little
thing turns round!” said the princess, and took the spindle and
began to try and spin. But scarcely had she touched it before
the fairy's prophecy was fulfilled; the spindle wounded her,
and she fell down lifeless on the ground.
Briar Rose 373

5 However, she was not dead, but had only fallen into a deep
sleep; and the king and the queen, who had just come home, and
all their court, fell asleep too; and the horses slept in the stables,
and the dogs in the court, the pigeons on the house-top, and the
very flies slept upon the walls. Even the fire on the hearth left off
blazing, and went to sleep; the jack1 stopped, and the spit that was
turning about with a goose upon it for the king's dinner stood still;
and the cook, who was at that moment pulling the kitchen-boy by
the hair to give him a box on the ear for something he had done
amiss, let him go, and both fell asleep; the butler, who was slyly
tasting the ale, fell asleep with the jug at his lips: and thus
everything stood still, and slept soundly.
6 A large hedge of thorns soon grew round the palace, and every
year it became higher and thicker; till at last the old palace was
surrounded and hidden, so that not even the roof or the chimneys
could be seen. But there went a report through all the land of the
beautiful sleeping Briar2 Rose (for so the king's daughter was
called): so that, from time to time, several kings' sons came and
tried to break through the thicket into the palace. This, however,
none of them could ever do; for the thorns and bushes laid hold of
them, as it were with hands; and there they stuck fast and died
wretchedly.
7 After many, many years there came a king's son into that land:
and an old man told him the story of the thicket of thorns; and
how a beautiful palace stood behind it, and how a wonderful
princess, called Briar Rose, lay in it asleep, with all her court. He
told, too, how he had heard from his grandfather that many, many
princes had come, and had tried to break through the thicket, but
that they had all stuck fast in it, and died. Then the young prince
said, “All this shall not frighten me; I will go and see this Briar
Rose.” The old man tried to hinder him, but he was bent upon
going.

8 Now that very day the hundred years were ended; and as the
prince came to the thicket he saw nothing but beautiful flowering
shrubs, through which he went with ease, and they shut in after
him as thick as ever. Then he came at last to the palace, and there
in the court lay the dogs asleep; and the horses were standing in
the stables; and on the roof sat the pigeons fast asleep, with their
heads under their wings. And when he came into the palace, the
flies were sleeping on the walls; the spit was standing still; the
butler had the jug of ale at his lips, going to drink a draught; the
maid sat with a fowl in her lap ready to be plucked; and the cook
in the kitchen was still holding up her hand, as if she was going to
beat the boy.
1. jack (JAK) n. machine that turns roasting meat held on a spit.

2. Briar (BRY uhr) n. woody plant that has sharp thorns.

9 Then he went on still farther, and all was so still that he could
hear every breath he drew; till at last he came to the old tower, and
opened the door of the little room in which Briar Rose was; and
there she lay, fast asleep on a couch by the window. She looked so
beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her, so he stooped
down and gave her a kiss. But the moment he kissed her she
opened her eyes and awoke, and smiled upon him; and they went
out together; and soon the king and queen also awoke, and all the
court, and gazed on each other with great wonder. And the horses
shook themselves, and the dogs jumped up and barked; the
pigeons took their heads from under their wings, and looked
about and flew into the fields; the flies on the walls buzzed again;
the fire in the kitchen blazed up; round went the jack, and round
went the spit, with the goose for the king's dinner upon it; the
butler finished his draught of ale; the maid went on plucking the
fowl; and the cook gave the boy the box on his ear.
10 And then the prince and Briar Rose were married, and the
wedding feast was given; and they lived happily together all their
lives long. ❧
Briar Rose 375

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
Work on your own to
answer the questions 1. Personal Connections If you were to read this story aloud to a child,
in your notebook. which parts would you emphasize for their drama or humor? Explain.
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) How and why does the fish help the king and
queen? (b) Why does the thirteenth fairy place a curse on Briar Rose?
(c) How is the entire kingdom affected when Briar Rose is struck down?
3. Strategy: Make Predictions (a) Review a prediction you made while

reading “Briar Rose.” What fairy tale characteristic helped you make
this prediction? (b) Were you able to confirm your prediction or did you
have to correct it? Explain.
WORKING
AS A GROUP
Discuss your responses Analysis and Discussion
to the Analysis and 4. (a) Summarize How is the thirteenth fairy described? (b) Make
Discussion questions Inferences What do these details suggest about the thirteenth fairy
with your group.
and her differences from the other fairies?
• Take turns as you
discuss the questions.
• Build on each other’s
5. Analyze What cultural value is emphasized by the bad outcome of the
ideas. decision not to invite the fairy? Explain.
6. (a) Deduce Why is the final prince able to succeed when all others
had failed? (b) Draw Conclusions What message does his success
convey about the importance of personal qualities and the role of fate?
7. Evaluate Is the princess in this story able to affect what happens or Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
exert her own will or desires? Explain.
B.E.S.T.
and justify reasoning. 8. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose a passage from the story that
you find especially interesting or important. You’ll discuss the passage
grade-level complex texts proficiently. with your group during Close-Read activities.
K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate
listening skills when engaging in
discussions in a variety of situations.
EQ When is it right to take
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context Notes a stand?
relationships, reference materials, What have you learned about taking a stand from reading this story?
determine the connotative and Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and
denotative meaning of words and thoughts about “Briar Rose.”

Close Read
PRACTICE Complete the following activities. Use text evidence
to support your responses.
BRIAR ROSE
1. Present and Discuss With your group, share the passages from the
story that you found especially interesting. Discuss what you notice,
the questions you have, and the conclusions you reach. For example,
you might focus on the following passages:
• Paragraph 5: Discuss the humorous elements in this description and
why the author might have chosen to include them.
• Paragraph 10: Retell the story, using the images as support. Then,
discuss how the end of the story is similar to patterns presented in
other fairy tales.
2. Reflect on Your Learning What new ideas or insights did you
uncover during your second reading of the text?
NOTEBOOK
LANGUAGE STUDY
WORD NETWORK
Concept Vocabulary Add interesting words
Why These Words? The vocabulary words are related.
from the text to your
Word Network.
reigned kinsmen courtyard
1. With your group, determine what the words have in common. Write
your ideas.
2. Add another word that fits the category. ______________________
3. Use each vocabulary word in a sentence. Include context clues that
hint at each word’s meaning.
Word Study
Compound Words A compound word, such as courtyard, combines
the meanings of two separate words to create a new meaning. Compound
words can be open (ironing board), hyphenated (runner-up), or closed
(broomstick). Use a dictionary or online reference to answer these questions:
1. Is the Grimms’ dining-hall now a closed, hyphenated, or open
compound?
2. Which meaning of case is in the compound word staircase?
3. What other compound words, besides broomstick, are formed

with stick?
Briar Rose 377


TIP: The fairy tales
“Rumpelstilskin” and Archetypes in Literature Traditional fairy tales share many of the same
“Snow White” use archetypes, the elements in stories that recur across time periods and
the archetypes of cultures. These recurring archetypes create familiar patterns that readers can
the Innocent and the use to predict the resolution, or outcome, of the conflict in a fairy tale.
Caregiver, two of the
same archetypes that
appear in “Briar Rose.” NOTEBOOK INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE Work on your own to answer the questions and

complete the activity. Then, discuss your responses with the group.
1. (a) Reread sentences 1–5 of “Briar Rose.” What does the fish promise
the queen? (b) Analyze How is the fish like the twelve fairies who are
invited to the feast?
2. Analyze Identify the character, plot event, or symbol in “Briar Rose”

that represents each archetype listed in the chart. Then, explain the
universal meaning that you think each archetype has.
CHARACTER, PLOT EVENT,

ARCHETYPE MEANING
OR SYMBOL
the Innocent
the Caregiver
the Quest
Falling Asleep
and Awakening
3. (a) Identify What gift does the character who represents the
archetype of the Caregiver give Briar Rose? (b) Analyze What does
this gift suggest about the final outcome of the story?
4. (a) Analyze Which character in the story best fits the archetype of
the Hero? Explain. (b) Interpret Do you think this character fully
represents the archetype of the Hero? Explain.
B.E.S.T. 5. (a) Compare and Contrast In what way are the twelfth and
8.R.3.3: Compare and contrast thirteenth fairies alike and different? (b) Interpret How would you
the use or discussion of archetypes categorize those two fairies as archetypes? Explain.
in texts.
8.C.3.1: Follow the rules of
standard English grammar,
punctuation, capitalization, and
spelling appropriate to grade level.

Conventions
Verb Mood The mood of a verb is the tone, or attitude, it conveys
toward the action or state of being it expresses—for instance, longing
or insistence. A writer’s choices about verb mood contribute to the
emotional quality of a text. Changing the mood of a verb changes the
tone of a sentence. This chart shows examples of four verb moods.
MOOD AND USE NOTES EXAMPLE SENTENCES
Indicative: makes a statement The verb may be in the past A king and queen once reigned in a
of facts (“it was”), the present (“it is”), or far distant country.
the future (“it will be”) tense.
Conditional: shows uncertainty Helping verbs, such as could, The king said he would hold a great
or refers to a thing that has not would, or should, are often used. feast to celebrate his daughter’s birth.
happened yet
Imperative: issues a request or Verbs such as be, do, make, and So he decreed, “Burn every spindle in
command bring are often used. The subject the land.”
“you” may be implied.
Subjunctive: expresses a The verb often follows the word Then the twelfth of the friendly fairies
wish, makes a suggestion that (“insisted that it be”) or if (“if asked that the queen bring the baby
or proposal, or shows that it were”). Note that were is used to her.
something is doubtful or instead of was to state a wish or If I were able to lift the evil curse,
untrue an impossible outcome. I would do so.
Sometimes a shift occurs in the verb mood in a sentence. For example, the
verb mood shifts from subjunctive to conditional in this sentence: If we
were able to burn all the spindles, we could save her from the fairy’s curse.
NOTEBOOK
READ IT Complete the activities. INTERACTIVITY
1. Identify the mood of the underlined verb(s) in each sentence.

a. Make haste and prepare the feast for my kinsmen.

b. The prince would confront the thorns as others had before him.
c. If she were more powerful, she would lift the curse completely.
2. What verb mood is used throughout paragraph 2 of "Briar Rose"?
WRITE IT Rewrite the following sentences using the verb mood in

parentheses.
1. Conditional: They should have invited their aunt to the awards

ceremony. (indicative)
2. Indicative: I finished my work and went for a bike ride. (subjunctive/
conditional)
Briar Rose 379

PREPARE TO READ
Compare Fiction
“Awake,” the retelling of “Briar Rose,” changes
some aspects of the original story but keeps others.
BRIAR ROSE
Pay attention to similarities and differences in the AWAKE
two stories as you read “Awake.”
About the Author Awake

As you read “Awake,” you will encounter these words.
motionless steal static
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) Multiple-Meaning Words and Context Clues Many words have more
was the daughter of two
than one meaning. To determine which meaning of a word is being used,
professional dancers. She
look for clues in the surrounding words, sentences, and paragraphs.
was dyslexic and didn’t
learn to read until her
father taught her at age 8; EXAMPLE He bumped the shelf and upset the vase of flowers. As he
she started writing fiction mopped up the mess, he was unhappy and upset.
when she was 9. Lee’s first Analysis: Upset is a verb that means “spilled” (clue: “bumped the
books were for children, shelf”). Upset is also an adjective that means “distressed” (clues: the
but her best-known works situation being described and the synonym unhappy).
are science fiction, fantasy,
and re-imaginings of classic
fairy tales. PRACTICE As you read “Awake,” use context clues within and beyond
paragraphs to determine the meanings of multiple-meaning words.
Comprehension Strategy NOTEBOOK
Make Predictions
A prediction is a type of guess you make about events that will happen Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
later in a story. Good readers make predictions and then correct or
confirm them as they read on. You can use the characteristics of the
genre you are reading to make predictions.
EXAMPLE
SAMPLE CHARACTERISTIC SAMPLE
PASSAGE OF GENRE PREDICTION
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend The first night Modern retellings Roisa, which sounds like
grade-level complex texts proficiently. she woke up… often change the “Rose,” will be a more
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context Roisa had nature of familiar active version of a
clues, figurative language, word been surprised. characters. classic fairy tale princess.
determine the connotative and PRACTICE As you read “Awake,” make predictions based on your
phrases, appropriate to grade level. knowledge of fairy tales and retellings. Write your prediction in the space
next to the text. Read on to correct or confirm your predictions.
MODERN RETELLING
Awake
Tanith Lee
BACKGROUND
The story of Briar Rose has been retold in many different versions and
AUDIO
genres, from traditional retellings to ballets, operas, and movies. This
version of the story reimagines a key detail of the original tale—Briar
ANNOTATE
Rose’s long sleep—and ends up with a very different result.
T he first night she woke up, which was the night after it had just
happened, Roisa had been surprised. She’d been upset. She
knew something had previously gone terribly wrong—exactly like
when you have a bad dream, and you wake and can’t remember
what it was, only that it was awful, and the feeling is still there.
2 Now, of course, she was used to waking like this. She looked
forward to it every night near morning, when she lay down to
sleep again.
Awake 381
3 She sat up, threw back the light embroidered cover, and
slipped from the bed. She slept clothed always, in the rose silk
dress she had been wearing the evening It happened. Yet the silk
was always fresh, as if just laundered and pressed smooth by hot
stones. She herself was also always fresh, as if just bathed and
scented, and her hair washed in the essences of flowers. She had
long ago ceased to puzzle over that, though before That Night
keeping herself so perfect had been a time-consuming daily task.
4 Roisa was sixteen. It had been her sixteenth birthday, the day it
happened. Now she was still sixteen, but she had done and
learned such a lot. She knew that the cleanness, and everything
like that, was simply because of Great Magic.
5 By the bed was a little (magically) new-baked loaf, apples and
strawberries (magically) just picked, and a china pot of mint tea,
(magically) brewed and poured.
6 Roisa made her nightly breakfast.
7 Then she left the attic room.
8 Outside, the narrow stairway was as it always was, dirty and
cobwebbed, thick in dusts. But when the skirt of the silk dress
brushed through the muck, nothing stuck to it.
9 She was used to that also.
10 As she was to the people standing about lower down,
absolutely stone-still, as if playing statues in some game. There
were the ladies-in-waiting first, the three who must have meant to
follow her up to the attics that evening. Unlike on Roisa, webs and
dust had gathered on them, spoiling their gorgeous party clothes
and jewelry and carefully arranged hair. It was a shame. Roisa still
felt sorry for them, if in a rather remote way.
11 The first time, it had really shocked her. She had shouted at
them, pulled at them, tried to make them move. Then, worse than
these, the other things—for example, the cat that had become a
furry toy cat on the lowest landing, the bird that stood on the sill

with its wings fanned out, never lowering them, never using them
to fly off. And the young guardsman she had always liked,
Use context clues or indicate standing motionless, already dusty in his splendid uniform, his
helped you determine meaning.
blue eyes wide open, not seeing her at all.
motionless (MOH shuhn
12 Worst of everything, however, had been to find her parents—
luhs) adv. her funny, pretty mother, her important, grand father—sitting
MEANING: there like two waxworks in the carven chairs from which they’d
been watching the dancing in the Hall. The dancing from which
Roisa had escaped, actually, to meet secretly with the
guardsman—but somehow she had missed him—and then—then
instead she had, also somehow, gone up into the attics of the
palace…

13 Roisa had cried when she woke that first night. She had felt no
longer sixteen, but about six. She had put her head into the lap of
her mother’s dress, clutching her mother’s body, which felt like a
cold rock. Sobbing.
14 That was when They came.
15 They—the ones who told her. The ones with the magic.
* * *
16 When she got down to the palace Hall tonight, Roisa did pause,
only for a minute or so, to dust her mother.
17 She always did that. It seemed essential. Because of Roisa’s

attention to her mother, the Queen still looked glamorous—her
hair and necklaces still shone.
18 The King, Roisa didn’t try to dust. She would never have dared
because in the past he had seldom touched her, and then only with
the firmest of hands, the coolest of kisses.
19 Beyond the Hall lay the royal gardens, into which, her dusting
done, Roisa ran.
20 Oh—it was full moon tonight.
21 Once, wonderful scents had drifted here from lilies and from
arbors overgrown by jasmine. A gentle breeze blew this evening,
and not one of the now-scentless flowers, not one of the tall,
graceful trees stirred. Not a single leaf moved, nor even the wind
chimes hung in the branches.
Awake 383
22 By the fountain—whose jetting water had stopped in a long,
faintly luminous arch, like rippled glass—the two white doves sat,
as they had done now for years. The doves didn’t move. Nothing
did. Not even the moon, which lived in the sky—at least, it never
did when she saw it. Only the night wind, the breeze, only that
ever moved.
23 Roisa glanced about her, by this time no longer worried over
the time-frozen gardens. Not even the fish in the pool, still as
golden coins, concerned her anymore. There was nothing she
could do about any of this.
24 Just then something seemed to ride straight out of the moon.
25 They had come back. As they always did.
26 With the brilliant flutter of sea spray, thirteen white horses
landed on the lawn. On the back of every one sat a slim, clever-
faced lady with flowing hair, each of a different color—and these
tints ranged between apricot and copper, between jet and
mahogany, from flame to pewter to violet. Everything sparkled—
horses, ladies—with gems, beads, fireflies—then the thirteenth
horse came trotting forward, and the thirteenth rider swung from
her gilded saddle, light as air. Even though by now she knew this
person so well—better, probably, than she’d known her own
mother—Roisa never quite stopped being surprised by her.
27 She was a Fey, of course. One of the Faery Faer, the Elder Ones.
28 “Awake, I see,” said the Thirteenth Fey, whose name was
Carabeau (which meant something like My-friend-who-is-good-
looking-and-has-her-own-household). “Up with the owl, my Roisa.
Come on, let’s be off.”
29 So Roisa mounted the horse behind Carabeau, as she always did.
30 After which the thirteenth horse and all the other twelve horses
lifted up again into the sky. They weren’t winged, these faery
steeds—it was just that they could, when they or their riders
wanted, run as easily through the air as over the earth.

31 In seconds the great palace and its grounds became small, far
off and far down. It was possible to see, all round them, the high
wall of black thorns that kept out all the world. And beyond the
thorn-wall, the deserted town, the deserted weedy fields, and
ruined cottages from which everyone had, over the years,
dejectedly gone away. For the palace was under a curse that
would last a century, and everybody knew it.
32 Roisa laughed as the horses dived up and up. The moon was
like a huge white melon, hung on a vine of milky clouds. The
shadows of the horses ran below them over moonlit forests, over
looking-glass lakes and gleaming, snake-winding rivers, over
sleeping villages and marble cities that had also intended to stay
wide awake.

33 “Look, do you see, Roisa?” asked Carabeau, and she pointed
with her long, ringed finger at an open courtyard in one of the
cities. There was torchlight there and music and dancing—but all
stopped utterly still. Exactly like the scene in the palace they had
left behind.
34 “Do you see the banners?” asked Carabeau. “The lights and the
colored windows. Look at the girls’ rich dresses and the fine
clothes of the men. Look at that little dog dancing.”
35 And the little dog was dancing, up on its hind legs, cute as
anything. Only right now it didn’t move.
36 Roisa sighed.
37 “What, my dear?” asked the Faery.
38 “I wish—“ said Roisa.
39 “Yes? You know you can say to me or ask me anything, my
love.”
40 “Yes, I know. I’m only—sorry I can’t ever see—what it’s really
like—I miss it, Carabeau. Only a little bit. But I do.”
41 “Your old life, do you mean? Before you fell asleep and then
woke up with us.”
42 “Yes.”
43 “Before the Spinning Wheel and the Spindle with its pointed tip.”
44 “Yes, Oh—it’s marvelous to fly about like this, to see
everything, and all the foreign lands—the towers and spires so
high up, the splendid rooms, the mountains and seas—I
remember that forest with tigers, and the procession with colored
smokes and elephants—and the great gray whale in the ocean,
and the lighthouse that was built before I was even born—“
45 “And the libraries of books,” said Carabeau softly, “the
treasure-houses of diamonds, the cathedrals, and the huts.”
46 “Yes,” said Roisa.
47 She hadn’t known before she began that she would say any of
this. She hadn’t known she felt any of it. (Nor did she think if
Carabeau might be testing her in order that she be sure of this

very thing.)
48 “Is it because,” said Carabeau, “when you visit these sights
with us, time has always stopped?”
49 “Yes—no—“
50 “Because Roisa, one day that may change. How would that be
for you, if the people moved and the clocks ticked?”
51 “Of course—of course I wish everything was like that—so I
could see it properly alive. But . . . it isn’t only that. I want—to live
inside it—not outside all the time.”
52 “Even if you are outside with us, who love you so well? Even
with me?”
53 “Oh,” said Roisa.
Awake 385
54 Not long after that the horses dipped down. They galloped
between scentless streamers of low cloud that should have carried
with them the smells of spices or fog or rain. They brushed the
unmoving tops of trees with their glittering hoofs and skimmed
over a wild night-valley.
55 This time they landed in the courtyard of a vast old temple.
Though some of the building had come down from enormous age,
still lines of carved pillars upheld a roof whose tiles, blue as eyes,
remained.
56 In the past they had often come down into the places of human
life and walked the horses, or walked on foot, among markets and
along busy highways, mingling with the people and the beasts
who, “playing statues” like everyone in the palace and
everywhere, stayed motionless as granite.
57 That very first night—so long ago it seemed now—Carabeau
and the other twelve Feys had explained to her how, while Roisa
and her palace slept their magical sleep, the rest of the world went
on about its usual affairs. And how, when she woke up each night,
it was inside a timeless zone the Faery Faer could make and carry
with them. And then, though she and they might spend all the
hours of darkness traveling to the world’s four corners and back,
no time at all would pass in mortal lands.

58 “It isn’t,” Carabeau had said, “that we stop their time—only
that we move aside from the time they keep. For them less than
the splinter of a single second goes by—for us it is a night.”
59 “But the wind moves—“ Roisa had cried.
60 “That wind that blows is not a wind of the world, nor subject to
the laws of the earth. That wind is magical, and its own master.
But the moon doesn’t move, and the sea doesn’t. The clouds don’t
move at all.”
61 Astonished, Roisa had never really understood, which she saw
now. She’d only accepted it all.
62 Of course she had. Thirteen Faeries had told it to her.
63 Only one thing. That first night she had asked if the other
people in the palace—her parents, the guardsman—if they could
wake up too, as she had done. Because, as she knew, now the
curse had fallen they, like her, were meant to sleep for a hundred
years.
64 “They won’t wake,” said Carabeau. “Not until the proper hour.
Or else there would be no point to any of this.”
65 Tonight they dismounted from the horses in the ancient temple
courtyard. It was full of the (magically raised) perfume of myrtle
bushes, which had once grown there. Faery lamps of silvery
amber and cat’s-eye green hung from spider silks or floated in the
air. An orchestra of toads and night crickets made strange,
rhythmic music. Invisible servants came to wait on the Thirteen
Feys and Roisa, bringing a delicate feast of beautiful, unguessable
foods and drinks.
66 They picnicked while the temple bats, caught in that second’s
splintering, hung above like an ebony garland thrown at the
moon.
67 Roisa once more sighed. She’d tried hard not to.
68 Carabeau looked into her eyes. But the eyes of a Fey, even if you
look directly into them, can’t be seen into.

69 “Do you recall, Roisa, what happened that evening when you
were sixteen? Then tell it again.”
70 So Roisa told Carabeau and the others what they all knew so
well. They listened gravely, their chins on their hands or their
hands lightly folded on the glimmering goblets. As if they had
never heard any of it before.
71 But this story was famous in many places.
72 At Roisa’s birth twelve of the Faery kind had come to bless the
child with gifts. These gifts were just the sort of thing a princess
would be expected to have and to display. So they made her
Lovely, Charming, Graceful, Intelligent, Artistic, Well Mannered,
Dutiful, Affectionate, Patient, Brave, Calm, and Modest.
Awake 387
73 But all the while they were giving her these suitable gifts, the
Twelve Feys were restless, especially the two that had to give the
baby the blessings of good manners and dutifulness, and the other
Faery who had to make her modest.
Use context clues or indicate 74 Every so often, one or several of them would steal closer and
helped you determine meaning. stare in at the cradle. The court believed they were just admiring
steal (STEEL) v. the baby. Of course she was exceptional—she was the king’s
MEANING: daughter.
75 Eventually the Feys left the room, leaving it loud with
congratulatory rejoicing. By magical means they’d called to their
own queen, the Thirteenth Fey, whose name was Carabeau.
76 Now this was unusual. And in the town, which then thrived at
the palace’s foot, people looked up astounded to see the Queen
Fey ride over the sky in her emerald carriage drawn by lynxes.
77 When she entered the King’s Hall, courtiers and nobles stood
speechless at the honor. But Carabeau looked at them with her
serious, wise face, and silence fell. Then she spoke.
78 “The princess shall be all that’s been promised you. You’ll be
proud of her, and she will fulfill all your wishes. But first she shall
have time for herself.”
79 At that a hiss had gone up like steam from a hot stone over
which has been flung some cold water.
80 The king frowned. His royal lips parted.
81 Carabeau lifted her hand, and the king closed his mouth.
82 “The Spinning Wheel of Time shall stop,” said Carabeau,
“because this child, by then sixteen years old, shall grasp the
Spindle that holds the thread time is always weaving. Then she
shall gain a hundred years of freedom before she becomes only
your daughter, and wife to the prince you approve for her.”
83 The king shouted. It wasn’t sensible, but he did.
84 The rest—was history.
85 When Roisa finished recounting this, which was all she knew,

and all the Feys had told her, Carabeau nodded.
86 “You remember too that night, and how you went to meet the
guardsman—you, always so dutiful, but not then—and somehow
you missed him, as we intended, and climbed into the attics, and
found me there. And when I offered you the chance of a hundred
years of journeys, of adventures—of freedom—you gripped time’s
Spindle, and the Time Wheel stopped.”
87 “I don’t remember that—I never have,” said Roisa doubtfully.
“Only—going upstairs, and perhaps finding you. But when I first
woke afterward, I was frightened.”
88 “But now you are not. Understand, my love, for you this
wasn’t a curse or doom. It was my gift, the thirteenth blessing.
And anyway, at last the hundred years are at an end. This night is

your final one among us. Let me tell you what has been arranged
for you when you return to the world. Tomorrow a powerful and
handsome prince, even more handsome than the guardsman, will
hack a way in through the thorns. He’ll climb up through the
gardens, the palace, mount the attic stair, wondering at it all. He’ll
find you asleep, as always you sleep by day. He’ll wake you up.
You’ll fall in love at once, and so will he. Then everyone else will
wake. The birds will fly about, the cats will purr, the earth’s own
wind will make the leaves rustle, the sun and the moon will cross
the sky. You will live happily till the end of your days, you and
your prince, admired and loved by all. The life that, perhaps, now
you long for.”
89 The Thirteenth Fey paused. She waited, looking at Roisa.
90 Roisa realized that something was expected of her. She didn’t
know what it was—should she thank the Faeries excessively for
all the pleasures and travels, the feasts eaten and sights seen? Or
for their care of her, their kindness?
91 Roisa didn’t know that the Thirteenth Faery was actually
waiting to see if Roisa would say to her, But I don’t really want that!
For Roisa to burst out that No, no, now the choice was truly hers,
really she wanted to stay among the Faery kind. Providing only
that they would lift the spell from those left in the palace (as she
knew they could), then she would far rather become one of their
own—if that were possible (and it was). Even if it lost her a
princess’s crown and all the rough romance of the human world.
92 But Roisa, of course, didn’t want that, did she.
93 She wanted precisely what she had been supposed to have,
before the magic of the Spinning Wheel and the hundred years’
waking sleep.
94 And so, when Carabeau murmured quietly, “Are you glad your
century of freedom is over?” Roisa sprang up. She raised her head
and her arms to the sky. She crowed, (not modestly or calmly)
with delight, imagining the fun, happiness, glory that was coming.
95 And then, startling herself, she found she was crying. Just like
on that first night. Just like then.
96 And when she looked down again at the Feys, they seemed pale
as ghosts, thin as shadows, and pearls spangled their cheeks, for
the Faery People can’t cry real tears.
97 Then they kissed her. The last kisses of magic. The next kiss she
would know would be a mortal one.
Use context clues or indicate
98 “Shall I remember—any of this? she asked as, under the static another strategy you used that
moon, they rode the sky to her palace. helped you determine meaning.
99 “Everything.” static (STA tihk) adj.
100 “Won’t anyone . . . be jealous?” asked Roisa. MEANING:
101 The Thirteenth Faery said, “You must pretend it was all a dream
you had while you slept.” And in a voice Roisa never heard,
Carabeau added, “And soon, to you, that is all it will be.” ❧
Awake 389
BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
Work on your own to
answer the questions 1. Personal Connections If you were in Roisa‘s situation, what would you
in your notebook. enjoy most? What might you miss most about daily life? Explain.
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) What do Roisa and the Feys do each night? (b) What
blessing has Carabeau given to Roisa? (c) What decision does Roisa make
at the end of the story?
3. Strategy: Make Predictions (a) Cite a prediction you made as you

read this story. (b) What aspect of the genre did you use to make this
prediction? Explain. (c) Were you able to confirm your predictions, or did
you have to correct them? Explain.
WORKING
AS A GROUP Analysis and Discussion
Discuss your responses
to the Analysis and
4. (a) Contrast In what ways do Roisa and her father, the king, react
Discussion questions
differently to the Feys? (b) Make Inferences What reasons account for
with your group. If
this difference? Cite story evidence in your response.
necessary, revise your
original answers to
reflect what you learn 5. (a) Interpret In paragraph 64, what is Carabeau implying when she says,
from your discussion. “They won’t wake ... Not until the proper hour. Or else there would be no
point to any of this”? (b) Evaluate How does this implication affect your
understanding of Carabeau and the other fairies? Explain.
6. (a) Analyze Is Roisa mainly an active or a passive character in her own

story? Support your answer with evidence from the story. (b) Make a Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Judgment Does Roisa make a wise decision at the end of the story?
Why or why not?
7. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose a passage from the text that you
B.E.S.T. find especially interesting or important. You’ll discuss the passage with
your group during Close-Read activities.
K12.EE.3.1: Make inferences to
When is it right to take a
EQ stand?
relationships, reference materials, Notes
and/or background knowledge to What have you learned about taking a stand from reading this story?
determine the connotative and Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and
denotative meaning of words and thoughts about “Awake.”

Close Read
AWAKE
1. Present and Discuss With your group, share the passages from the
story that you found especially interesting. Discuss what you notice,
• Paragraphs 17–18: Discuss how Roisa’s actions reflect her feelings
about her parents.
• Paragraphs 38–44: Discuss how punctuation in Roisa’s dialogue
suggests her personality and conflicted feelings.
NOTEBOOK WORD NETWORK

LANGUAGE STUDY
Concept Vocabulary Word Network.
Why These Words? The vocabulary words are related.
motionless steal static
1. With your group, discuss what the words have in common. If

necessary, ask for help from peers or teachers.

3. Discuss each question: (a) How would you move if you wanted to
steal into a room? (b) In what type of situation would you want to
remain motionless? (c) What might happen in a static movie scene?
Word Study
Multiple-Meaning Words Multiple-meaning words have more than
one meaning. For example, steal can be a verb that means “take something
that belongs to someone else,” or “move silently so as to avoid notice.”
1. Use a dictionary to find a third meaning for steal. Write a sentence

in which you use the word with that meaning.
2. Use a dictionary to find three meanings for the word fast. Then,
write three sentences using each different meaning.
Awake 391

TIP: Many story
elements of a modern Archetypes in Literature An archetype is a recurring symbol or
retelling remain
pattern in literature. In a modern retelling of a traditional fairy tale, the
unchanged so that
author may re-imagine archetypal characters. For example, the author
the story’s connection
to the traditional tale
may provide details about an evil wizard’s childhood that prompt readers
is not lost. However, to sympathize with him or hope that he will undergo a transformation
some elements, from evil to good.
including characters, Comparing and contrasting the archetypes in a traditional tale to those
settings, plot events, in a modern retelling can provide readers with new insights into the ideas
and symbols, may
and values of both the past and present.
change dramatically.
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work on your own to answer these questions. Then,

discuss your responses with the group.
1. (a) Interpret In “Briar Rose,” the title character represents the

Innocent archetype. What term could you use to name the more
modern archetype that Roisa represents? (b) Compare and Contrast
How does the Innocent archetype compare and contrast to the
archetype represented by Roisa?
2. (a) Analyze How does the character that represents the Caregiver
archetype in “Briar Rose” change in “Awake”? (b) Draw Conclusion
Why do you think the author of “Awake” made this change?
3. (a) Analyze Reread paragraph 3 of “Briar Rose” and paragraph 82 of

“Awake.” What do the archetypal symbols of the Spinning Wheel and
Spindle represent in each tale? (b) Compare and Contrast How are
the meanings of these two symbols the same and different? Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
4. Compare and Contrast (a) What meaning does the archetypal

B.E.S.T. plot pattern Falling Asleep and Awakening represent in each tale?
8.R.1: Reading Prose and Poetry | (b) How are these meanings the same and different? (c) Analyze
Literary Elements How does the meaning of the archetype in “Awake” reflect modern
8.R.3: Reading Across Genres | ideas about women?
Comparative Reading
language contributes to meaning
and explain examples of
symbolism in text(s).
8.R.3.3: Compare and contrast
the use or discussion of archetypes
in texts.

Author’s Craft
Situational Irony In stories that include situational irony, events
happen that directly contradict readers’ expectations. With modern
retellings of fairy tales, the readers’ familiarity with the genre and with
a specific story creates certain expectations. These include assumptions AWAKE
about what characters are like, their motivations, and the types of actions
they will take as they face conflicts. Situational irony challenges all of
those assumptions. In this story, situational irony is introduced in the first
sentence:
The first night she woke up, which was the night after it had just
happened, Roisa had been surprised.
Readers familiar with “Briar Rose” expect the title character to fall into an
unbroken sleep. Here, that expectation is immediately contradicted.
INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE Work with your group to complete NOTEBOOK

the activity and answer the questions.
1. Analyze Use the chart to compare events in “Briar Rose” with
the corresponding events in “Awake.” Then, explain how the
contrasts create situational irony in the modern story.
BRIAR ROSE AWAKE IRONY CREATED
An angry thirteenth fairy casts a

spell on Briar Rose that lasts one
hundred years.
The sleeping princess is

released from the spell when
kissed by the prince.
2. (a) Connect In what ways do the details in paragraph 72 of “Awake”

reflect readers’ expectations of a traditional fairy tale? (b) Interpret
Reread paragraphs 78 and 82. Explain how Carabeau’s actions challenge
readers’ assumptions about the character of the thirteenth fairy and the
motivations for her gift.
3. (a) Analyze What is situationally ironic about Roisa’s choice to end her
sleep? Explain. (b) Interpret How does her choice change the message
of the traditional tale?
Awake 393
TEST PRACTICE
Compare Fiction
Multiple Choice INTERACTIVITY
BRIAR ROSE These questions are based on “Briar Rose” and “Awake.” Choose the
best answer to each question.
1. Which answer choice is an accurate description of the character who
represents the Caregiver archetype in each story?
A The thirteenth fairy is the Caregiver archetype in both stories.
B The twelfth fairy is the Caregiver archetype in “Briar Rose,” but the
thirteenth fairy is the Caregiver in “Awake.”
AWAKE
C The twelfth fairy is the Caregiver archetype in both stories.
D The thirteenth fairy is the Caregiver archetype in “Briar Rose,” but
the twelfth fairy is the Caregiver in “Awake.”
2. Read and compare these two passages from the stories.
from Briar Rose from Awake

However, she was not dead, but had She had shouted at them, pulled at
only fallen into a deep sleep; and the them, tried to make them move. Then,
king and the queen, who had just come worse than these, the other things—
home, and all their court, fell asleep too; for example, the cat that had become
and the horses slept in the stables, and a furry toy cat on the lowest landing,
the dogs in the court, the pigeons on the the bird that stood on the sill with
house-top, and the very flies slept upon its wings fanned out, never lowering
the walls. Even the fire on the hearth left them, never using them to fly off. And
off blazing, and went to sleep; the jack the young guardsman she had always
stopped, and the spit that was turning liked, standing motionless… his blue
about with a goose upon it for the king’s eyes wide open, not seeing her at all.
dinner stood still...
A In “Briar Rose,” the kingdom wakes up while the princess sleeps,

whereas in “Awake,” everyone in the kingdom sleeps.
B In both stories, the kingdom is awake while the princess sleeps.
C In both stories, everyone in the kingdom—including the
B.E.S.T. princess—sleeps.
8.R.1.2: Analyze two or more D In “Briar Rose,” everyone in the kingdom sleeps, whereas in
themes and their development
throughout a literary text. “Awake,” the princess wakes up each night.
8.R.1.3: Analyze how an author
develops and individualizes the
perspectives of different characters.
3. Which answer BEST describes differences between the characters of
Briar Rose and Roisa?
Comparative Reading A Roisa is more active and adventurous than Briar Rose.
8.C.1.4: Write expository texts to
explain and analyze information from
B Roisa is sneakier and more inventive than Briar Rose.
multiple sources, using relevant C Briar Rose is more upset and annoyed than Roisa.
supporting details, logical organization,
and varied purposeful transitions. D Briar Rose is more intelligent and caring than Roisa.

NOTEBOOK
Short Response
1. (a) Compare and Contrast How are the characters of Briar Rose and Answer the questions
Roisa similar and different? (b) Distinguish Which events or actions in your notebook.
in the two stories highlight their different perspectives, or outlooks on Use text evidence to
life, most clearly? explain and justify
your reasoning.
2. Compare and Contrast How are the endings of the two stories
similar and different? In what way does the ending of each version of
the story affect its theme?
3. Evaluate Which version of the story would you recommend to an

audience of young readers? Explain your choice.
Timed Writing
A comparison-and-contrast essay is a brief work of nonfiction in
which a writer explores similarities and differences among two or more
topics or texts.
AS SI GN M EN T
Identify a theme of “Briar Rose” and of “Awake,” based on story

events. Then, write a comparison-and-contrast essay in which you
explain how the themes of the two stories are alike and different.
For example, consider how differences in each story’s portrayal of the
princess and faeries contribute to its theme. Be sure to support the
central ideas of your essay with details from the texts.
5-MINUTE PLANNER
1. Read the assignment carefully and completely.

2. Decide which details and examples you’ll use from the two
works to support your central idea(s).
3. Organize your ideas logically by choosing an appropriate EQ Before moving
Notes on to a new
structure for your essay:
selection, go to your
Point-by-Point: Discuss each aspect of the two tales in turn. Essential Question
Block: Discuss all the aspects of one tale, and then all the Notes and record any
aspects of the other. additional thoughts
or observations you
may have about “Briar
Rose” and “Awake.”
TEST PRACTICE 395

LEARN ABOUT GENRE: NONFICTION
Reading Persuasive Speeches

Persuasive speeches are a form of argumentative text designed to
convince an audience to support the speaker’s position.
WORDS DO NOT PAY
The selection you are

about to read is a
persuasive speech.
PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Author’s Purpose
 to convince an audience to think a different
way or to take a specific action
Characteristics
 delivered orally to a specific audience on a
specific occasion
 expresses a position or claim
 presents supporting reasons and evidence
 may use language that appeals to listeners'
emotions
 may use language that appeals to listeners'
sense of logic
 often uses formal, elevated language,
including rhetorical devices
Structure
 often follows a formal structure intended
to move an audience from hearing a
new position or idea to recognizing its
persuasive power
B.E.S.T. RESEARCH IT With a partner, briefly research persuasive

establishes and achieves purpose(s)
speeches given by famous Americans, such as a president or civil
through rhetorical appeals and/or rights leader. Choose one and jot down answers to the following
figurative language. questions: Who was the speaker and what was the occasion?
8.R.3.4: Explain how an author What was the subject matter?
uses rhetorical devices to support
or advance an appeal.


TIP: Figurative
Characteristics of Arguments: Emotional Appeals An emotional language is often used
appeal, also called pathos, is language that stirs listeners’ feelings rather to heighten the effect of
a rhetorical appeal. Here
than prompts them to think critically. Emotional appeals are important
are some examples:
persuasive tools that can help engage listeners and make them more
hyperbole: Not
receptive to a speaker’s claim, or position. Look at ways a single claim
making the squad hurt
could be supported by emotional appeals:
more than a thousand
daggers through my
heart.
simile: Failing to make
CLAIM TYPE OF EMOTIONAL APPEAL EXAMPLE the squad was like
being banished from
With no student parking, the kingdom.
Appeal to Sympathy: shows
I can’t drive to school and
an issue through the speaker’s
must often walk home in
eyes
the dark after practice.
Our school
needs to Appeal to Shared Values: Students who drive
allow more invokes values, such as equality should enjoy the same
student or freedom, that everyone rights as teachers; it’s
parking shares only fair!
permits.
Appeal to Negative Emotion: The current parking
arouses strong negative situation is dangerous.
feelings, such as anger, Why should we have to
resentment, or fear take that kind of risk?
INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE
Read each example and identify the type of appeal it represents.
SHARED NEGATIVE
SYMPATHY VALUES EMOTIONS
1. Our rights cannot be ignored; we must

fight back with rage, not reason.
2. We all agree that freedom is

more than a word: It’s a necessity.
3. If you had witnessed, as I did, the

suffering of these people, you would
not refuse them now.

PREPARE TO READ
About the Author

Words Do Not Pay
You will encounter the following words as you read this speech.
Chief Joseph was a misrepresentations misunderstandings

famous leader of the Nez
Percé tribe. He was known
by his people as Hin- Reference Materials A digital dictionary is a reference source you
mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, or access online or through a mobile device. It is a rich source of information
Thunder Rolling Down the about words and often includes audio pronunciations.
Mountain. He was born in
Wallowa Valley in 1840, SAMPLE DIGITAL DICTIONARY ENTRY
in what is now Oregon. unconscionable [uhn KON shuh nuh buhl]
In 1877, when the U.S.
government threatened adj. 1. not guided by conscience; 2. unjust or unreasonable;
to forcefully move the Nez 3. excessive Examples Word Origin Synonyms
Percé to a reservation, Analysis: This entry shows that unconscionable is an adjective with
Chief Joseph refused, five syllables. To hear the word pronounced, you would click the audio
choosing instead to lead icon. To see it in sentences, you would click Examples. To learn its
his people north toward
origin and synonyms, you would click the other links.
Canada. Chief Joseph
died in 1904, never having
returned to the land he had
fought so hard to keep for PRACTICE As you read the speech, consult a digital dictionary to learn
his tribe. His doctor said he the meanings and other information about unfamiliar words.
died “of a broken heart.”
Make Connections
When you make connections to society while reading, you link ideas in a
text with situations in the larger world. For example, as you read a historic
speech, connect the speaker’s ideas to history or current social issues. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
EXAMPLE
Here is an example of how you might make connections to society
while reading this speech.
Passage: I do not understand why nothing is done for my people.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend Connection to Society: Chief Joseph’s people suffered at the
grade-level complex texts proficiently. hands of the federal government. This connection to history
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context explains his sorrow.
and/or background knowledge to PRACTICE As you read this speech, use background information
denotative meaning of words and and your own knowledge to make connections to society. Write the
phrases, appropriate to grade level. connections you make in the open space next to the text.

PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Words Do Not Pay

Chief Joseph
BACKGROUND
AUDIO
In 1863, the Nez Percé tribe refused to sign a treaty that would make
them move from their ancestral land in Oregon to a much smaller ANNOTATE
reservation in Idaho. Despite the refusal, the United States government
sent in federal troops to force the Nez Percé off their land. In response,
Chief Joseph led his people toward Canada in a three-month, 1600-
mile flight across the Rocky Mountains. He eventually surrendered to
General Miles in 1877, under the terms that his tribe could return to
their homeland. Instead, the Nez Percé were sent to Oklahoma, and
half of them died during the trip. In one of many appeals to Congress
on behalf of his people, Chief Joseph made this speech in 1879 in
Washington D.C.
I do not understand why nothing is done for my people. I have

heard talk and talk, but nothing is done. Good words do not
last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for
Words Do Not Pay 399

my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun
by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do
not pay for all my horses and cattle. Good words will not give me
back my children. Good words will not make good the promise
of your war chief General Miles. Good words will not give my
people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will
not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take
care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It
Use a digital dictionary or indicate
another strategy that helped you
makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and
determine meaning. all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men
misrepresentations (mihs who had no right to talk. Too many misrepresentations have
rehp rih zehn TAY shuhnz) n. been made, too many misunderstandings have come up between
MEANING: the white men about the Indians. If the white man wants to live
in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no
trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them
all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the
same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the
misunderstandings (mihs mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon
uhn duhr STAND ihngz) n. it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any
MEANING: man who was born a free man should be contented when penned
up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. . . .
2 Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to work,
free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free
to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act
for myself—and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty. ❧

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
Work on your own to
1. Personal Connections How did reading Chief Joseph's speech affect answer the questions
your feelings about his situation? in your notebook.
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) Cite two things Chief Joseph says good words can
not pay for. (b) According to Chief Joseph, what do all people have in
common? (c) What activities does Chief Joseph associate with being free?
3. Strategy: Make Connections Cite one connection to society you made

as you read the speech. Explain how this connection deepened your
understanding of the text.
Analysis and Discussion WORKING

AS A GROUP
4. Make Inferences What promises do you think General Miles and others Discuss your responses
have not kept to Chief Joseph and his people? Cite evidence from the to the Analysis and
Discussion questions
speech that supports your inference.
with your group. Keep
these tips in mind:
5. (a) Summarize Under what circumstances does Chief Joseph believe • Listen actively as
peace could be achieved? (b) Make Inferences Do you think he feels others are speaking.
such peace is possible? Explain. • Be sure to offer text
evidence to support
6. (a) What idea does Chief Joseph compare to “rivers that run backwards”? your responses.
(b) Interpret Explain what he means by this comparison. • Encourage all
group members to
participate.
7. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose a passage from the text that you
find especially interesting or important. You’ll discuss the passage with
your group during Close-Read activities
EQ When is it right to take a stand?

Notes
B.E.S.T.
What have you learned about taking a stand by reading this persuasive K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain
speech? Go to your Essential Question Notes and record your observations and justify reasoning.
and thoughts about “Words Do Not Pay.” K12.EE.3.1: Make inferences to
discussions in a variety of situations.

Close Read
WORDS DO NOT PAY 1. Present and Discuss With your group, share the passages from the
speech that you found especially interesting. Discuss what you notice,
• Paragraph 1: Discuss Chief Joseph’s use of repetition. What effect is
created?
• Paragraph 2, from “Treat all men alike” to the end of the text:
Discuss what makes this appeal powerful.
NOTEBOOK
LANGUAGE STUDY
WORD NETWORK
Concept Vocabulary
Add interesting words Why These Words? The vocabulary words are related.
Word Network. misrepresentations misunderstandings
1. With your group, discuss what the words have in common. Write
your ideas.

3. Use both vocabulary words in a paragraph about someone who
was treated unfairly. Include context clues that hint at each word’s
meaning.
B.E.S.T.
Word Study
K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to Old English Prefix: mis- The Old English prefix mis- means “opposite,”
explain and justify reasoning.
“badly,” or “wrongly.” When added to a word, it creates an
opposing or contrasting meaning. In his speech, Chief Joseph refers to
establishes and achieves purpose(s)
through rhetorical appeals and/or “misrepresentations,” or wrong representations, of Indians. Using your
figurative language. knowledge of the prefix mis-, answer the following questions.
uses rhetorical devices to support
• What might happen if you have a miscommunication about the time
or advance an appeal. you are meeting a friend?
8.V.1: Finding Meaning | • What can happen if you misread the instructions for a recipe?
Morphology


Characteristics of Arguments: Emotional Appeals An emotional
appeal, or pathos, engages the feelings of an audience rather than
their sense of logic or reason. In this speech, Chief Joseph use emotional
appeals—including appeals to sympathy, shared values, and negative
emotions—to support his claim, or position. He attempts to change
listeners' minds by changing their feelings.
• Appeal to Sympathy: allows an audience to see an issue through the
speaker’s eyes
• Appeal to Shared Values: invokes ideals, such as equality or freedom,
that everyone is presumed to share
• Appeal to Negative Emotions: arouses strong negative feelings, such
as anger, resentment, or fear
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work on your own to respond to the questions. Then,

INTERACTIVITY
discuss your answers with your group.
1. (a) Make Inferences Who is Chief Joseph’s audience? Explain your

inference. (b) Analyze What does Chief Joseph want his audience to
think or do—what is the purpose of his appeal? Explain.
2. Summarize Summarize and clarify the message Chief Joseph conveys

in three sections of his speech.
SECTION SUMMARY
Section 1: How have past situations created problems

for Native Americans?
Section 2: How can the situation be changed?

Section 3: What personal plea concludes the speech?
3. (a) Connect How does Chief Joseph draw on shared values in both white
and Native American cultures? (b) Analyze Identify repeated words and
phrases that support an emotional appeal that Chief Joseph makes in this
speech. Then, explain how his use of this rhetorical device supports or
enhances the appeal.
4. (a) Connect Consider Chief Joseph’s use of phrases such as “born a free
man” and “equal rights.” How do these phrases echo language that an
American audience in particular might recognize? (b) Draw Conclusions
How does this language contribute to the power of his argument?

Author’s Craft
Language and Voice Every writer has a characteristic literary
personality, a distinctive “sound” or way of “speaking” on the page.
That quality is his or her voice. Chief Joseph’s voice results from his word
WORDS DO NOT PAY choice and use of rhetorical devices.
LANGUAGE DEVICES IN “WORDS DO NOT PAY” EXAMPLE PASSAGE

TIP: Voice can
Diction, or word choice: mainly direct, simple I do not understand . . .
be compared to a
person’s speaking words
style—fast, slow, blunt,
Repetition: deliberate re-use of specific words and I have heard talk and
wandering, and so
phrases talk . . .
on. It can indicate an
emotion and state of
Parallel Structures, or Parallelism: words, phrases, Give them all the same
mind.
clauses, sentences, or statements that form a law. Give them all an
pattern even chance . . .
Antithesis: parallel arrangement of strongly It makes my heart sick

contrasting ideas that are placed side by side when I remember all
the good words and all
the broken promises.
ANNOTATE NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work with your group to answer the questions.
1. Read the passage and answer the questions.

Good words do not last long unless they amount to something.
Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my
country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my
father’s grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle. Good
words will not give me back my children.

(a) Describe How would you describe Chief Joseph’s word choice in
this passage? (b) Analyze Mark important words and phrases that he
B.E.S.T. repeats. What is the effect? (c) Connect Explain how Chief Joseph’s
8.R.3.2: Paraphrase content from
use of plain statements adds to the power of this passage.
grade-level texts.
uses rhetorical devices to support 2. Interpret Choose three of these adjectives that you think best
or advance an appeal.
describe Chief Joseph’s voice. Explain the reasons for your choices.
8.C.1.4: Write expository texts to
explain and analyze information dignified blunt indifferent flowing
from multiple sources, using
relevant supporting details, logical despairing intelligent chatty timid
organization, and varied purposeful
transitions.
8.C.4.1: Conduct research to 3. Interpret Cite another adjective that you think accurately describes
answer a question, drawing on
multiple reliable and valid sources,
Chief Joseph’s voice. Explain your thinking, noting specific examples
and generating additional of language devices that contribute to this quality.
questions for further research.

SHARE IDEAS Essential Question: When is it right to take a stand?
Research
A research report is an expository text in which you explain a topic
using facts integrated from a variety of sources.
AS SI GN M EN T
With your group, conduct a formal inquiry and write a research

report on a topic related to this speech. Choose one of the
following options:
a historical report on the history of the Nez Percé
a biographical report on the life of Chief Joseph
Develop and Revise a Research Plan

EQ Before moving
Generate Questions Take notes as you discuss what you already know Notes on to a new
about your topic and what you want to know. Then, use your notes to selection, go to your
generate at least two questions that will focus your research. Essential Question
Notes and record any
have about “Words Do
Work together to identify a variety of sources that are relevant to your Not Pay.”
inquiry. Plan to consult both primary and secondary sources.
Evaluate Sources Examine your sources critically: Do any include faulty

reasoning, such as overly broad generalizations that create stereotypes? Do
any of them display bias, or an unfairly one-sided viewpoint? Are all of your
sources useful?
Revise Your Plan If your sources show bias or faulty reasoning or are not
useful, identify a new set of sources to consult. Also, decide whether you
need to revise your research questions, perhaps making them more specific.
Paraphrase, Don’t Plagiarize

TIP: The word
Use Sources Ethically Plagiarism is the act of using the language or ideas plagiarism comes
of another person without permission. Follow these steps to use source from the Latin word
materials ethically and avoid plagiarism: for a kidnapper,
• Properly cite information and ideas that are not common knowledge. someone who steals
children. The word
Use the citation style that your teacher prefers.
origin suggests that
• Paraphrase by using your own words to restate ideas. Make sure your plagiarizing is a type of
paraphrases accurately reflect the meaning and logical order of the original serious theft.
text. You must still cite the source because the ideas are not your own.
• If you want to use an author’s exact words, set them in quotation marks
and cite the source accurately.

LEARN ABOUT GENRE: POETRY
Reading a Literary Ballad

A literary ballad is a form of poetry that tells a story, often about
romance or adventure. Ballads are often set to music and have strong
rhyme and rhythmical patterns.
THE CREMATION OF
SAM MCGEE
The selection you are about
LITERARY
to read is a literary ballad.
BALLAD
Author’s Purpose
 to tell an engaging story in a musical
format
Characteristics
 tells about an adventure or romance
 has a speaker, or voice that “tells” the story
 uses simple language to create vivid
imagery
 emphasizes both meaning and sound
Structure
 organized in stanzas of the same length,
often quatrains (four-line stanzas)
 begins and ends with the same stanza,
called a refrain
 uses a pattern of stressed syllables and
rhyme to create rhythm and sound
FIND IT Work with a partner to find a traditional ballad set to

music. Listen to the ballad and discuss its musical and emotional
qualities.
B.E.S.T.
8.R.1.4: Analyze structure,
sound, imagery, and figurative
language in poetry.

Genre / Text Elements TIP: Note that because

ballads are part of
the oral tradition and
Literary Elements: Sound and Structure The ballad is an old form change over the course
of verse that tells a dramatic tale. The use of dialogue often enlivens the of years, many versions
story. Many ballads are structured in four-line stanzas called quatrains, of a traditional ballad
but some ballads deviate from that pattern. Rhyme and rhythm are used like “Barbara Allen” exist
in ballads to create a songlike, memorable quality. today, with various forms
of rhyme and rhythm.
SOUND DEVICES EXAMPLES FROM “BARBARA ALLEN”
Internal rhyme features rhyming words He sent his man down through the town
within the same line. To the place where she was dwellin’;
End rhyme, the rhyme at the ends of So slowly, slowly rase she up,
lines, may alternate lines. To the place where he was lyin’,
And when she drew the curtain by:
“Young man, I think you’re dyin’.”
Slant rhyme, also called near or “O mother, mother, make my bed,

approximate rhyme, is created when O make it saft and narrow:
sounds are similar but not identical.
My love has died for me today,
I’ll die for him tomorrow.”
Stressed beats drive the verse forward. They buried her in the old churchyard,
Here, four beats alternate with three And Sir John’s grave was nigh her. . .
beats.
INTERACTIVITY
PRACTICE Work on your own to complete the activity.

Then, discuss your responses with your group.
Read the passages. Mark sound devices, and take note of structure, rhythm, and
content. Which passage is from a ballad? How can you tell?
PASSAGE 1 PASSAGE 2
Leaves fell softly to earth It happened at a Thanksgiving feast,

while autumn sun sank slowly in the West. Our bellies we were filling,
Ghosts of long-ago fires hung in the air The yams and hams, they never ceased;
while I stood, listening. Alone. The pies were oh, so thrilling.

PREPARE TO READ
About the Author

As you read “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” you will encounter these
words.
Robert W. Service
(1874–1958) had an dread ghastly grisly
adventurer’s heart all
his life. Born in England,
Service spent most of his Context Clues To determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word, look
youth in Scotland, where for clues in the words and phrases surrounding it. The meaning of the
he was educated. He sailed sentence or paragraph will help you figure out the meaning of the word.
to Canada in 1894, where Often, synonyms, words with the same or nearly the same meaning, will
he planned to live the life provide helpful clues.
of a cowboy. Once there,
he wrote extensively, EXAMPLE The picky child hates green beans and loathes asparagus.
telling bold stories of the
Yukon and writing his Analysis: The syntax of the sentence shows that hates and loathes are
autobiography. He left related ideas. Hates is a verb that means “strongly dislikes.” Loathes
Canada to serve as an means “very strongly dislikes.”
ambulance driver in France
during World War I. After
the war, Service married PRACTICE As you read the poem, study the context to determine the
and resided in France until
meanings of unfamiliar words. Mark your observations in the open space
his death in 1958.
next to the text.
Create Mental Images

When you read or hear a ballad, create mental images based on
descriptions the writer provides. Creating mental images helps bring
characters, settings, and events to life.
• As you read, notice language that appeals to the senses. What can
you see, hear, smell, feel, taste?
• Pay attention to vivid verbs and precise nouns. How do you see the
action unfold?
• Note words that spark specific images. Jot down a brief description
of images in your mind.
B.E.S.T. • Pause periodically to “watch” the action created in your mind.
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of context PRACTICE As you read “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” mark vivid
details and pause to create mental images.

POETRY
The Cremation
of Sam McGee
Robert W. Service
BACKGROUND
Canada’s Yukon Territory borders Alaska to the east. In 1896, gold AUDIO
was discovered there, at the Klondike River. The news of the discovery
quickly reached the United States. In response, tens of thousands of ANNOTATE
people headed north to the Arctic in hopes of striking it rich. Robert W.
Service arrived a few years before the gold rush. Through fictional
accounts of characters such as Sam McGee, Service captured the spirit
of the Yukon and its many colorful characters.
There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
5 The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms
and blows.
10 Why he left his home in the South to roam ‘round the Pole, God
only knows.
The Cremation of Sam McGee 409

He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him
like a spell;
Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live
in hell.”
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the

Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a
driven nail.
15 If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we
couldn’t see;
It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.
And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes

beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing
heel and toe,
He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I
guess;
20 And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”
Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a
sort of moan:
“It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean
through to the bone.
Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that
pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last
remains.”
Mark context clues or indicate
25 A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
helped you determine meaning. And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked
ghastly (GAST lee) adv. ghastly pale.
MEANING: He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in
Tennessee; Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.
There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried,

horror-driven,
30 With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a
promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax
your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last
remains.”
Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own
stern code.

In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart
how I cursed that load.
35 In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies,
round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows— O God! how I
loathed the thing.
And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was
getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not
give in;
40 And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a
grin.
Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the
“Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen
chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”
45 Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel
higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze
you seldom see;

And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam
McGee.
Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;
50 And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the
wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I
don’t know why;
Mark context clues or indicate And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down
another strategy you used that the sky.
grisly (GRIHZ lee) adj. I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
MEANING: But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I
ventured near;
Mark context clues or indicate 55 I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep
inside.
I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked”; ... then the door I
dread (DREHD) n.
MEANING:
opened wide.
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the
furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please
close that door.
It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm—
60 Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve
been warm.”
There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
65 The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
I cremated Sam McGee. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

BUILD INSIGHT
NOTEBOOK
Response
Work on your own to
1. Personal Connections How do you think you would handle the cold and answer the questions
snow of the Yukon? What would be the worst part? The best? in your notebook.
reasoning.
Comprehension
2. Reading Check (a) Why is Sam McGee in the Yukon? (b) What promise
does he ask of the speaker? (c) What happens when the speaker lights
Sam McGee’s funeral pyre?
3. Strategy: Create Mental Images (a) Which moment or event in the

poem are you able to picture most clearly? (b) How has the use of this
strategy helped you to appreciate this poem?
Analysis and Discussion WORKING

AS A GROUP
Discuss your responses
4. Analyze What effect is created by lines 1–8 of the poem? What purpose
to the questions with
do these lines serve? your group.
• Listen actively.
5. Analyze Reread lines 9–12. How does the poet characterize the Yukon in • Summarize insights.
the context of Sam McGee’s experience? • Consider changes of
opinion.
6. (a) Interpret Reread lines 13–14, paying attention to the figurative If needed, revise your
language. What idea does the figurative language convey? (b) Compare original answers to
and Contrast How does this description compare to the personification reflect what you learn
used to describe the setting in line 18? from your discussion.
7. Make a Judgment Do you think the humorous ending is appropriate for

a poem so focused on suffering and death? Explain your thinking, citing
evidence from the text.
8. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose a passage from the poem that you
find especially interesting or important. You’ll discuss the passage with your B.E.S.T.
group during Close-Read activities. K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain
EQ When is it right to take a stand? K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate
Notes collaborative techniques and active
What has this poem taught you about doing the right thing? Go to your discussions in a variety of situations.
Essential Question Notes and record your observations and thoughts 8.R.1.4: Analyze structure, sound,
about “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” imagery, and figurative language in
poetry.

Close Read
THE CREMATION OF 1. Present and Discuss With your group, share the passages from the
SAM MCGEE poem that you found especially interesting. Discuss what you notice,
you might discuss the following passages:
TIP:
• Lines 13–20: Identify the use of hyperbole in line 14 and the use of
Hyperbole is the
idiom in line 19. Discuss what these language devices reveal about
deliberate use of
exaggeration, often for the characters and their situation.
comic effect. An idiom • Lines 53–60: Discuss the poem’s ending. What does the ending of
is an expression whose the poem suggest about the author’s purpose?
meaning cannot be
understood by its literal 2. Reflect on Your Learning What new ideas or insights did you
words. uncover during your second reading of the text?
NOTEBOOK
WORD NETWORK LANGUAGE STUDY

about taking a stand Concept Vocabulary
from the text to your Why These Words? The concept vocabulary words are related.
Word Network.
dread ghastly grisly
1. With your group, determine what the concept words have in

common. Write your ideas.
2. Add another word that fits the category: ______________________

3. Use the vocabulary words to describe a scary scene.
B.E.S.T.
8.R.1.4: Analyze structure, sound, Word Study
imagery, and figurative language
in poetry. Word History: ghastly Reread lines 25–26. The word ghastly is related
8.V.1: Finding Meaning |
to the more common word ghostly. In fact, it picked up the gh spelling
Morphology from the word ghost. Ghastly comes from the Old English gaestan,
8.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of meaning “to frighten,” which became gast (“terrify”) in Middle English.
context clues, figurative language, Learning about a word’s history can help you make connections among
word relationships, reference
materials, and/or background
related words. Write a sentence in which you show a connection
knowledge to determine the between ghastly and ghostly. Use an online or print etymology dictionary
connotative and denotative to compare the words’ origins.
meaning of words and phrases,


Literary Elements: Sound and Structure Ballads are a popular form of
poetry. The stories told through ballads are often funny, tragic, or packed
with adventure and suspense. Sounds and structures typically used in
ballads are readily recognizable:
FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Speaker Acts as narrator of the tale; often uses dialect or regional language.
As in fiction, the speaker can be part of the story or an observer only.
Dialogue Words spoken by characters, often in regional dialect
Rhyme Internal, end, and slant rhymes lend musicality to the ballad.
Rhythm or meter Ballads usually have rhythmical patterns. One common pattern consists
of alternating lines of eight syllables and lines of six syllables.
Refrain A section of verse (lines or stanzas) that is repeated for effect, like a
chorus in songs
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work on your own to complete the activity and

answer the questions. Then, discuss your answers with the group.
1. (a) Distinguish Where is the refrain introduced and repeated in
“The Cremation of Sam McGree”? (b) Analyze What is the effect of
this choice?
2. Make Inferences What does the dialogue suggest about Sam

McGee’s personality?
3. Analyze Which stanza would make the best inspiration for an illustration?
Describe the images that your chosen stanza brings forth.
4. (a) Distinguish Mark internal rhyme, end rhyme, and slant rhyme in
the following stanza from “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”
(b) Evaluate Does the use of rhyme enhance the poem? Explain.
And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”
5. Draw Conclusions What do you think was Robert W. Service’s purpose in

writing this ballad? What details from the poem support your response?

Author's Craft
The Speaker in Poetry The speaker in poetry is the person you
imagine speaking the poem. You cannot assume that the speaker is
the poet. Sometimes the speaker presents the poet’s voice; other times
THE CREMATION OF the speaker is an invention of the poet’s. To analyze a poem’s speaker,
SAM MCGEE
consider the following:
• What is the speaker like? How do you know?
• How does the poem’s diction convey the speaker’s personality?
• What is the speaker’s tone, or attitude toward the subject?
As with fiction, poems can be told from first-, second-, or third-person
point of view. “The Cremation of Sam McGee” has a first-person speaker:
He is a character in the narrative. The point of view is revealed in the first
stanza when the speaker refers to his role in the story.
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

I cremated Sam McGee.
NOTEBOOK
PRACTICE Work on your own to answer the questions.

Then, discuss your responses with your group.
1. (a) Make Inferences What does the speaker’s word choice in the first
stanza suggest about him? (b) Interpret What mood, or atmosphere,
is created in the first stanza by the speaker’s choice of words?
2. Reread lines 17–26. (a) Describe the circumstances of Sam McGee’s

last request. (b) Analyze What motivates the speaker to promise to
cremate Sam McGee?
B.E.S.T.
3. Make Inferences How would you describe the speaker’s personality?
collaborative techniques and What text clues help you make your inferences?
active listening skills when
engaging in discussions in a
variety of situations.
8.R.1: Reading Prose and Poetry | 4. (a) Support Cite evidence from the poem that conveys the speaker’s
Poetry tone when describing Sam McGee’s corpse. (b) Compare and
8.C.5.1: Integrate diverse digital Contrast How does his tone when speaking about the corpse differ
media to emphasize the relevance from his tone when he describes the living Sam McGee?
of a topic or idea in oral or written
tasks.
8.C.5.2: Use a variety of digital
tools to collaborate with others
to produce writing.

SHARE IDEAS Essential Question: When is it right to take a stand?
Speaking and Listening

A multimedia presentation includes information presented using
slides, video, digital graphics, or audio.
AS SI GN M EN T
Work with your group to prepare a multimedia presentation of

“The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Choose one of the following
options:
Readers’ Theater As group members take turns reading parts of
the poem, project related illustrations or video in the background.
Informational Report Work with the group to provide visual

support to build context for the poem. A speaker will share
important information supported by video, audio, or slides.
As you work on your report, make sure every group member has a
significant role to play in planning, developing, and presenting the
finished product.
Develop Ideas After you choose your format, discuss as a group your
vision for the presentation. Set up an online collaboration tool that
you all are able to access. Record your group’s initial ideas about the
presentation goals.
Make a Plan Break the presentation into its various tasks. Assign tasks
to individual members or partners. For example, one member might
research visuals, such as maps, and another might look for suitable music
to accompany the presentation. Set a deadline to finish the independent
work. As you work, use the online collaboration tool to capture your ideas, EQ Before moving
Notes on to a new
exchange information, and track your progress.
selection, go to your
Essential Question Notes
Put It Together Develop your presentation from the work that individual
and record any additional
members have completed. Decide on the application or tool you will use
thoughts or observations
to project or to play the media choices you have made. As you work, you may have about
review the choice of media. Is the media diverse and interesting? Do the “The Cremation of
media choices enhance the oral presentation of the poem or the topic Sam McGee.”
that is explored in your informational report? If not, find images, music,
or other types of media that will help you achieve your goals.
Practice and Present Once you have fully developed your multimedia
presentation, practice delivering it several times. Be sure to work out all
issues related to technology, if they arise. When you feel confident in
your delivery, present it to the rest of the class.

PERFORMANCE TASK
SOURCES
• Briar Rose Deliver an Oral Argument

• Awake
AS SI GN M EN T
• Words Do Not Pay
• The Cremation of You have read different selections about people who face
Sam McGee circumstances that require difficult choices. With your group, develop
and deliver an oral argument that addresses this question:
When does it become necessary to take a stand?
Plan With Your Group INTERACTIVITY
Analyze the Texts With your group, discuss the choices characters or
real people make in each selection. Work to draw conclusions about the
general lessons each of these examples teaches about when one should
take a stand. Use the chart to gather your thoughts.
TITLE CHOICES GENERAL LESSON
Briar Rose
Awake
Words Do Not Pay

Develop an Argument With your group, write a claim that answers
the question in the prompt. Then, gather the evidence you will use to
support it. In addition to details from the texts, use at least one example
of each of the following types of evidence:
• anecdotes: brief stories that make a point
• analogies: comparisons that show surprising similarities between
two different ideas or things
• illustrations: specific examples that clarify a general idea
Organize Your Presentation Choose a logical order to share information

with your audience. Plan on ways to transition to and from each section of
the presentation. Decide how each group member will contribute during
the presentation.

Rehearse and Present INTERACTIVITY
Now, rehearse the delivery of your argument. Use the Speaking Guide to
evaluate your rehearsal and strengthen your delivery.
SPEAKING GUIDE
SKILL STRATEGIES What worked well? What can be improved?
Why? How?
Eye Contact
• Pause to make eye contact
Use eye contact to
after stating a key point.
connect with listeners.
• Look at your entire audience,
not just one or two listeners.
Speaking Rate • Slow down when sharing

Vary the speed at which detailed information.
you talk to increase
• Speed up to show excitement.
interest.
Volume • Raise your volume to add

Vary the volume of your emphasis, but don’t shout.
voice.
• Use a soft voice to draw
listeners in.
Enunciation • Practice saying unfamiliar

Pronounce words words and names.
clearly.
• Don’t blur ending consonants.
Gestures • Try to relax and don’t stand

Use body language and stiffly.
hand movements that
• Use a variety of gestures.
feel natural.
Conventions • Use correct grammar to build a

Follow the rules of sense of authority.
standard English.
• Speak more formally than you

do in ordinary conversation.
Listen and Evaluate

Apply these strategies to listen actively as other groups present, and then
to communicate effectively in a discussion:
• As each person speaks, take notes and then briefly summarize his
or her main point. B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.6.1: Use appropriate voice
• Ask questions to clarify details. and tone when speaking or writing.
• Make comments that connect the speakers’ uses of anecdotes, 8.C.2.1: Present information orally,
in a logical sequence, supporting the
analogies, and illustrations with their ideas.
central idea with credible evidence.
Performance Task: Deliver an Oral Argument 419

INDEPENDENT LEARNING
Essential Question
Reading Digital Texts
When is it right to take a Digital texts like the ones you
stand?
will read in this section are
electronic versions of print
texts. They have a variety of
The idea of taking a stand can apply to small moments in one person’s characteristics:
life or to large events that affect an entire community. In this section, • can be read on various
you will choose a selection about this topic to read independently. Get devices
the most from this section by establishing a purpose for reading. Ask • text can be resized
yourself, “What do I hope to gain from my independent reading?” • may include annotation tools
Here are just a few purposes you might consider. • may have bookmarks, audio
features, links, and other
Read to Learn Think about the selections you have already read.
helpful elements
What questions do you still have about the unit topic?
Read to Enjoy Read the descriptions of the texts. Which one
seems most interesting and appealing to you?
Read to Form a Position Consider your thoughts and feelings
about the Essential Question. Are you still undecided about some
aspect of the topic?
VIDEO
Independent Learning Strategies
INTERACTIVITY
you will need to rely on yourself to learn and work on your own. Use
these strategies to keep your focus as you read independently for
sustained periods of time. Add ideas of your own for each category.

Create a schedule
• Be aware of your deadlines.
• Make a plan for each day’s activities.

Read with purpose
• Use a variety of comprehension
strategies to deepen your
understanding.
• Think about the text and how it adds
to your knowledge.
Take notes
• Record key ideas and information.
• Review your notes before sharing
what you’ve learned.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend grade-level complex texts proficiently.

AUDIO ANNOTATE DOWNLOAD
CONTENTS
Choose one selection. Selections are available online only.
LYRIC POEM
Translating Grandfather’s House

E. J. Vega
What does it mean to be a “young adult”?
MEMOIR
from Through My Eyes

Ruby Bridges
A young girl’s story about breaking the segregation

barrier takes place during important historical events.
The Scholarship Jacket

Marta Salinas
Can we stay true to our principles even if it means we

might lose something we want?
BIOGRAPHY
from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the

Underground Railroad
Ann Petry
An escaped slave risks her freedom and her life to

lead others to safety.
from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Doris Pilkington
Can three young girls find their way home?
SHARE YOUR INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Reflect on and evaluate the information you gained from your Independent
Learning selection. Then, share what you learned with others.
Independent Learning 421

INDEPENDENT LEARNING
Close-Read Guide Tool Kit

Close-Read Guide and
Model Annotation
Establish your purpose for reading. Then, read the selection through
at least once. Use this page to record your Close-Read ideas.
Selection Title: Purpose for Reading:

Minutes Read:
INTERACTIVITY
Close Read the Text Analyze the Text

Zoom in on sections you found interesting. 1. Think about the author’s choices of
Annotate what you notice. Ask yourself literary elements, techniques, and
questions about the text. What can you structures. Select one and record your
conclude? thoughts.
2. What characteristics of digital texts did

you use as you read this selection, and in
what ways? How do the characteristics
of a digital text affect your reading
experience? Explain.
QuickWrite
Choose a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.

Share Your Independent Learning

Essential Question
When you read something independently, your understanding continues
to grow as you share what you have learned with others.
NOTEBOOK
Prepare to Share
CONNECT IT One of the most important ways to respond to a text
is to notice and describe your personal reactions. Think about the text
you explored independently and the ways in which it connects to your
own experiences.
• What similarities and differences do you see between the text and
your own life? Describe your observations.
• How do you think this text connects to the Essential Question?
Describe your ideas.
Learn From Your Classmates

DISCUSS IT Share your ideas about the text you explored on your
own. As you talk with others in your class, take notes about new ideas
that seem important.
Reflect
EXPLAIN IT Review your notes, and mark the most important
insight you gained from these writing and discussion activities. Explain
how this idea adds to your understanding of taking a stand.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend grade-level complex texts proficiently; K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate collaborative techniques and active listening
skills when engaging in discussions in a variety of situations.
Independent Learning 423

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
Argumentative Essay
AS SI GN M EN T
In this unit, you read about challenging situations and the ways in
which people and characters responded to them. You also practiced
writing arguments. Now, apply what you have learned.
Write an argumentative essay in which you state and defend a
claim in response to the Essential Question:
Essential Question
Review and Evaluate Evidence

INTERACTIVITY
Review your Essential Question Notes and your QuickWrite from the
beginning of the unit. Has your position changed?
Yes No
Identify at least three pieces of evidence that Identify at least three pieces of evidence that
convinced you to change your mind. reinforced your initial position.
1. 1.
2. 2.

3. 3.
State your position now:
What other evidence might you need to support your position?

Share Your Perspective

The Argumentative Essay Checklist will help you stay on track.
PLAN Before you write, read the Checklist and make sure you
understand all the items.
DRAFT As you write, pause occasionally to make sure you’re meeting
the Checklist requirements.
Use New Words Refer to your Word Network to vary your

word choice. Also, consider using one or more of the Academic
Vocabulary terms you learned at the beginning of the unit: retort,
commendable, rectify, speculate, verify. EQ Make sure you
Notes have pulled
in details from your
REVIEW AND EDIT After you have written a first draft, evaluate it Essential Question
against the Checklist. Make any changes needed to strengthen your Notes to support your
claim, structure, transitions, and use of language. Then, reread your essay claim.
and fix any errors you find.
INTERACTIVITY
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY CHECKLIST
My essay clearly contains . . .
a claim that shows depth of thought.
varied types of credible evidence, including facts, anecdotes, and

meaningful quotations from the unit selections.
consideration of counterclaims and the use of logical reasoning

that disproves or refutes them.
a logical organizational structure that includes an introduction,

logical connections among body paragraphs, and a strong

conclusion.
a variety of simple and complex sentences. B.E.S.T.

K12.EE.5.1: Use the accepted
elements of craft, including precise word choices. rules governing a specific format
to create quality work.
correct use of standard English conventions, including correct 8.C.1.3: Write to argue a position,
supporting at least one claim and
pronoun-antecedent agreement. rebutting at least one counterclaim
with logical reasoning, credible
no punctuation or spelling errors. evidence from sources, elaboration,
and using a logical organizational
structure.
8.V.1.1: Integrate academic
vocabulary appropriate to grade
level in speaking and writing.
Performance-Based Assessment 425

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
Revising and Editing INTERACTIVITY
Read this draft and think about corrections the writer might make. Then, answer
the questions that follow.
[1] The future of learning is already here, audio textbooks offer intangible but
very real benefits for all students. [2] Listening to school materials, rather than
reading them in print, can greatly improve student motivation and memorization.
[3] People who resist audio books often ask the same question: Isn’t
listening to audiobooks cheating? [4] The question suggests an unshakeable
faith in the value of print; true reading must be a visual activity. [5] Yet the
question ignores several key facts. [6] Many Classics, from homer’s Odyssey to
the novels of henry James, were originally dictated rather than written down.
[7] Several of James’s novels have been successfully adapted as films. [8] We
should also remember that many readers with limited vision use audio texts
to access works in every genre. [9] If a student with low vision was unable to
access text, it would affect his or her educational progress.
1. What correction, if any, should be made to 3. Which answer choice correctly fixes
sentence 1? capitalization errors in sentence 6?
A Change the comma to a colon. A Many classics, from Homer’s Odyssey to
the novels of Henry James …
B Insert a colon after textbooks.
B Many Classics, from Homer’s odyssey to
C Insert a semicolon after intangible.
the novels of Henry James …
D Make no change.
C Many classics, from homer’s odyssey to
the novels of henry James …
2. Which sentence could be added after D The capitalization is correct as is; make
sentence 2 to provide factual evidence for no change.
the writer’s claim?
A Everybody agrees that listening to a Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
4. What change, if any, should be made to
book is way more fun than reading the
correct the verb in the subjunctive mood in the
same book in print.
first clause of sentence 9?
B Students need to learn how to decode
A Change was to were.
written language, because decoding is
very important. B Change access to expect.
C Audio texts are likely to communicate C Change was to isn’t.
the performer’s interpretation, which
D Make no change.
doesn’t help anyone.
D A recent study found that students who
listen to text perform better on recall
tests than those who read print versions.

UNIT
3 REFLECTION
Reflect On the Unit NOTEBOOK
Reflect On the Unit Goals INTERACTIVITY

Review your Unit Goals chart from the beginning of the unit. Then,
complete the activity and answer the question.
1. In the Unit Goals chart, rate how well you meet each goal now.
2. In which goals were you most and least successful?
Reflect On the Texts

RECOMMEND! Which two selections from the unit would you
recommend to other readers? Mark your choices and write your reasons
in the chart.
SELECTION CHOICES
Title Reasons
The Horned Toad
Three Cheers for the Nanny State
Ban the Ban! • Soda’s a Problem but …
Briar Rose
Awake
Words Do Not Pay
Your Independent-Learning Selection:

Reflect On the Essential Question

Letter to An Adult in Your Life Write a letter to an adult who is
important to you in which you share your most interesting or inspiring
responses to the Essential Question:
• Review the selections you read, the notes you took, and the research
you conducted as you worked through this unit.
• Explain to your reader how the texts, activities, and discussions
affected your understanding of the unit theme.
B.E.S.T.
8.C.1: Communicating Through Writing; 8.C.3.1: Follow the rules of standard English grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
Unit Reflection 427

LYRIC POETRY
Translating
Grandfather’s
House
E. J. Vega
About the Author

E.J. Vega (b. 1961) is an award-winning poet,
novelist, and journalist. He was born in Cuba and
worked as a sailor on tugboats and ocean barges. He
has degrees in writing, literature, and journalism from
Brooklyn College and Columbia University. He lives in
New York City.
BACKGROUND
In the poem, E.J. Vega mentions Zorro, a popular fictional character,
originally created in 1919 by writer Johnston McCulley. In McCulley’s Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
novel, Zorro is a heroic outlaw and a skilled sword fighter who wears
a mask to hide his true identity—he is actually a wealthy noble named
Diego de la Vega.
According to my sketch,
Rows of lemon & mango
Trees frame the courtyard
Of Grandfather’s stone
5 And clapboard home;
The shadow of a palomino1
Gallops on the lip
Of the horizon.
1. palomino (pal uh MEE noh) n. horse with a light golden coat and a white mane and tail.
IL1 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • Translating Grandfather’s House

The teacher says
10 The house is from
Some Zorro
Movie I’ve seen.
“Ask my mom,” I protest.

“She was born there—
15 Right there on the second floor!”
Crossing her arms she moves on.
Memories once certain as rivets

Become confused as awakenings
In strange places and I question
20 The house, the horse, the wrens
Perched on the slate roof—
The roof Oscar Jartín
Tumbled from one hot Tuesday,
Installing a new weather vane;
25 (He broke a shin and two fingers).
Classmates finish drawings of New York City
Housing projects2 on Navy Street.
I draw one too, with wildgrass
Rising from sidewalk cracks like widows.
30 In big round letters I title it:
GRANDFATHER’S HOUSE
Beaming, the teacher scrawls

An A+ in the corner and tapes
It to the green blackboard.
To the green blackboard.

2. housing projects n. apartment buildings subsidized by the government, usually for

low‑income households.
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • Translating Grandfather’s House IL2

MEMOIR
from Through
My Eyes
Ruby Bridges
About the Author

In November 1960, Ruby Bridges (b. 1954) became
the first African American child to attend an all-white
elementary school in the South. She founded the Ruby
Bridges Foundation in New Orleans in 1999—its motto
is “Racism is a grown-up disease and we must stop
using our children to spread it.”
BACKGROUND
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that separate schools are
“inherently unequal.” There was huge resistance to change, so much
so that in 1957, more than 1,000 Army paratroopers were called to
protect nine black students scheduled to attend a white high school in
Arkansas. Throughout the 1960s, the federal government had to force
many Southern school districts to comply with the law.
One Year in an All-Black School

1
W hen it was time for me to start kindergarten, I went to the

Johnson Lockett Elementary School. My segregated1 school
was fairly far from my house, but I had lots of company for the
long walk. All the kids on my block went to Johnson Lockett. I
loved school that year, and my teacher, Mrs. King, was warm and
encouraging. She was black, as all the teachers in black schools
were back then. Mrs. King was quite old, and she reminded me of
my grandmother.
2 What I didn‘t know in kindergarten was that a federal court in
New Orleans was about to force two white public schools to admit
black students. The plan was to integrate2 only the first grade for
1. segregated (SEHG ruh gay tihd) adj. separated on the basis of race.
2. integrate (IHN tuh grayt) v. open to people of all races.
IL3 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Through My Eyes

that year. Then, every year after that, the incoming first grade
would also be integrated.
3 In the late spring of my year at Johnson Lockett, the city school
board began testing black kindergartners. They wanted to find
out which children should be sent to the white schools. I took the
test. I was only five, and I’m sure I didn‘t have any idea why I was
taking it. Still, I remember that day. I remember getting dressed up
and riding uptown on the bus with my mother, and sitting in an
enormous room in the school board building along with about a
hundred other black kids, all waiting to be tested.
4 Apparently the test was difficult, and I‘ve been told that it was
set up so that kids would have a hard time passing. If all the black
children had failed, the white school board might have had a way
to keep the schools segregated for a while longer.
5 That summer, my parents were contacted by the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP is an old and well-respected civil rights organization.
Its members work to get equal rights for black people.
6 Several people from the NAACP came to the house in the
summer. They told my parents that I was one of just a few black
children to pass the school board test, and that I had been chosen
to attend one of the white schools, William Frantz Public School.
They said it was a better school and closer to my home than the
one I had been attending. They said I had the right to go to the
closest school in my district. They pressured my parents and made
a lot of promises. They said my going to William Frantz would
help me, my brothers, my sister, and other black children in the
future. We would receive a better education, which would give us
better opportunities as adults.
7 My parents argued about what to do. My father, Abon, didn’t
want any part of school integration. He was a gentle man and
feared that angry segregationists might hurt his family. Having
fought in the Korean War, he experienced segregation on the

battlefield, where he risked his life for his country. He didn’t think
that things would ever change. He didn’t think I would ever be
treated as an equal.
8 Lucille, my mother, was convinced that no harm would come
to us. She thought that the opportunity for me to get the best
education possible was worth the risk, and she finally convinced
my father.
9 Ruby was special. I wanted her to have a good education so she could
get a good job when she grew up. But Ruby’s father thought his child
shouldn’t go where she wasn’t wanted.
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Through My Eyes IL4

10 There were things I didn’t understand. I didn’t know Ruby would
be the only black child in the school. I didn’t know how bad things
would get.
11 I remember being afraid on the first day Ruby went to the Frantz
school, when I came home and turned on the TV set and I realized
that, at that moment, the whole world was watching my baby and
talking about her.
12 At that moment, I was most afraid.
—Lucille Bridges
My Mother Breaks the News

13 When September came that year, I didn’t start first grade at
William Frantz. The lawmakers in the state capital, Baton Rouge,
had found a way to slow down integration, so I was sent back to
my old school. I didn’t know I was ever supposed to go to school
anywhere else, so being back at Johnson Lockett was fine with me.
14 All through the summer and early fall, the state legislators
fought the federal court. They passed twenty-eight new anti-
integration laws. They even tried to take over the public school
system. The Louisiana governor, Jimmie H. Davis, supported the
segregationists. He said he would go to jail before he would allow
black children in white schools. He even threatened to close all of
the public schools rather than see them integrated.
15 The federal court, led by Federal District Court Judge J. Skelly
Wright, unyielding3 in his commitment to upholding the law
of the land and in his dedication to equal opportunity for all
Americans, would block the segregationists again and again. J.
Skelly Wright struck down the state’s new anti-integration laws as
unconstitutional. School integration would proceed. Praise
the Lord!
16 The judge couldn’t enforce his order in time for the start of
school in September, but he set a new deadline for Monday,
November 14.
17 The anger all across New Orleans convinced Judge Wright that
things might grow violent. He asked the U.S. government to rush
federal marshals to New Orleans to protect the black first graders.
18 There were four of us in all. There was a fifth girl originally,
but her parents decided at the last minute not to transfer her.
Three of the remaining children, all girls, were to go to a school
named McDonogh. I was the fourth child. I was going to integrate
William Frantz Public School, and I was going alone.
19 On Sunday, November 13, my mother told me I would start at
a new school the next day. She hinted there could be something
unusual about it, but she didn‘t explain. “There might be a lot of
3. unyielding (uhn YEEL dihng) adj. not giving way to pressure.

people outside the school,“ she said. “But you don‘t need to be
afraid. I‘ll be with you.“
20 All I remember thinking that night was that I wouldn‘t be going
to school with my friends anymore, and I wasn‘t happy about that.
November 14, 1960

21 My mother took special care getting me ready for school. When
somebody knocked on my door that morning, my mother
expected to see people from the NAACP. Instead, she saw
four serious-looking white men, dressed in suits and wearing
armbands. They were U.S. federal marshals. They had come to
drive us to school and stay with us all day. I learned later they
were carrying guns.
22 I remember climbing into the back seat of the marshals’ car
with my mother, but I don’t remember feeling frightened. William
Frantz Public School was only five blocks away, so one of the
marshals in the front seat told my mother right away what we
should do when we got there.
23 “Let us get out of the car first,” the marshal said. “Then you’ll
get out, and the four of us will surround you and your daughter.
We’ll walk up to the door together. Just walk straight ahead, and
don’t look back.”
24 When we were near the school, my mother said, “Ruby, I want
you to behave yourself today and do what the marshals say.”
25 We drove down North Galvez Street to the point where it
crosses Alvar. I remember looking out of the car as we pulled up
to the Frantz school. There were barricades and people shouting
and policemen everywhere. I thought maybe it was Mardi Gras,
the carnival that takes place in New Orleans every year. Mardi
Gras was always noisy.
26 As we walked through the crowd, I didn’t see any faces. I guess
that’s because I wasn’t very tall and I was surrounded by the

marshals. People yelled and threw things. I could see the school
building, and it looked bigger and nicer than my old school. When
we climbed the high steps to the front door, there were policemen
in uniforms at the top. The policemen at the door and the crowd
behind us made me think this was an important place.
27 It must be college, I thought to myself.
The First Day at William Frantz

28 Once we were inside the building, the marshals walked us up a
flight of stairs. The school office was at the top. My mother and I
went in and were told to sit in the principal’s office. The marshals
sat outside. There were windows in the room where we waited.

That meant everybody passing by could see us. I remember
noticing everyone was white.
29 All day long, white parents rushed into the office. They were
upset. They were arguing and pointing at us. When they took
their children to school that morning, the parents hadn’t been sure
whether William Frantz would be integrated that day or not. After
my mother and I arrived, they ran into classrooms and dragged
their children out of the school. From behind the windows in the
office, all I saw was confusion. I told myself that this must be the
way it is in a big school.
30 That whole first day, my mother and I just sat and waited. We
didn’t talk to anybody. I remember watching a big, round clock on
the wall. When it was 3:00 and time to go home, I was glad. I had
thought my new school would be hard, but the first day was easy.
Going Home
31 When we left school that first day, the crowd outside was even
bigger and louder than it had been in the morning. There were
reporters and film cameras and people everywhere. I guess the
police couldn’t keep them behind the barricades. It seemed to take
us a long time to get to the marshals’ car.
32 Later on I learned there had been protestors in front of the
two integrated schools the whole day. They wanted to be sure
white parents would boycott4 the school and not let their children
attend. Groups of high school boys, joining the protestors,
paraded up and down the street and sang new verses to old
hymns. Their favorite was “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” in
which they changed the chorus to “Glory, glory, segregation, the
South will rise again.” Many of the boys carried signs and said
awful things, but most of all I remember seeing a black doll in a
coffin, which frightened me more than anything else.
33 After the first day, I was glad to get home. I wanted to change
my clothes and go outside to find my friends. My mother wasn’t
too worried about me because the police had set up barricades at
each end of the block. Only local residents were allowed on our
street. That afternoon, I taught a friend the chant I had learned:
“Two, four, six, eight, we don’t want to integrate.” My friend and I
didn’t know what the words meant, but we would jump rope to it
every day after school.
34 My father heard about the trouble at school. That night when he
came home from work, he said I was his “brave little Ruby.”
4. boycott (BOY kot) v. refuse to buy, sell, or use a product or service as a form of protest.

35 Leaving the school each day seemed even more frightening than
arriving in the morning.
36 I always drove to work and kept my car on the playground behind
the school building. The police had turned the playground into a
parking lot because it was the only area they could protect.
37 On leaving school in the afternoon—even with a police escort—you
were always fearful of how the people gathered along the sidewalks
might choose to protest that day as you drove past them. The New
Orleans police were supposed to be there to help us, but they very
much disliked being the ones to enforce integration, so you never could
be confident of their support and cooperation.
—Barbara Henry, Ruby’s First-Grade Teacher

The
Scholarship
Jacket
by Marta Salinas
About the Author

Born in Coalinga, California, Marta Salinas (b. 1949) graduated from the
University of California at Irvine. Her short stories have been published in a
number of journals and collections.
BACKGROUND
School jackets, also called varsity jackets or letter jackets, are
traditionally worn by high school and college students. Students may
earn letters or patches that can be attached to their jackets, showing
awards earned in athletics or academics. These awards are signs of pride
and recognition. In most school districts, these jackets are optional—
students must purchase their own jackets and patches.
1 The small Texas school that I attended carried out a tradition

every year during the eighth grade graduation; a beautiful gold
and green jacket, the school colors, was awarded to the class
valedictorian, the student who had maintained the highest grades
for eight years. The scholarship jacket had a big gold S on the left
front side and the winner’s name was written in gold letters on
the pocket.
IL9 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • The Scholarship Jacket

2 My oldest sister Rosie had won the jacket a few years back
and I fully expected to win also. I was fourteen and in the eighth
grade. I had been a straight A student since the first grade, and the
last year I had looked forward to owning that jacket. My father
was a farm laborer who couldn’t earn enough money to feed
eight children, so when I was six I was given to my grandparents
to raise. We couldn’t participate in sports at school because there
were registration fees, uniform costs, and trips out of town; so
even though we were quite agile and athletic, there would never
be a sports school jacket for us. This one, the scholarship jacket,
was our only chance.
3 In May, close to graduation, spring fever struck, and no one
paid any attention in class; instead we stared out the windows
and at each other, wanting to speed up the last few weeks of
school. I despaired every time I looked in the mirror. Pencil thin,
not a curve anywhere, I was called “Beanpole” and “String Bean”
and I knew that’s what I looked like. A flat chest, no hips, and
a brain, that’s what I had. That really isn’t much for a fourteen-
year-old to work with, I thought, as I absentmindedly wandered
from my history class to the gym. Another hour of sweating in
basketball and displaying my toothpick legs was coming up. Then
I remembered my P.E. shorts were still in a bag under my desk
where I’d forgotten them. I had to walk all the way back and get
them. Coach Thompson was a real bear if anyone wasn’t dressed
for P.E. She had said I was a good forward and once she even tried
to talk Grandma into letting me join the team. Grandma, of course,
said no.
4 I was almost back at my classroom’s door when I heard angry
voices and arguing. I stopped. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop; I just
hesitated, not knowing what to do. I needed those shorts and I
was going to be late, but I didn’t want to interrupt an argument
between my teachers. I recognized the voices: Mr. Schmidt, my
history teacher, and Mr. Boone, my math teacher. They seemed

to be arguing about me. I couldn’t believe it. I still remember the
shock that rooted me flat against the wall as if I were trying to
blend in with the graffiti written there.
5 “I refuse to do it! I don’t care who her father is, her grades
don’t even begin to compare to Martha’s. I won’t lie or falsify
records. Martha has a straight A plus average and you know it.”
That was Mr. Schmidt and he sounded very angry. Mr. Boone’s
voice sounded calm and quiet.
6 “Look, Joann’s father is not only on the Board, he owns the
only store in town; we could say it was a close tie and—“
7 The pounding in my ears drowned out the rest of the words,
only a word here and there filtered through. “. . . Martha is
Mexican. . . . resign. . . . won’t do it. . . .” Mr. Schmidt came rushing
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • The Scholarship Jacket IL10

out, and luckily for me went down the opposite way toward the
auditorium, so he didn’t see me. Shaking, I waited a few minutes
and then went in and grabbed my bag and fled from the room.
Mr. Boone looked up when I came in but didn’t say anything. To
this day I don’t remember if I got in trouble in P.E. for being late or
how I made it through the rest of the afternoon. I went home very
sad and cried into my pillow that night so Grandmother wouldn’t
hear me. It seemed a cruel coincidence that I had overheard that
conversation.
8 The next day when the principal called me into his office, I
knew what it would be about. He looked uncomfortable and
unhappy. I decided I wasn’t going to make it any easier for him
so I looked him straight in the eye. He looked away and fidgeted
with the papers on his desk.
9 “Martha,” he said. “there’s been a change in policy this year
regarding the scholarship jacket. As you know, it has always been
free.” He cleared his throat and continued. “This year the Board
decided to charge fifteen dollars—which still won’t cover the
complete cost of the jacket.”
10 I stared at him in shock and a small sound of dismay escaped
my throat. I hadn’t expected this. He still avoided looking in my
eyes.
11 “So if you are unable to pay the fifteen dollars for the jacket, it
will be given to the next one in line.”
12 Standing with all the dignity I could muster, I said, “I’ll speak
to my grandfather about it, sir, and let you know tomorrow.” I
cried on the walk home from the bus stop. The dirt road was a
quarter of a mile from the highway, so by the time I got home, my
eyes were red and puffy.
13 “Where’s Grandpa?” I asked Grandma, looking down at the
floor so she wouldn’t ask me why I’d been crying. She was sewing
on a quilt and didn’t look up.

14 “I think he’s out back working in the bean field.”
15 I went outside and looked out at the fields. There he was. I
could see him walking between the rows, his body bent over the
little plants, hoe1 in hand. I walked slowly out to him, trying to
think how I could best ask him for the money. There was a cool
breeze blowing and a sweet smell of mesquite in the air, but I
didn’t appreciate it. I kicked at a dirt clod. I wanted that jacket
so much. It was more than just being a valedictorian and giving
a little thank you speech for the jacket on graduation night. It
represented eight years of hard work and expectation. I knew I
had to be honest with Grandpa; it was my only chance. He saw
me and looked up.
1. hoe (HOH) n. a garden tool used for weeding which has a flat metal blade attached to a
long pole.

16 He waited for me to speak. I cleared my throat nervously
and clasped my hands behind my back so he wouldn’t see them
shaking. “Grandpa, I have a big favor to ask you,” I said in
Spanish, the only language he knew. He still waited silently. I
tried again. “Grandpa, this year the principal said the scholarship
jacket is not going to be free. It’s going to cost fifteen dollars and
I have to take the money in tomorrow, otherwise it’ll be given to
someone else.” The last words came out in an eager rush. Grandpa
straightened up tiredly and leaned his chin on the hoe handle. He
looked out over the field that was filled with the tiny green bean
plants. I waited, desperately hoping he’d say I could have the
money.
17 He turned to me and asked quietly, “What does a scholarship
jacket mean?”
18 I answered quickly; maybe there was a chance. “It means
you’ve earned it by having the highest grades for eight years
and that’s why they’re giving it to you.” Too late I realized the
significance of my words. Grandpa knew that I understood it was
not a matter of money. It wasn’t that. He went back to hoeing the
weeds that sprang up between the delicate little bean plants. It
was a time consuming job; sometimes the small shoots were right
next to each other. Finally he spoke again.
19 “Then if you pay for it, Marta, it’s not a scholarship jacket, is it?
Tell your principal I will not pay the fifteen dollars.”
20 I walked back to the house and locked myself in the bathroom
for a long time. I was angry with Grandfather even though I knew
he was right, and I was angry with the Board, whoever they were.
Why did they have to change the rules just when it was my turn to
win the jacket?
21 It was a very sad and withdrawn girl who dragged into the
principal’s office the next day. This time he did look me in the
eyes.
22 “What did your grandfather say?”

23 I sat very straight in my chair.
24 “He said to tell you he won’t pay the fifteen dollars.”
25 The principal muttered something I couldn’t understand under
his breath, and walked over to the window. He was looking out
at something outside. He looked bigger than usual when he stood
up; he was a tall gaunt man with grey hair, and I watched the back
of his head while I waited for him to speak.
26 “Why?” he finally asked. “Your grandfather has the money.
Doesn’t he own a small bean farm?”
27 I looked at him, forcing my eyes to stay dry. “He said if I had
to pay for it, then it wouldn’t be a scholarship jacket,” I said and
stood up to leave. “I guess you’ll just have to give it to Joann.” I
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • The Scholarship Jacket IL12

hadn’t meant to say that; it just slipped out. I was almost to the
door, when he stopped me.
28 “Martha—wait.”
29 I turned and looked at him, waiting. What did he want now?
I could feel my heart pounding. Something bitter and vile tasting
was coming up in my mouth; I was afraid I was going to be sick.
I didn’t need any sympathy speeches. He sighed loudly and went
back to his big desk. He looked at me, biting his lip, as if thinking.
30 “Okay, damn it. We’ll make an exception in your case. I’ll tell
the Board, you’ll get your jacket.”
31 I could hardly believe it. I spoke in a trembling rush. “Oh,
thank you, sir!” Suddenly I felt great. I didn’t know about
adrenaline2 in those days, but I knew something was pumping
through me, making me feel as tall as the sky. I wanted to yell,
jump, run the mile, do something. I ran out so I could cry in the
hall where there was no one to see me. At the end of the day,
Mr. Schmidt winked at me and said, “I hear you’re getting a
scholarship jacket this year.”
32 His face looked as happy and innocent as a baby’s, but I knew
better. Without answering I gave him a quick hug and ran to the
bus. I cried on the walk home again, but this time because I was so
happy. I couldn’t wait to tell Grandpa and ran straight to the field.
I joined him in the row where he was working and without saying
anything I crouched down and started pulling up the weeds with
my hands. Grandpa worked alongside me for a few minutes, but
he didn’t ask what had happened. After I had a little pile of weeds
between the rows, I stood up and faced him.
33 “The principal said he’s making an exception for me, Grandpa,
and I’m getting the jacket after all. That’s after I told him what you
said.”
34 Grandpa didn’t say anything, he just gave me a pat on
the shoulder and a smile. He pulled out the crumpled red

handkerchief that he always carried in his back pocket and wiped
the sweat off his forehead.
35 “Better go see if your grandmother needs any help with
supper.”
36 I gave him a big grin. He didn’t fool me. I skipped and ran back
to the house whistling some silly tune.
2. adrenaline (uh DREH nuh luhn) n. a hormone that increases heart rate when released
into the blood.

BIOGRAPHY
from Harriet Tubman:

Conductor on the
Underground Railroad
Ann Petry
About the Author

Ann Petry (1908–1997) was the first African
American woman to publish a best-selling novel—her
book The Street sold more than a million copies.
Petry’s grandfather Willis James was a fugitive who
had escaped slavery in Virginia and settled in
Connecticut in the 1800s. Petry’s parents encouraged
Petry to be confident and proud of her heritage by
telling stories of her ancestors. These stories later
helped Petry capture the voices of history in her
own writing.
BACKGROUND
By 1850, the United States had acquired new territory in the West.
To calm antagonisms over the legality of slavery in the new states or
territories, Congress reached the Compromise of 1850, which said
that California would be admitted as a “free” state and that citizens
of Utah and New Mexico territories would decide the slavery issue for
themselves. This series of acts also included the controversial Fugitive

Slave Law, which denied due process of law to recaptured slaves and set
heavy fines for those who aided them.
The Railroad Runs to Canada

1
A long the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Dorchester County,

in Caroline County, the masters kept hearing whispers
about the man named Moses, who was running off slaves. At first
they did not believe in his existence. The stories about him were
fantastic, unbelievable. Yet they watched for him. They offered
rewards for his capture.
2 They never saw him. Now and then they heard whispered
rumors to the effect that he was in the neighborhood. The woods
were searched. The roads were watched. There was never
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad IL14
anything to indicate his whereabouts. But a few days afterward,
a goodly number of slaves would be gone from the plantation.
Neither the master nor the overseer had heard or seen anything
unusual in the quarter. Sometimes one or the other would vaguely
remember having heard a whippoorwill call somewhere in the
woods, close by, late at night. Though it was the wrong season for
whippoorwills.
3 Sometimes the masters thought they had heard the cry of a
hoot owl, repeated, and would remember having thought that the
intervals between the low moaning cry were wrong, that it had
been repeated four times in succession instead of three. There was
never anything more than that to suggest that all was not well in
the quarter. Yet when morning came, they invariably discovered
that a group of the finest slaves had taken to their heels.
4 Unfortunately, the discovery was almost always made on
a Sunday. Thus a whole day was lost before the machinery of
pursuit could be set in motion. The posters offering rewards for
the fugitives could not be printed until Monday. The men who
made a living hunting for runaway slaves were out of reach, off
in the woods with their dogs and their guns, in pursuit of four-
footed game, or they were in camp meetings1 saying their prayers
with their wives and families beside them.
5 Harriet Tubman could have told them that there was far more
involved in this matter of running off slaves than signaling the
would-be runaways by imitating the call of a whippoorwill, or a
hoot owl, far more involved than a matter of waiting for a clear
night when the North Star was visible.
6 In December, 1851, when she started out with the band of
fugitives that she planned to take to Canada, she had been in the
vicinity of the plantation for days, planning the trip, carefully
selecting the slaves that she would take with her.
7 She had announced her arrival in the quarter by singing the

forbidden spiritual2—“Go down, Moses, ’way down to Egypt
Land”—singing it softly outside the door of a slave cabin, late
at night. The husky voice was beautiful even when it was barely
more than a murmur borne on the wind.
8 Once she had made her presence known, word of her coming
spread from cabin to cabin. The slaves whispered to each other,
ear to mouth, mouth to ear, “Moses is here.” “Moses has come.”
“Get ready. Moses is back again.” The ones who had agreed to go
North with her put ashcake and salt herring in an old bandanna,
1. camp meetings religious meetings held outdoors or in a tent.

2. forbidden spiritual In 1831, a slave named Nat Turner encouraged an unsuccessful slave
uprising by talking about the biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. Afterward,
the singing of certain spirituals, songs based on the Bible, was forbidden for fear of
encouraging more uprisings.
IL15 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
hastily tied it into a bundle, and then waited patiently for the
signal that meant it was time to start.
9 There were eleven in this party, including one of her brothers
and his wife. It was the largest group that she had ever conducted,
but she was determined that more and more slaves should know
what freedom was like.
10 She had to take them all the way to Canada. The Fugitive Slave
Law was no longer a great many incomprehensible words written
down on the country’s lawbooks. The new law had become a
reality. It was Thomas Sims, a boy, picked up on the streets of
Boston at night and shipped back to Georgia. It was Jerry and
Shadrach, arrested and jailed with no warning.
11 She had never been in Canada. The route beyond Philadelphia
was strange to her. But she could not let the runaways who
accompanied her know this. As they walked along she told
them stories of her own first flight, she kept painting vivid word
pictures of what it would be like to be free.
12 But there were so many of them this time. She knew moments
of doubt when she was half-afraid, and kept looking back over
her shoulder, imagining that she heard the sound of pursuit. They
would certainly be pursued. Eleven of them. Eleven thousand
dollars’ worth of flesh and bone and muscle that belonged to
Maryland planters. If they were caught, the eleven runaways
would be whipped and sold South, but she—she would probably
be hanged.
13 They tried to sleep during the day but they never could wholly
relax into sleep. She could tell by the positions they assumed,
by their restless movements. And they walked at night. Their
progress was slow. It took them three nights of walking to reach
the first stop. She had told them about the place where they would
stay, promising warmth and good food, holding these things out
to them as an incentive to keep going.
14 When she knocked on the door of a farmhouse, a place where

she and her parties of runaways had always been welcome,
always been given shelter and plenty to eat, there was no answer.
She knocked again, softly. A voice from within said, “Who is it?”
There was fear in the voice.
15 She knew instantly from the sound of the voice that there was
something wrong. She said, “A friend with friends,” the password
on the Underground Railroad.
16 The door opened, slowly. The man who stood in the doorway
looked at her coldly, looked with unconcealed astonishment and
fear at the eleven disheveled runaways who were standing near
her. Then he shouted, “Too many, too many. It’s not safe. My place
was searched last week. It’s not safe!” and slammed the door in
her face.
17 She turned away from the house, frowning. She had promised
her passengers food and rest and warmth, and instead of that,
there would be hunger and cold and more walking over the frozen
ground. Somehow she would have to instill courage into these
eleven people, most of them strangers, would have to feed them
on hope and bright dreams of freedom instead of the fried pork
and corn bread and milk she had promised them.
18 They stumbled along behind her, half-dead for sleep, and she
urged them on, though she was as tired and as discouraged as
they were. She had never been in Canada but she kept painting
wondrous word pictures of what it would be like. She managed
to dispel their fear of pursuit, so that they would not become
hysterical, panic-stricken. Then she had to bring some of the fear
back, so that they would stay awake and keep walking though
they drooped with sleep.
19 Yet during the day, when they lay down deep in a thicket, they
never really slept, because if a twig snapped or the wind sighed
in the branches of a pine tree, they jumped to their feet, afraid of
their own shadows, shivering and shaking. It was very cold, but
they dared not make fires because someone would see the smoke
and wonder about it.
20 She kept thinking, eleven of them. Eleven thousand dollars’
worth of slaves. And she had to take them all the way to Canada.
Sometimes she told them about Thomas Garrett, in Wilmington.
She said he was their friend even though he did not know them.
He was the friend of all fugitives. He called them God’s poor. He
was a Quaker and his speech was a little different from that of
other people. His clothing was different, too. He wore the wide-
brimmed hat that the Quakers wear.
21 She said that he had thick white hair, soft, almost like a baby’s,
and the kindest eyes she had ever seen. He was a big man and
strong, but he had never used his strength to harm anyone,

always to help people. He would give all of them a new pair of
shoes. Everybody. He always did. Once they reached his house in
Wilmington, they would be safe. He would see to it that
they were.
22 She described the house where he lived, told them about the
store where he sold shoes. She said he kept a pail of milk and a
loaf of bread in the drawer of his desk so that he would have food
ready at hand for any of God’s poor who should suddenly appear
before him, fainting with hunger. There was a hidden room in the
store. A whole wall swung open, and behind it was a room where
he could hide fugitives. On the wall there were shelves filled with
small boxes—boxes of shoes—so that you would never guess that
the wall actually opened.
23 While she talked, she kept watching them. They did not believe
her. She could tell by their expressions. They were thinking. New
shoes, Thomas Garrett, Quaker, Wilmington—what foolishness
was this? Who knew if she told the truth? Where was she taking
them anyway?
24 That night they reached the next stop—a farm that belonged
to a German. She made the runaways take shelter behind trees
at the edge of the fields before she knocked at the door. She
hesitated before she approached the door, thinking, suppose that
he, too, should refuse shelter, suppose— Then she thought, Lord,
I’m going to hold steady on to You and You’ve got to see me
through—and knocked softly.
25 She heard the familiar guttural voice say, “Who’s there?”
26 She answered quickly, “A friend with friends.”
27 He opened the door and greeted her warmly. “How many this
time?” he asked.
28 “Eleven,” she said and waited, doubting, wondering.
29 He said, “Good. Bring them in.”
30 He and his wife fed them in the lamplit kitchen, their faces
glowing, as they offered food and more food, urging them to eat,
saying there was plenty for everybody, have more milk, have
more bread, have more meat.
31 They spent the night in the warm kitchen. They really slept, all
that night and until dusk the next day. When they left, it was with
reluctance. They had all been warm and safe and well-fed. It was
hard to exchange the security offered by that clean, warm kitchen
for the darkness and the cold of a December night.
“Go On or Die”
32 Harriet had found it hard to leave the warmth and friendliness,
too. But she urged them on. For a while, as they walked, they
seemed to carry in them a measure of contentment; some of the
serenity and the cleanliness of that big warm kitchen lingered on

inside them. But as they walked farther and farther away from
the warmth and the light, the cold and the darkness entered
into them. They fell silent, sullen, suspicious. She waited for the
moment when some one of them would turn mutinous. It did not
happen that night.
33 Two nights later she was aware that the feet behind her were
moving slower and slower. She heard the irritability in their
voices, knew that soon someone would refuse to go on.
34 She started talking about William Still and the Philadelphia
Vigilance Committee.3 No one commented. No one asked any
questions. She told them the story of William and Ellen Craft
and how they escaped from Georgia. Ellen was so fair that she
looked as though she were white, and so she dressed up in a
man’s clothing and she looked like a wealthy young planter. Her
husband, William, who was dark, played the role of her slave.
Thus they traveled from Macon, Georgia, to Philadelphia, riding
on the trains, staying at the finest hotels. Ellen pretended to be
very ill—her right arm was in a sling, and her right hand was
bandaged, because she was supposed to have rheumatism. Thus
she avoided having to sign the register at the hotels for she could
not read or write. They finally arrived safely in Philadelphia, and
then went on to Boston.
35 No one said anything. Not one of them seemed to have
heard her.
36 She told them about Frederick Douglass, the most famous of the
escaped slaves, of his eloquence, of his magnificent appearance.
Then she told them of her own first vain effort at running away,
evoking the memory of that miserable life she had led as a child,
reliving it for a moment in the telling.
37 But they had been tired too long, hungry too long, afraid too
long, footsore too long. One of them suddenly cried out in despair,
“Let me go back. It is better to be a slave than to suffer like this in
order to be free.”
38 She carried a gun with her on these trips. She had never used
it—except as a threat. Now as she aimed it, she experienced a
feeling of guilt, remembering that time, years ago, when she had
prayed for the death of Edward Brodas, the Master, and then not
too long afterward had heard that great wailing cry that came
from the throats of the field hands, and knew from the sound that
the Master was dead.

39 One of the runaways said, again, “Let me go back. Let me go
back,” and stood still, and then turned around and said, over his
shoulder, “I am going back.”
40 She lifted the gun, aimed it at the despairing slave. She said,
“Go on with us or die.” The husky low-pitched voice was grim.
41 He hesitated for a moment and then he joined the others. They
started walking again. She tried to explain to them why none of
them could go back to the plantation. If a runaway returned, he
would turn traitor, the master and the overseer would force him
to turn traitor. The returned slave would disclose the stopping
places, the hiding places, the cornstacks they had used with the
full knowledge of the owner of the farm, the name of the German
3. Philadelphia Vigilance Committee group of citizens that helped escaped slaves. Its
secretary was a free black man named William Still.
farmer who had fed them and sheltered them. These people who
had risked their own security to help runaways would be ruined,
fined, imprisoned.
42 She said, “We got to go free or die. And freedom’s not bought
with dust.”
43 This time she told them about the long agony of the Middle
Passage on the old slave ships, about the black horror of the holds,
about the chains and the whips. They too knew these stories. But
she wanted to remind them of the long hard way they had come,
about the long hard way they had yet to go. She told them about
Thomas Sims, the boy picked up on the streets of Boston and sent
back to Georgia. She said when they got him back to Savannah,
got him in prison there, they whipped him until a doctor who was
standing by watching said, “You will kill him if you strike him
again!” His master said, “Let him die!”
44 Thus she forced them to go on. Sometimes she thought she had
become nothing but a voice speaking in the darkness, cajoling,
urging, threatening. Sometimes she told them things to make them
laugh, sometimes she sang to them, and heard the eleven voices
behind her blending softly with hers, and then she knew that for
the moment all was well with them.
45 She gave the impression of being a short, muscular,
indomitable4 woman who could never be defeated. Yet at any
moment she was liable to be seized by one of those curious fits of
sleep, which might last for a few minutes or for hours.5
46 Even on this trip, she suddenly fell asleep in the woods. The
runaways, ragged, dirty, hungry, cold, did not steal the gun as
they might have, and set off by themselves, or turn back. They sat
on the ground near her and waited patiently until she awakened.
They had come to trust her implicitly, totally. They, too, had come
to believe her repeated statement, “We got to go free or die.” She
was leading them into freedom, and so they waited until she was
ready to go on.
47 Finally, they reached Thomas Garrett’s house in Wilmington,
Delaware. Just as Harriet had promised, Garrett gave them all new
shoes, and provided carriages to take them on to the next stop.
48 By slow stages they reached Philadelphia, where William Still
hastily recorded their names, and the plantations whence they had
come, and something of the life they had led in slavery. Then he
carefully hid what he had written, for fear it might be discovered.
In 1872 he published this record in book form and called it The
Underground Railroad. In the foreword to his book he said: “While
I knew the danger of keeping strict records, and while I did not
then dream that in my day slavery would be blotted out, or that
the time would come when I could publish these records, it used
to afford me great satisfaction to take them down, fresh from the
lips of fugitives on the way to freedom, and to preserve them as
they had given them.”
49 William Still, who was familiar with all the station stops on the
Underground Railroad, supplied Harriet with money and sent her
and her eleven fugitives on to Burlington, New Jersey.
50 Harriet felt safer now, though there were danger spots ahead.
But the biggest part of her job was over. As they went farther and

farther north, it grew colder; she was aware of the wind on the
Jersey ferry and aware of the cold damp in New York. From New
York they went on to Syracuse, where the temperature was even
lower.
51 In Syracuse she met the Reverend J. W. Loguen, known as
“Jarm” Loguen. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
4. indomitable (ihn DOM uh tuh buhl) adj. not easily discouraged.

5. sleep . . . hours When she was about thirteen, Harriet accidentally received a severe blow
on the head. Afterward, she often lost consciousness and could not be awakened until the
episode ended.
Both Harriet and Jarm Loguen were to become friends and
supporters of Old John Brown.6
52 From Syracuse they went north again, into a colder, snowier
city—Rochester. Here they almost certainly stayed with Frederick
Douglass, for he wrote in his autobiography:
53 “On one occasion I had eleven fugitives at the same time
under my roof, and it was necessary for them to remain
with me until I could collect sufficient money to get them to
Canada. It was the largest number I ever had at any one time,
and I had some difficulty in providing so many with food
and shelter, but, as may well be imagined, they were not very
fastidious in either direction, and were well content with
very plain food, and a strip of carpet on the floor for a bed, or
a place on the straw in the barnloft.”
54 Late in December, 1851, Harriet arrived in St. Catharines,
Canada West (now Ontario), with the eleven fugitives. It had
taken almost a month to complete this journey; most of the time
had been spent getting out of Maryland.
55 That first winter in St. Catharines was a terrible one. Canada
was a strange frozen land, snow everywhere, ice everywhere,
and a bone-biting cold the like of which none of them had ever
experienced before. Harriet rented a small frame house in the
town and set to work to make a home. The fugitives boarded
with her. They worked in the forests, felling trees, and so did she.
Sometimes she took other jobs, cooking or cleaning house for
people in the town. She cheered on these newly arrived fugitives,
working herself, finding work for them, finding food for them,
praying for them, sometimes begging for them.
56 Often she found herself thinking of the beauty of Maryland,
the mellowness of the soil, the richness of the plant life there.
The climate itself made for an ease of living that could never be
duplicated in this bleak, barren countryside.

57 In spite of the severe cold, the hard work, she came to love
St. Catharines, and the other towns and cities in Canada where
black men lived. She discovered that freedom meant more than
the right to change jobs at will, more than the right to keep the
money that one earned. It was the right to vote and to sit on juries.
It was the right to be elected to office. In Canada there were black
men who were county officials and members of school boards. St.
Catharines had a large colony of ex-slaves, and they owned their
own homes, kept them neat and clean and in good repair. They
lived in whatever part of town they chose and sent their children
to the schools.
6. John Brown white antislavery activist (1800–1859) hanged for leading a raid on the
arsenal at Harpers Ferry, then in Virginia (now in West Virginia), as part of a slave uprising.
58 When spring came she decided that she would make this small
Canadian city her home—as much as any place could be said to be
home to a woman who traveled from Canada to the Eastern Shore
of Maryland as often as she did.
59 In the spring of 1852, she went back to Cape May, New Jersey.
She spent the summer there, cooking in a hotel. That fall she
returned, as usual, to Dorchester County, and brought out nine
more slaves, conducting them all the way to St. Catharines, in
Canada West, to the bone-biting cold, the snow-covered forests—
and freedom.
60 She continued to live in this fashion, spending the winter in
Canada, and the spring and summer working in Cape May, New
Jersey, or in Philadelphia. She made two trips a year into slave
territory, one in the fall and another in the spring. She now had
a definite crystallized purpose, and in carrying it out, her life fell
into a pattern which remained unchanged for the next six years. ❧
NONFICTIONARGUMENT
NARRATIVE
from Follow the

Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris Pilkington
About the Author

Doris Pilkington (1937–2014) was an Aboriginal author
best known for her nonfiction narrative Follow the
Rabbit-Proof Fence, based on her mother’s 1931 escape
from the Moore River Mission. Under the Aborigines Act
(1906–1954), approximately 100,000 children were
removed from their tribal lands and placed in the care of
the state. In 1940, when she was three-and-a-half years
old, Doris became one of these children.
BACKGROUND
Aboriginal Australians are the native people of the Australian continent.

From 1910 to 1970, many children of mixed Aboriginal and white
descent were taken from their families by the government in an effort
to train them to fit into white Australian culture. Follow the Rabbit-
Proof Fence is a nonfiction narrative account of three Mardu Aboriginal
girls who escaped a government settlement in 1931 to return home.
The Mardu are the indigenous, or native, people of the Australian
desert.
T he other girls were now getting ready for school, and the
three watched quietly amidst all the activity. Bossing and
bullying was everywhere around them and there were cries and
squeals of, “Don’t, you’re hurting my head,” as the tangled knots
were combed out with tiny, fragile combs.
UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence IL24

2 “Oh, Mummy, Daddy, Mummy, Daddy, my head,” yelled a
young girl, who stamped her feet and tried to pull away from her
torturer, an older, well-built girl who seemed to have adopted the
girl as her baby sister. They performed this ritual together every
morning before school.
3 “Come on, you girls,” ordered Martha Jones as she passed by
their bed. “The school bell’s gone. Don’t be late on your first day.”
4 “Alright, we’re coming as soon as we empty the toilet bucket,”
answered Molly softly.
5 ‘‘I’ll wait for you then,” said Martha.
6 “No, don’t wait we’ll follow you, we know where the school is.”
7 “Alright then, we’ll go along. Come on, Rosie,” she said as she
rushed out of the door into the cold, drizzly morning.
8 As soon as the other girls left the dormitory, Molly beckoned
her two sisters to come closer to her, then she whispered urgently,
“We’re not going to school, so grab your bags. We’re not staying
here.” Daisy and Gracie were stunned and stood staring at her.
9 “What did you say?” asked Gracie.
10 “I said, we’re not staying here at the settlement, because we’re
going home to Jigalong.”1
11 Gracie and Daisy weren’t sure whether they were hearing
correctly or not.
12 “Move quickly,” Molly ordered her sisters. She wanted to be
miles away before their absence was discovered. Time was of the
essence.
13 Her two young sisters faced each other, both looking very
scared and confused. Daisy turned to Molly and said nervously,
“We’re frightened, Dgudu.2 How are we going to find our way
back home to Jigalong? It’s a long way from home.”
14 Molly leaned against the wall and said confidently, “I know it’s
a long way to go but it’s easy. We’ll find the rabbit-proof fence3
and follow that all the way home.”

15 “We gunna walk all the way?” asked Daisy.
16 “Yeah,” replied Molly, getting really impatient now. “So don’t
waste time.”
17 The task of finding the rabbit-proof fence seemed like a
simple solution for a teenager whose father was an inspector
who traveled up and down the fences, and whose grandfather
had worked with him. Thomas Craig told her often enough that
the fence stretched from coast to coast, south to north across
the country. It was just a matter of locating a stretch of it then
following it to Jigalong. The two youngsters trusted their big
sister because she was not only the eldest but she had always
1. Jigalong n. region in Western Australia where the Mardu Aboriginal people live.
2. Dgudu older sister in Mardudjara, the Mardu Aborigines’ native language.
3. the rabbit-proof fence fence that ran from the north coast of Australia to the south
coast to deter pests such as rabbits.
IL25 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

been the bossy one who made all the decisions at home. So they
did the normal thing and said, “Alright, Dgudu, we’ll run away
with you.”
18 They snatched up their meager possessions and put them
into calico bags and pulled the long drawstrings and slung them
around their necks. Each one put on two dresses, two pairs of
calico bloomers, and a coat.
19 Gracie and Daisy were about to leave when Molly told them to,
“Wait. Take those coats off. Leave them here.”
20 “Why?” asked Gracie.
21 “Because they’re too heavy to carry.”
22 The three sisters checked to make sure they hadn’t missed
anything then, when they were absolutely satisfied, Molly
grabbed the galvanized bucket and ordered Gracie to get hold of
the other side and walk quickly trying not to spill the contents
as they made their way to the lavatories. Daisy waited under the
large pine tree near the stables. She reached up and broke a small
twig that was hanging down low and was examining it closely
when the other two joined her.
23 “Look, Dgudu, like grass indi?4” asked Daisy, passing the twig
to Molly to feel.
24 “Youay,”5 she said, as she gave it to Gracie who crushed the
green pine needles into her small hands and sniffed them. She
liked the smell and was about to give her opinion when Molly
reminded them that they didn’t have time to stand around
examining pine needles.
25 “Come on, run, you two,” she said sharply as she started to run
towards the river.
26 Many young people had stood under the same big pine tree
and waited while someone went into the stable or the garage to
distract Maitland, the caretaker and stableman. Then they would
give the signal that the coast was clear and everyone would dash
into the grainary and fill their empty fruit tins with wheat from
one of the opened bags at the back of the shed. Some of it was
roasted on flat tins over the hot coals, the rest was saved to fill
initials that had been dug into the sloping embankment of firm
yellow sand along the cliffs. These were left until the first rain
came, then all the inmates would rush down to inspect the cliffs.
This grass graffiti revealed the new summer romances between
the older boys and girls. But these three girls from the East Pilbara
had no intention of participating, they had a more important task
ahead of them.
27 On they went, dashing down the sandy slope of the cliffs,
dodging the small shrubs on the way and following the narrow
4. indi? “isn’t it?” (Mardudjara).

5. Youay “Yes” (Mardudjara).

path to the flooded river. They slowed down only when they
reached the bottom. Molly paused briefly, glancing at the
pumping shed on their right where they had been the day before.
Turning towards it she said to Gracie and Daisy, “This way.” She
ran for about 25 meters, crashing into the thick paperbark trees
and the branches of the river gums that blocked their path.
28 Molly strode on as best as she could along the muddy banks,
pausing only to urge her young sisters to hurry up and try to keep
up with her. She kept up that pace until she saw what she thought
to be a likely spot to cross the swift flowing river.
29 The three girls watched the swirling currents and the white
and brown frothy foam that clung to the trunks of the young river
gums and clumps of tea-trees. They didn’t know that this became
one of the most popular spots during the hot summer days. This
was the local swimming pool that would be filled with naked
or semi-naked brown bodies, laughing, splashing, swimming
and diving into the cool brown water during the long summer
afternoons. Every now and then, the swimmers would sit on
the coarse river sand and yank ugly, brown, slimy leeches off
their bodies and impale them on sticks and turn them inside out
and plunge them into the hot burning mud. The next day the
swimmers would pull the sticks out of the sand and gloat at the
shriveled dry skins that once were horrible little creatures, ready
to suck all the blood from their bodies—or so the young people
were led to believe.
30 “The river is too deep and fast here, let’s try up further,”
Molly said, leading the way through the thick young suckers and
washed-up logs. They continued along the bank making slow
progress through the obstacles that nature had left in their path. At
last they came to a section in the river that seemed narrow enough
to cross.
31 “We’ll try here,” said Molly as she bent down to pick up a long

stick. She slid down the bank into the river and began measuring
its depth just as she had seen Edna Green do the previous
afternoon, while Daisy and Gracie watched patiently on the bank.
32 “Nah, too deep,” Molly said in disgust. “Not here.”
33 “Gulu,6 Dgudu,” cried the youngsters as they ran to follow her
through the wet foliage.
34 The three girls walked along the muddy banks for another
25 meters when they came to a clearing, devoid of any shrubs or
young suckers, where the floods had receded.
35 In a couple of weeks’ time, this place would become a muddy
skating rink where the girls of the settlement would spend hours
having fun skating up and down the slippery mud. The idea was
to skate by placing one foot in front of the other and maintain
6. Gulu “wait” (Mardudjara).
IL27 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

your balance for a couple of meters at least. The boys had their
own skating area further up in a more secluded place amongst the
thick tea-tree shrub. Peeping toms never existed in those days. Each
group respected each other’s privacy. Nearby, a huge fire would
be lit and kept stoked. When everyone had finished skating in the
slippery mud they would dive into the icy cold river to wash off the
mud, then dry themselves by the roaring fire, dress, and return to
the compound.
36 Molly decided to follow the paths made by the cattle. Another
attempt was made to cross the river but once again proved
unsuccessful. She walked on angrily, pushing the thick growth of
eucalyptus suckers roughly aside, at the same time urging Daisy
and Gracie to walk faster. But they decided that it was much safer
at a distance and they followed her muddy footprints in silence
without any questions, trusting her leadership totally.
37 They were still fighting their way through the tea-trees
for almost an hour when they heard Molly call out to them
somewhere down the track. “Yardini! Bukala! Bukala!”7
38 Daisy and Gracie ran as fast as they could along the muddy
path until they reached her. Molly was standing near a large
river gum. As they stood gasping for wind she said, “We gunna
cross here.”
39 As three pairs of eager eyes examined it closely, they knew that
they had found the perfect place to cross the flooded river. A tree
leaned over the water creating a natural bridge for them to cross
safely to the other side.
40 The girls scraped mud from their feet then climbed onto the
trunk and walked cautiously to the end then swung down off
the limb onto the slippery, muddy bank on the other side. They
sloshed through the wet, chocolate-colored banks for at least
another two hours, then decided to rest amongst the thick reeds
behind the tall river gums.
41 A few minutes later, Molly stood up and told her young

sisters to get up. “We go kyalie8 now all the way.” They obeyed
without any protests. Ducking under the hanging branches of the
paperbark trees they hurried as best they could, stomping on the
reeds and bull rushes that covered the banks of the fast flowing
river. The only sounds that could be heard were the startled birds
fluttering above as they left their nests in fright, and the slish, slosh
of the girls’ feet as they trampled over the bull rushes. ❧
7. Yardini! Bukala! Bukala! “Come here! Hurry! Hurry!” (Mardudjara).

8. kyalie “north” (Mardudjara).

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UNIT

UNIT INTRODUCTION PEER-GROUP LEARNING

VIDEO: 14-Year-Old Teaches Family the Comparing Within Genre

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING Awake

Soda’s a Problem, but . . .

PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK

INDEPENDENT LEARNING PERFORMANCE-BASED

Doris Pilkington Go ONLINE for

Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

WATCH THE VIDEO

DISCUSS IT When is it fair to convince others to

14-Year-Old Teaches Family

When is it right to take a stand? Freedom of the Press?

WHOLE-CLASS PEER-GROUP INDEPENDENT

FANTASY: MODERN RETELLING

PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK SHARE INDEPENDENT LEARNING

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT UNIT REFLECTION

Unit Goals VIDEO

NOT AT ALL NOT VERY SOMEWHAT VERY EXTREMELY

ESSENTIAL QUESTION Unit Introduction Unit Reflection

I can read selections that express

READING Unit Introduction Unit Reflection

I can understand and use 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

I can recognize elements of

I can read a selection of my

304 UNIT 3 • WHAT MATTERS

Academic Vocabulary: Argument

PRACTICE Complete the chart.

1. Review each word, its root, and the mentor sentences.

WRITE Use each academic vocabulary word in a new sentence of

WORD MENTOR SENTENCES PREDICT MEANING RELATED WORDS

retort 1. His grumpy retort made me sorry I had contort; torture

commendable 1. His interest in volunteering to help the

rectify 1. I will try to rectify the situation, but I

-rect- soon as I get to the office.

speculate 1. The police did not want to speculate as

verify 1. Can you please verify that your name is

Unit Introduction 305

MENTOR TEXT | ARGUMENT MODEL

This selection is an example of an argument,

T he First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives

refuse to publish some articles.

306 UNIT 3 • WHAT MATTERS

that the girls’ identities would have been revealed eventually in

WORD NETWORK FOR WHAT MATTERS

Vocabulary A Word Network is a

Refer to the Word Network Model

Freedom of the Press? 307

WRITE IT Write a summary of “Freedom of the Press?”

1. On a sticky note, record a brief phrase to complete the statement.

308 UNIT 3 • WHAT MATTERS

WRITE IT Record your first thoughts here.

EQ When is it right to take a

Refer to the EQ Notes

Whole-Class Learning Strategies INTERACTIVITY

Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career,

STRATEGY MY ACTION PLAN

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Describe personal connections

INDEPENDENT LEARNING PERFORMANCE-BASED