Group Discussions Page

 

This is the page where you will post the products of your group discussion. The posting will be made by the Discussion Leader. Each member of each group will have 2 or 3 opportunities (depending on your group size) to work as the Discussion Leader.

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To post, start by pressing "Edit" at the top of the page --> enter your login information, if you are asked --> use the mouse to highlight the text to be changed, and type over it --> when finished, click "Save" at the bottom of the page, and you're done.

 

You may also add colour, underlines, bold, italics, or even links to other sites, if you wish.

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #1

 

Word Wizard

 

1 - Crook   (Page 1, para#3)  : bend something, especially finger or a signal.

                             example : He crooked a finger for the waitress. 

 

2 - Shrug (Page 2, para#3) : raise(one shoulder's) slightly and momentarily to express doubt, ignorance, or indifference. 

                             example : He just shrugged his shoulders and did not look interested. 

 

3 - Scalp  (Page 3, para#4) : the skin covering the head, cut or torn away by somebody (informal punish  severely)

                             example :  If i ever heard anybody doing that, i will scalp that person! 

 

4 - Holler (Page 4, para#3) : Give a loud shout or cry.

                             example : I got hollered for not doing my homework. 

 

5 - Strain (Page 4, para#4) : Force (a part's of one body or oneself) to make an unusually great effort.

                             example :  His voice is so quiet that I had to strain to hear it. 

 

Passage Picker

 

Chapter 1, page 4, Paragraph # 5

 

"She didn’t look at me, but continued to stare at the lake as she asked me if I had seen two teenage boys in the water recently. I told her I had met Joey and Francis that afternoon and had seen them wading in for a swim just before I went to eat, but that they weren’t there when I came back. I never told her about Joey’s earlier suggestion to head out to the drop. Instead I told her that maybe they had gone to climb the hill, and that they were great patches of ripe chokecherries and Saskatoon berries in behind it. Maybe they were there.''

 

 

Character Expert

~Nan~

 

In our discussion, we all agree that she is a thoughtful and powerful grandmother indirect presentation. For Nan’s appearance, she is short, tiny and approximately one hundred pounds. However, she has incredible power in her tiny body. Buddy’s mother has to work all the time so she is the one who takes care of the family. So Buddy is used to rely on her when he falls into troubles. She cried at the top of the hill with Buddy when Joey and Francis were missing. The reason might be she is thoughtful because she is also a mother. We also think that Gramp and Nan have high status in the family.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader (Daisy Ngan)

 

  The first question that we discussed in my group today is the most important part in chapter one. Then, my group members and me were shocked by the dead of Joey and Francis. We assumed that they might be good friends of Buddy when he was small and the narrator described the fun time that they had long time ago. So we thought that both of them were the main characters in the story but they died at last! The other important point is Buddy chose not to tell his family that he knew where Joey and Francis went. Buddy felt guilty and this event might suffer in his entire life. Some of my group member suggested that this event illustrate that Buddy is coward and he is probably a murderer. However, we are quite confused of the reason why the author put this event at the beginning of the story.

 

  Then, my group members suggested different actions that they would do if they were Buddy when he knew that Joey and Francis would go to the drop. They responded that they would tell their parents or stop them when they knew they were going to the drop. However, one of them said they would just stay at home and watch television because it was none of their business. In addiction, we also concerned that we might not have that power to persuade them not to go to that place. So we all agree that we would first try to persuade them then tell their parents. Two of my members insisted the way that Buddy did and did not want to tell his parents in order of not getting our butts red! Then, it might be a good way to look for them by ourselves although it is dangerous.

 

  In chapter one, we discovered some important points about Buddy. First, we agreed that he is observational. He described every detail of each family member when his family members when they were on the way to the lake. He is friendly as he mentioned his cousins like to play with him. From the middle of the story, we assumed that he is thoughtful and well behaved. He has a good relationship with the elders in the family. He obeys and respects his grandparents. Buddy is only ten years old but he is not as naughty as his cousins. We think that he is quite quiet and he put all his thoughts in his mind. Moreover, he loves nature and animals. One of his best friend is a dog which is called Rinty and he likes to spend time with nature with it.

 

  Later, we discussed more about the purpose of why the author chose to put the dead of Joey and Francis at the beginning of chapter one. We think that there are few possibilities about it. First, it might be foreshadowing of the next chapter which means something that would happen like the dead of Joey and Francis. It might be something scary that made Buddy to think back what happened and might probably tell the truth. Most of our members agree that it is just a flashback because Buddy was going to the lake again and it made him to think about his guilt.  The last probability is the introduction of that lake that Buddy likes to go which mean the memory of that place for himself. 

 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #2

 

Word Wizard

 

1 -walleye (p.19 para6): any of various other fishes having large,staring eyes, also called walleyed pike or jacked salmon.

                      example: A salmon can be categorized to walleye because it has big eyes.

2 -knoll (p.21 para2): a small,rounded hill or eminence; hillock.

                  example: I stood on a knoll and I saw a rainbow from there.

3 -minnows (p.22 para6): a small, European cyprinoid fish, Phoxinus phoxinus.

                          example: Some fishers use minnows as baits to fish bigger fishes. 

4 -blister (p.23 para3): a thin vesicle on the skin, containing watery matter or serum, as from a burn or other injury. 

                     example: I got a blister after I was bitten by a bee. 

5-breaststroke (p.30para4): a swimming stroke which you do lying on your front, moving your arms and legs horizontally in a circular motion.

                          example: Frogs are good at swimming, especially in breaststroke.

 

Passage Picker

Page 29 paragraph 7 lines 6

 

“I couldn’t help but imagine them knowing they were helpless against what was squeezing their hearts, what wasn’t letting their eyes see anything but a blur. That little nut of fear in my stomach began to gnaw at me again, as it too often did. I tried to forget it was there.”

 

 

 

Character Expert

 

Buddy

 

  As the main character and the only speaker of the story, he didn't discribe himself a lot, but the reader can know some datils about buddy through direct or indirect presentation. He is an eleven year-old boy with skinny body, thoughtful and incredibly creative, I can see that through the text of the book. He is a quiet present, he doesn't speak a lot during the car trip, even the whole he doesn't speak much, he has his own little world. He doesn't be along with his sister and cousin well because he thinks girls are boring at his sister's age, he would have nothing to play with them. He's biggest hobby is swimming, both of his parents are good swimmers, they teach Buddy swim. Buddy find happiness and freedom in swimming, he can also do another hobby while swimming, to smell the  taste of the lake.

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Wenda Mo

 

This chapter is basically about what happens before and after Buddy’s family arrive to the beach. During the class, I and the rest of the group members discussed some of the questions about this chapter. First I asked everybody about what is the most important part of the chapter in their own opinions. Most of us get the similar answer. We thought that the part when Pearl was very close to the drops is the most important part because it shows the fears of people, when things can remind the dead of Francis and Joey.

 

After that I wanted my group members to think of why Buddy didn’t look after his sister and cousin and went to swim by himself. Daisy thought that the different hobbies between Buddy and the girls made the job became boring. I got the addition information from Leona. She thought that Bubby wanted freedom; he doesn’t want to be controlled. Mr. M also remind us that Buddy was just an eleven year-old boy, he had lease sense of responsibility.

 

At the end, I wanted everybody to find any foreshadowing could tell what would happen in the future of the story. In my opinion, there was a foreshadowing at the last paragraph of the chapter. “I was ready for all of it, and I just knew it was going to be a great summer, wild with adventure.”  The word “wild” might mean that the summer would be very special. From this sentence, Leona thought that Buddy would learn a lot of things during this summer. Daisy had her own opinion. She thought Buddy might be still interested about the drops; he would probably go to explorer the drops. 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #3

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1 -squint (page32 line 12):  to make or have an indirect reference to or bearing on; tend or incline toward (usually followed by toward, at, etc.). 

ex. A white old lady squinted at me in Starbucks.

 

2 -specimen (page 33 line 24): (in medicine, microbiology, etc.) a sample of a substance or material for examination or study: a urine specimen; a tissue specimen.

ex. There is a specimen of medieval art in Vancouver Public Library.

 

3 -mosquito(page 35 line 6): any of numerous dipterous insects of the family Culicidae, the females of which suck the blood of animals and humans, some species transmitting certain diseases, as malaria and yellow fever.

ex. During summer, there are billions of mosquitoes in China. 

 

4 -cattail (page 38 line 18): any tall, reedlike marsh plant of the genus Typha, especially T. latifolia, having long, sword-shaped leaves and dense, cylindrical clusters of minute brown flowers.

ex. Cattail is a plant which has very strange shape.

 

5 -sway (page 41 line 17): to move or incline to one side or in a particular direction.

ex. Some students were swaying in the classroom because they didn't sleep last night.

 

Passage Picker

Page 40, Paragraph 4

 

"I leaped up and scrambled back from the rock, fearful that the monster fish would swim right up after me and carry me back to the depths with him. I may have screamed something too, but had no idea what."

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 Buddy Willimas

 

Buddy Williams is the protagonist of the story. In chapter three, he shows some salient characteristics. "I cursed out loud and then quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard me"(p.39,line27-28). This sentence shows that Buddy has impulsive, emotional and innocent characters. He generally has a very good and innocent boy and does not say bad words but he unintentionally cursed because the spoon was gone. He also shows his character of remorse here. After he cursed, he suddenly looked around because he thought that he should not say bad words and he does not want anyone to see that.    

 

 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader (Sukeyuki Nakamachi)

 

 We discussed about chapter three, and we found some important parts of this chapter. In my opinion, chapter three is made by two important parts. The first one is that the relationship between Nan and Buddy, and the other one is the nemesis to Buddy. There are many scenes which show the relationship between Nan and Buddy in this chapter. Wenda and I thought that Buddy always obeys to Nan, and Nan controls Buddy. Wenda and I had the same evidence for our idea. In page 36, paragraph 4, It seems like Buddy listened to Nan's attention very carefully and he promised that he won't go swimming. We thought that this scene expresses Buddy's obedience to Nan, but Daisy had different idea. Daisy's idea was similar to ours, but it was deeper than our idea. She thought that Buddy acts like he obeys to Nan, but in fact he does not. She found this idea from "I always had to say the words "I promise," or she wouldn't let me go"(p.36, line 29). After I heard her idea, I rethought and agreed with her idea. Leona had a very different idea but it was good and unique idea as well. She thought that Nan trusts Buddy. The reason is that if Nan does not trust Buddy, she wouldn't let him go to the rock by himself. 

 

 After we discussed above, I asked them the other question, "If you were Nan, what would you say to Buddy when he goes to the rock?". Wenda would say "Don't go, stay here." Leona would say "You can go there but be careful." Daisy would say "Although, I don't want to say this, remember what happend last year." I found the interest here because everyone had the different saying, and those might show that how they read and understand the story. I also thought that if you think like if you were someone in the story, you may have better understanding because by doing that you would know progresses of  how characters think as you think with any reasons. There always must be reasons for thoughts of characters, and though you think if you were any characters, you may get better and deeper understanding.

 

 Lastly, I asked a question "What is the most important part in this chapter?" to our group members. Everyone and I had the same part, that the scene of Buddy sees a jackfish, and the reasons were also the same. We chose this part because this part shows Buddy's character and the inside of his hidden mind. When Buddy sees a jackfish, he could not move for a while because he was so scared. This scene is from page 40 and 41. The reason why he was so scared is that not only a jackfish is very big or like a monster fish. By seeing a jackfish, he might remain about Joey and Francis and he also might thought that this is a kind of nemesis to him. We thought that he thought karma for killing Joey and Francis came as a jackfish. Buddy did not just stop Joey and Francis, but he still thinks that he killed them. We were able to guess that he is guilty from the most important part. 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #4

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1 -wingspan (page 48, para#10) : linear distance between the extremities of an airfoil

                                   example: i could only imagine a massive golden eagle with a wingspan i knew could be over six feet.

 

2 -talons (page 48, para#10) ：a sharp hooked claw especially on a bird of prey

                                   example：..., and with powerful yellow talons,snatching a meal from the top of the water.

 

3 -tiger lilies(page 49, para#12) : east Asian perennial having large reddish-orange black-spotted flowers with reflexed petals

                                   example: "wow, those are tiger lilies! look at them all."

 

4 -washstand(page 51, para#2) : a bathroom sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you can wash your hands and face

                                   example: a log washstand with a pail of water, and a towel hanging from a nail on its side, stood beside the cabin.

 

5 -gooseberry(page53,para#13) : spiny Eurasian shrub having greenish purple-tinged flowers and ovoid yellow-green or red-purple berries

                                   example: ..., which i could tell throughout the summer would be loaded with Saskatoon berries, chokecherries, pin cherries and, later on, even gooseberries.

 

 

Passage Picker

 

(page 46, the last paragraph of this page)

Now i thought i got it. Maybe he was saying that we didn;t have to hurt living things just because we were bigger or smarter than we were. I already knew that gramp felt that way, and i agreed with what he had taught me, but the indian kid was somehow saying it in a more important way.

 

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

Joe starblanket

 

Joe starblanket as an interesting friends for buddy, first appeared in chapter4. Although of young age, he is just as strong as other indians. He’s taller and darker, with a size of a grown-up man. Even though he didn’t talk much and being quiet, a few of his characteristics are recealed through his behavior. He showed to buddy of how to make a good cast, brought buddy to his house for a walk and helped him to find the spoons in the lake. He is friendly, enjoy sharing and helping people. Moreover, he is kind hearted and not hypercritical. He enjoys the fishing while at the same time, avoids hurting their lives. he demonstrated a fresh way of treating nature, which is quite different from buddy’s opinion. We know that he is poor because his family has bad living conditions. however, his mind is straightforward and he does not feel ashamed just because he is poor. He trusts people easily as he invited a stranger to his house. Although we know buddy is a good boy. Furthermore,he respects and loves nature. For example, he enjoyed the process of fishing but he does not want the fish. This shows a different point of view of nature between him and buddy. At last, he does not have nationalistic bias and he likes making new friend.

 

Stagecrafter

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

LEONA JIANG

 

In our discussion, we first talked out the content with great details. Buddy met a mysterious Indian boy, Joe Starblanket, while he was peeing in the chokecherry bush. It appeared to us that Joe was a straight-forward, warm-hearted and a mature child. He was physically strong, but he was not playing cool. Being friendly and generous, he patiently taught Buddy how to fish. He even tried to teach Buddy his philosophy of fishing, which was that people did not have to hurt living things just because we were superior to them. People should not hurt living things for entertainment and should learn to respect and protect the nature. Then he brought Buddy to his home and showed him his cabin. We agreed that Joe was very independent as he lived by himself for several days when his parents and siblings went out. We have also concluded that Joe’s kindness to Buddy was because that they were of the same age and shared similar hobbies. We predicted that Joe showing off his excellent fishing skills was to impress Buddy and to make friends with him. It was clear that from Joe’s behavior, there two boys both liked adventures and nature. This could be another reason why they were attracted towards each other.

 

Joe was depicted as a mysterious friend and that was clearly demonstrated by the way he disappeared. When Buddy realized it was time to go home, Joe brought Buddy to the lake for the gears. Joe “was gone” immediately after he told Buddy his name. He didn’t even have a chance to know Buddy’s name. We would easily foreshadow that these two boys would definitely meet again in next few chapters. Moreover, they would probably go adventure together and share their experiences. Joe’s mysterious characteristics and profound experience with the nature would help them survive from the dangers.

 

In addition, we also imagined several possible consequences once the Indians found out that Buddy fished at their reserved land. At that time, Canadian had discrimination to the Indian. In return, we would guess that Indian may have bias on Canadian as well. They would not welcome Buddy to come to their land and even worse, they may punish Buddy for it. On the other hand, we guessed that Joe may protect buddy because it was the responsibility of Joe who brought to Indians lands and even the Joe’s house. Moreover, we talked more about the possible feelings and actions if Nan found out that Buddy went to the Indian land. Of course, Nan might be furious because he warned Buddy to keep away from the reserved land and not to talk with strangers for Buddy’s safety. But Buddy was not listening this time. It was another foreshadowing that Buddy would run to some big in the future according to our discussion.

 

At last, we discussed the literary devices applied in this chapter. “After a rain shower, this place would smell like a perfume factory” is hyperbole. As we know it was possible there were perfume ingredients in the air, therefore, it showed how the nature smells good after raining. The sentence “Its people’s private property” used the alliteration which strengthened the emotions of the speaker. It emphasized that this place was belong to the Indians.

 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #5

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1 - Scorcher        (Page 57, para#7) : a day or period of very hot weather. 

                                          example  : next week will be a real scorcher. 

 

2 - Thirst            (Page 61, para#6) : a sensation of dryness in mouth and throat caused by need of liquid. 

                                          example : ten of thousands died of thirst and starvation. 

 

3 - Pageant         (Page 61, para #1): a show of exhibition, especially one consisting of a succession of participants or events.   

                                         example : Everybody brought their foods to the town's pageant to celebrate Chinese New Year.   

 

4 - Stubborn       (Page 67, para#7) : having or showing dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good reasons to do so.

                                          example : you are like talking to a stone as you are trying to argue with the  stubborn woman. 

 

5 - Legionnaire   (Page 67, para#7)  : a member of a legion, in particular an ancient Roman legion or the French  Foreign Legion.

                                          example  : My grandfather was one of the legionnaire when he was young.   

 

Passage Picker

The following passage was selected by the Passage Picker and discussed by the group:

 

Page 74, paragraph# 12 

 

"I could feel in my gut what I was seeing in Mokey's face. My stomach was crawling with worms, maybe even snakes. My mind spun like a top. Could we end up lost over the drop? Was it my time to die? Would I go to Heaven? And if I did, would my dad be there to meet me? Nan and Mom-even Gramp-would never forgive themselves if they let me drown, But it wasn't their fault. It was mine. I had to do whatever I could not to have them crying by my grave-if they found my body."

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

~Buddy~

 

Through this exciting chapter, we revealed a couple of characteristics of Buddy. First of all, Buddy obeys Nan and tries his best to follow her rules. However, he is still a teenager and wants to whatever he wants to.  So most of the time he just nodded when Nan asked him to stay away from the sun, do not go to the cliff but sometimes he break her rules. Moreover, he is very deep in emotive because he thinks friendship is very important and cannot betray his friends. Another example is he always thinks about his new friend, Joe Starblanket because Buddy tries to look for him and use side arm to skip stones.  He is calm when he was facing a difficult situation, like his friends and himself had trouble of getting back to the shoreas he was the only one who gave out instructions. Furthermore, Buddy has a strong logic because he knows how to balance the weight of the boat by switching position with Mokey. At last, we agree that Buddy is tough like his friend, Riel . When they had trouble in the boat, Buddy did not like Mokey who kept complaining and crying. He tried to comfort him and to tell them they were able to do it. 

 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader : Daisy Ngan

 

  When we started our group discussion on this chapter, the first thing that my group members told me was this chapter was the best chapter they have ever read when they compared to the previous chapters. The reason is because the climax which happened at the end of the story and it was when those three boys had trouble of getting back to the shore. We think that it is the most important part of the chapter and it revealed a few characteristics of the two characters through indirect presentation.  Through out this discussion, we got a better understanding of Buddy and Riel. The new characteristics of Buddy revealed in this chapter are more mature, thoughtful and smart which is quite different from what we read in the previous chapters. We thought that he is naïve, childish and there was no big difference from other kids. However, Buddy started to understand Pearl's feeling when he rejected to let her to play with him and he immediately told her that 'Maybe tomorrow, Pearl!' Then, we were surprised that could handle such a dangerous situation by giving out instructions and attempted to comfort his friends.

 

  Rather than just focused on Buddy, Riel showed up a few characteristics when they got trouble in the boat. We agreed that he is a boy who is lack of love and does not have enough confidence. The purpose is when Buddy first carried out his solution of how to get back to the shore, Riel doubted his method but he did not express his opinion instead of just saying ‘Alright, I guessed that sounds okay.’Moreover, we think that he is not good at expressing his feeling to others. Buddy mentioned that he is quiet and he did not say much when they were in a boat although he might be very scared. These might be seems quite negative for Riel, but we all agreed that he is very tough and more mature than Mokey and Buddy.

 

  Moreover, I asked my members that which family they liked the most and what the three boy’s future would be due to their family background. Wenda said he prefers Mokey’s because his mother does everything for him and his dad works in a bank. He thinks Mokey’s future would be good because he received good education and his family is not so poor. However, Suki came up with a different opinion of Mokey’s future by saying that he would not be successful, could not be independent and weak. On the other hand, Leona prefers Riel’s family although he has a bad family (three brothers always beat him up, parents are drunk). The reason behind that is Riel would be very independent, mature and tough. So he knows how to solve any problems by himself in the future.

 

  We all figured out some literacy devices that are used in this chapter. There was a foreshadowing when Nan told Buddy that he should not go to the cliffs and later on those three boys had an accident near the cliff ('So, no, i don't want you going up in the hills today. And that will keep you away from the cliffs.') Personification is the device that the writer used the most in this chapter and it is used to describe the point of view of an eleven years old kid. Buddy used it to described the water pump, the thunderstorm and also the lake. Moreover, allusion is used is this sentence on page 56,‘As soon as I thought about the three Musketeers, I laughed to myself.’ For Buddy point of view, he wanted to carry out that the relationship with his friend is very good, they are powerful and capable. Then, an obvious imagery is also existed in this sentence, ‘……like caramel oozing out of a chocolate bar.’ Moreover, hyperbole is used in this quote, ‘My stomach was crawling with worms, maybe even snakes.’ In order to emphasize how scared he was when they had trouble in the boat. When they were in the boat, they saw an American Bittern, which is a kind of bird and ‘unk-a-chunk’ is used in onomatopoeia to describe the sound of it.

 

  At last, I asked for their opinions about what those three kids might learn after this accident. Most of my group members agreed that they would not do it again, they should think of the consequences and not just doing what they like to do. I got a surprise answer from Wenda as he thought no matter what they do, they would think somebody would rescue them. 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #6

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1 - entourage     (Page 86, para#8)        :  a group of people attending or surrounding an important person. 

                                                example     :  Entourage of bodyguards are guarding the entrance. 

 

2 - grief          (Page 87, para#12)      :  deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone's death. 

                                              example        : No words can express my grief. 

 

3 - hypnotize     (Page 80, para#3 )        :  a state that resembles sleep but that is induced by suggestion. 

                                              example         :  He was hypnotized by her beauty.

 

4 - thrill          (Page 81, para#5  )       : a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure. 

                                              example         : I had a thrill of jumping out of an airplane. 

 

 

5 - squirm         (Page 85, para#4 )        :  wriggle or twist the body from side to side, especially as a result of  nervousness or discomfort.

                                                     example   :  It made me squirm to think of how terrible that murderer is. 

 

 

Passage Picker

The following passage was selected by the Passage Picker and discussed by the group:

 

page 87 paragraph -2

 

"I want to scream, ‘But you are a close friend, even closer than these two goons beside me. I’m as close to you as you husband is.’ But I know that such a confession would only cause me grief. I also knew that it wasn’t at all true." 

 

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

Buddy

 

Buddy is a happy and lovely boy. He is the center of his family. At his birthday parties, all of the family members including all Buddy’s close friends would join. Nan goes to the cliff to pick berries for Buddy’s special breakfast. It indicated that Buddy stands a big position in Nan’s heart. Moreover, Helga, the person that Buddy loves, also has a special gift for his birthday, which shows Buddy is pretty much a popular guy.
.

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Wenda Mo

 

This chapter starts with Buddy and his friends rescued by the evil avaricious man. After that, it talks about the interesting things before the birthday party starts.

 

In our group discussion, I wanted to know more about the personalities of the characters, so that we could understand the story more deeply. The first question I asked was for the new knowing of Buddy’s characters. Daisy has her opinion, she thought that Buddy has already started to understand the world with his independent ideas. Leona also has some discoveries to share, she thought that Buddy gets a lot of cares from his family, and that probably because Buddy’s father died in the war, so the rest of the family members want to remedy. This kind of family background makes Buddy to have his individual thought, and becomes the leader of the “Three Musketeers”.

 

The next question I asked was what Helga means to Buddy. In this chapter, there were some conversations between Buddy and Helga. Those are very helpful to discover Buddy’s characters. In Sukeyuki’s point of views, Buddy loves Helga, even there are big different in their age, Buddy never wants to quit. Daisy and Leona also had the similar ideas, they thought Helga is the person Buddy loves, and even that Helga is marriage. But Buddy would keep that an unrequited love, and never go across the line.   

 

At the end of the discussion, I wanted everybody to predict the evens in next chapter, and to find some literary devices. Sukeyuki again had a wonderful idea. He thought that Buddy would see Joe at the birthday party, and the party might be destroyed. In Leona’s opinion, the birthday party would start at the boat, and Buddy might meet the guy who rescued him. Daisy thought Buddy and the others people would go to the boat. She recalled the book that Riel wants to do water ski with single foot. That could be a foreshadowing for accidents. Beside, most of us found the allusion at page 81, paragraph 3, “Dig into my latest Hardy Boys mystery.” Buddy compares his adventures to a book. After this, our group discussion finished, everybody did really well on theirs work.  

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #7

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

 

Passage Picker

The following passage was selected by the Passage Picker and discussed by the group

 

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

Name of Character here

 

Details revealed about this character in this section of the book should be listed here, over top of this text.

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader (your name)

 

Example: In this section of the book we meet Buddy Williams for the first time. Our group members all agree that he is an adventurous young boy.

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #8

 

Word Wizard

 

 

1 - chubby ( page 115 para#2):  round and plump, euphemisms for slightly fat. (chubby face)

                                 example:  But, before i did, i just had to correct my chubby friend.

 

2 - mannequin (page 122, para#6): a life-size dummy used to display clothes

                                      example: Any thoughts in my head were instantly clogged with fright and caused me to freeze like a mannequin in a strore window.

 

3 - monstrous (page 113 paragraph 10) : frightful or hideous, especially in appearance; extremely ugly. (monstrous fish)

                                               example: He was the first to talk, and as i expected, he got hooked on the monstrous fish right away.

 

4 - boulder (page 115  paragraph 11) : a detached and rounded or worn rock, especially a large one. 

                                            example: Riel nodded and beat mt at jumping off the boulder.

 

5 - torpedo (page 117,para#4): an explosive device that is set off in an oil well (or a gas well) to start or to increase the flow of oil (or gas)

                                 example: It came out of the deep like a torpedo racing towards a battleship, except it also wiggled and jerked.

 

 

 

Passage Picker

 

page 117, para#4

After a five- or ten-minute battle, we could see the jackfish, which was close to the same size as the other three we had caught, writhing in the green water about twenty feet in front of the rock. It was in maybe ten feet of water. I could tell it was tiring nd i figured i could soon jump off the boulder to land it on the sand.

 

 

Character Expert

 

 

Riel

First of all, this chapter is mostly about the adventures of the “Three Musketeers”. Through the adventures of these three children, some of Riel’s characteristics were revealed. First, I figured out that Riel was a sensitive person and very cared about how other people, especially his friends, felt about him. He did not want others to find out he was somehow related to Indians. He emphasized that he was only a half-breed and became very anxious when Buddy was talking some “Indian stuff”. He would not have a relief until he was sure that his friends were not looking down on him. Moreover, he was stingy. He would not share his thoughts; he would rather keep it to his own. In the middle of the story, Buddy showed both of them about the sidearm fishing trick. Contrary to Mokey’s failure, Riel would not stop until he grasped the fishing skill. It could be speculated that Riel could not accept to be a loser. Older than Buddy and Mokey, Riel was mature, independent, and smart. He was very calm even in danger. Without his clear instructions, Mokey might have died on the cliff. Although he was not as talkative as Buddy and Mokey, he was an indispensable person in this group. 

 

 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

LEONA JIANG

 

In our discussion, we first talked about the personalities of Buddy and his two friends. Buddy was a boy full of curiosity and he had a mind of freedom. He did not want to companion his sister and cousin; he rather spent time adventuring in the woods and over the rock with his friends. However, he was very obedient. He would always listen to his Nan and was willing to keep his promise. He was friendly and generous. He would not mind to share his newly learnt fishing skills or his new adventure experience with Riel and Mokey. Buddy was a nice and energetic boy. But the group members also believed that it was Buddy’s adventurism that put himself and his friends into various dangers. He should learn his lessons and keep the elder’s and Joe’s warnings in mind. That was probably a good way to keep him safe. Riel, calm and mature, was a Métis. He did not seem to be proud of his identity. When Buddy was telling his stories of Joe Starblanket and Slackjaw on their way to the rock, Riel got nervous and gave Buddy a feeling of being mad. He was afraid that his friends would think he was an Indian. That was why he emphasized himself as “half-breed”, which was referred as Metis.

 

It could be seen as a sign of the tension between Canadians and Indians during that time. Indians were on the weak side and were under control of Canadians. They were forced out of their land and were limited to live on the reserved land only. It was reasonable that children did not even want their Canadian friends to find out that they were somehow related to Indians. Later on, Riel showed his talent in fishing. He learnt the fishing skill fairly quickly and got some fish by himself. In addition, Riel’s calmness could be shown at the accident over the cliff. He did not panic when Mokey and himself slipping off the cliff and hanging in the air, instead, he remained his cool head and acted like a commander. He gave Buddy the right orders and comforted Mokey. Finally, all of the three children were out of danger. Mokey was more like a follower of his friends. He was easy-going and a little timid. He was not a quick learner, which was demonstrated in his frustrated fishing skill practice. And he was not as brave as Riel when he fell. Without his two friends comfort and encouragement, he might not make it through.

 

In addition, an interesting thing that we found out about was Buddy’s complicated feeling towards his secret friend, Joe. On one hand, he wanted to meet Joe in the woods and introduced him to his friends; on the other hand, he wanted to hide Joe. We also questioned on why Buddy wanted to keep Joe as a secret. One guess would be that Buddy was afraid that his friends would not like Joe’s Indian identity. He worried that Joe might be discriminated against by his friends. Although Buddy himself did not consider race as an important thing, his friends and the elders thought it was critical. Mature person like Riel, would become anxious when he heard Buddy talking about “Indian stuff”. And it was not only Canadian cared this a lot, Indians also did. Joe showed up when Buddy and his friends were on the cliff, and helped these children clean the fish. However, he left before they came back and did not wait for them. We speculated that Joe was thinking on Buddy’s side and thought his friends might not want to see an Indian. Or simply, Joe might just be shy.

 

Narrative elements, such as exposition, climax and resolution, were used in this chapter. They made the storytelling in this chapter more organized and structured. Other than that, some literary devices were also applied. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, Buddy said “it seemed like I blinked twice and half the summer had vanished”, that was hyperbole. This sentence used hyperbole to show that buddy just realized that the summer had passed so quickly, and he should have done much more stuffs. Moreover, the description “our racing divers, which looked just like what Tarzan would do to save Jane from the alligators” was allusion. This sentence applied allusion to link the diving scene with the one readers were aware of, so that the readers got a sense of relevance and their attention could be captured The use of these literary devices brought richness and clarity to the text, making the story reading more enjoyable. 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #9 and #10

 

Word Wizard

 

1 -corral (ch.9,p.134,para2): a pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch. 

example: The horse got out of the corral last night.

 

2 -coulee (ch.9,p.136,para7): a deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water.

example: ~the game trail down the deep coulee to get to it.

 

3 -snuggle (ch.9,p.141,para4): settle or move into a warm, comfortable position.

example: They had been snuggled up on the rim of a big, long sandbar just ten feet offshore.

 

4 -bleachers (ch.10,p.145,para3): a typically roofless section of inexpensive and unreserved seats in tiers, especially at an open -air athletic stadium.

example: ~the bleachers would overflow with fans who knew they were going to witness great baseball.

 

5 -dampen (ch.10,p148,para6): to dull or deaden ; depress.

example: The delay did nothing to dampen my mood.

 

Passage Picker

Chapter 10 P.149, line 9 to 14

 

"Gramp made me feel the same with bird hunting, which was the second thing that only we shared. Even though more often that not it was Del that would make it possible for us to get out hunting several times each fall, to me Del was just our driver. Hunting trips were Gramp's and my time together. And time with Gramp was wonderful. With him being close to sixty-five, I didn't expect him to do all the things with me that a younger father might or could do with a son, but he did his best."

 

Character Expert

Danielle(Chapter 9)

 

 Danielle is a teenage girl from New York. She is very attractive girl, looking very cute. She has blond hair and her voice is as pretty as meadowlark's song. She has a older brother called, Denis. She meets Buddy in this chapter and plays with him using BB gun. Even though Denis is a sibling of Danielle, she thinks about what Denis did and she gets anger to Denis. From this act, I can say that she is a very fair person and also a smart person. She also takes care of Pearl as well. Once Pearl wants to go to the farm, she persuade her and she did not come to the farm. Buddy started liking her like he likes Helga.  

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Sukeyuki N (Chapter 9 and 10)

 

 In chapter 9, most of the story is about the scene that Buddy and Danielle get angers to Denis. I asked "Which is the most important part in chapter 9?" to everyone. Everyone chose the scene of the argument between Buddy and Denis. Everyone also thought that the scene Danielle becomes friendly to Buddy, and Buddy starts liking her so much is also important as well. In chapter 9, Buddy acts like Gramp to Denis. I asked them "Why do you think Buddy acts like Gramp? ". Wenda and Daisy thought that Buddy acts like Gramp because he respects him and he is a good person. Leona thought that Gramp is always the role model for Buddy, and Buddy had been taught about the nature from Gramp therefore Buddy likes to teach what he had been taught from Gramp to Denis, especially the reason why he has to respect the nature and not killing animals with no reason. Buddy starts liking or loving Danielle so much in this chapter. I asked them "Do you think Buddy would love Danielle or Helga?" Wenda and Leona think Buddy would love Danielle more than Helga but reasons were different. Wenda said that if he was Buddy, he would love Danielle because there is more possibility. Leona thought that he would love Danielle more because their ages are close so their topics can be the same. She also thinks that Helga is too old to love by the age of Buddy. Daisy thinks that he is just a teenager so his mind is always moving. I wasn't very sure to Wenda's answer because I thought there is no possibility for loving Danielle. She lives in New York, very far from Buddy lives and once the author came to the class, he said it is very difficult to love her because she lives very far from he lived.

 

In chapter 10, most of the story is about baseball game and almost the end of the story. I asked them "What can you predict what would happen or how the story would finish though previous chapters?" Wenda thought that one of the family would get accident because no one has been injured long time and he also thought that that scene would be the climax of this story. Daisy thought Buddy would use rifle for hunting with Joe. Leona thought that after they come back from the baseball game, Buddy would meet Joe again and gets some accident with him.

 

 There are many literary devices in chapter 9 and 10. Wenda, Daisy, Leona and I found well used literary devices a lot. "glub, glub, glub(P.135, line12)" , this is onomatopoeia to describe the sound of the bright red liquid smother. "Gregory Peck and Jennifer(P.137, line23)", this is allusion. This is used because the author wants the reader to imagine what Buddy imagines using other literary or movies. "a mix of fun and evil in it(P.144,line24)", this can be oxymoron but we are not very sure. There are two opposite words, fun and evil to make the sentence very strange. 

 

 

 

Example: In this section of the book we meet Buddy Williams for the first time. Our group members all agree that he is an adventurous young boy.

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #11

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1: Python (page 170, para#3)    : large Old World boas

                                      Example: Slackjaw was swimming lazily around them, his huge python -like- body casting shadows on the boys and throughout the weeds and  the brown-green water.

 

2: Grin (page 170, para#3)         :  A facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement.

                                       Example: The monster’s fishy lips were pulled back into a sneaky grin that  showed  his razor teeth.

 

3: Cavalry (page173, para#4)      : troops trained to fight on horseback.

                                       Example: I ran as fast as my feet could move, splashing water in every direction, like cavalry horses did in the movies when their riders were chasing Indians across a river.

 

4: Nugget (page180, para#7)      :  A solid lump of a precious metal (especially gold) as found in the  earth.

                                       Example: He was now looking down into the shallow water and pushing stones around with his toes, like he was trying to find a gold nugget.

 

5: Piggyback (page181, para#14)  : ride on someone's shoulders or back.
                                        Example: “you might give her a piggyback.”

 

 

Passage Picker

The following passage was selected by the Passage Picker and discussed by the group:

 

Page 177, Paragraph 9

 

"Pearl, oh, Pearl...'' was all I could say, as I ran to her and bent down to hug her.

''Yeeuch, Buddy,'' she said. ''You're all sweaty. You kind of stink,too. And, with that, she pushed me away."

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

*~Buddy~*

 

  Through this chapter, Buddy had quite a few internal conflicts and he also learned an important lesson from his best friend, Joe Starblanket. When Pearl was missing, Buddy cried and worried due to his guiltiness. He felt guilty because of Joey and Francis and also he did not really pay attention to look after his sister. Before this chapter, he felt Pearl was just a little girl who kept annoying him and they had no common. He did not know what love was and he sometimes took care of her was just because he did not want to get blame by Nan. Buddy’s father had already passed away when he was born but his big family gave him a lot of love. He is protected by his family members by giving out instructions of what kind of things that he should not do.  According to his age, he pursues happiness and excitement. So he might not care about the feeling of his family members or how things would turn out if one of his family member passed away.  Moreover, Joe Starblanket is not just a friend that can teach him how to fish or to feed the golden eagle, he taught Buddy a valuable lesson.  He taught him everyone is equal in a family and he needs to learn how to understand each other. So Buddy decided that he would do better for his family and try to be friend with Pearl. We thought Buddy realized that he should cherish his family members and family bond is very important. So he would become a good brother and more mature in order to take care of his lovely Pearl. of In my opinion, Buddy is smart because he accepted the opinion from other people instead of being a stubborn teenager. 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:

 

 

Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader (Daisy Ngan)

 

  We all agreed that this chapter is important as the climax is shown in the middle of the story to let Buddy to learn a valuable lesson from Joe Starblanket. Through our discussion, we got a better understanding of each character and made some predictions for the last chapter.

 

  In our opinion, we thought that the climax is the time when Pearl was missing. After they found her, Joe Starblanket taught Buddy a lesson of how he should treat his family members. The first question that I asked was what was the main theme of those lessons that Buddy learned in this chapter. We thought that the theme was we should respect, understand and treat each other equally in a family. Moreover, Buddy had a big change in his thought because he realized that Pearl is so important for him, he decided to be a better brother and tries to understand his little sister. Then, I asked my group members for their own experience of how they treat their siblings and whether they agree with what Joe Starblanket had taught Buddy. Wenda said he has a younger brother and he always fight with him because he thinks his brother is spoiled by his parents. He also said that every family was different and we could not say the theme was absolutely right for everybody. On the other hand, Leona and Sukeyuki have no siblings but they agreed that we should understand each other in our family.  

 

 Pearl was missing as she went to buy ice cream cone by herself which made Buddy and Nan worried about her. However, my group members suspected whether Pearl did that on purpose or not as she knew that she could not go out by herself. Leona thought she did it on purpose because she wanted to grab Buddy’s attention. She always want to play with his brother but he ignored her as Buddy used to say ‘you’re too young’ for an excuse. Sukeyuki had a similar idea from Leona but he said Pearl wanted to show that she was capable. Wenda thought it was impossible for her and her mind is not that complicated. Then, I asked them to imagine of what they would say to Buddy if they were Nan when they realized Pearl was missing and their plan to look for Pearl. Sukeyuki said he would say the same thing as Nan and would not blame on Buddy as it was not his fault. He also agreed with Nan’s plan and he would do exactly the same thing. Leona’s idea was same as Sukeyuki but she thought it would be better to ask more people together to look for Pearl. Furthermore, Wenda gave me an interesting answer as he would say ‘look at what you have done! If we lose Pearl, I will bring you to the police office and put you in jail!’ Then, he would ask Buddy to look for her and he would prepare the dinner for both of them.

 

  Moreover, I asked why Pearl likes to play with Buddy although he treats her in a mean way. Sukeyuki said Pearl wants to play some exciting things that she has never tried before. Then, I agreed with Leona’s opinion because she said she always spend time with Maisie and they have a lot of commons. So Pearl wants to find some excitement with his brother. Wenda thought Pearl feels interesting to argue with his brother because Buddy always has a different opinion of what she said. Then, I asked my members about what kind of person would Buddy turn to be if he knew Pearl fell into the drop.  Sukeyuki and Leona had the same opinion as they said they would feel sad and guilty in their entire life. However, Wenda gave me a surprising answer again. He said he would have a serious mental problem and he would be crazy. In addiction, he predicted Buddy would also have a problem in sexual selection and he would turn to be gay. The reason was Buddy lives with many women and he likes to have a male friend who is older than him.

 

  At last, we made some predictions and conclusion for the last chapter in this novel. Sukeyuki thought Buddy would kill the jackfish with Joe and he would no longer have the nemesis. Furthermore, Leona predicted that Buddy’s family would go to Joe Starblanket’s house and watched him to feed the golden eagle. Finally, Wenda and I got the same prediction and it was Buddy would be using his .410 Mossberg shotgun to hunt, he would go back to town and start his school life. 

 

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Readings

This post was derived from discussion around the following chapter:

 

Chapter #12

 

Word Wizard

The following words and their definitions were selected by the Word Wizard and discussed by the group:

 

1 -glisten ( page183 paragraph 2)  to reflect a sparkling light or a faint intermittent.

 

2 -amongst ( page187 paragraph 3)  (among) in to, into.

 

3 -allowance ( page 188 paragraph 5)   an amount allowed or granted (as during a given period)

 

4 -squishy ( page 193 paragraph 2)   adj.  soft and wet.

 

5 -prairie ( page 200 paragraph 2)   a treeless grassy plain

 

Passage Picker

The following passage was selected by the Passage Picker and discussed by the group:

 

page 192 paragraph -2

 

My heart sank a little when I saw that Joe wasn’t on the beach in the bay. Since no one else was there either, Gramp, true to his word, made us go back to the rock, where we sat and ate. By the time we had tried another half an hour of fishing without any luck, we were losing light. We never got so much as a nibble, and Slackjaw never showed. So, we gave up and wandered back toward the cottage. For some reason, Nan never got mad at Gramp for being late like she did with me. We didn’t even hurry.

 

 

Character Expert

As presented by the Character Expert and discussed by the group, the following are details related to an important character:

 

Gramp

 

Gramp is a commanded people, he believes he could be a role model of Buddy, to educate Buddy in the ways he wants. He's confident comes from his abundant life experiences. Gramp sometimes very mean to Buddy, but he doesn't blame on people without reasons. Oppositely, he always want Buddy to know the right senses of life,  even thought he isn't always using the correct way of educating. Beside, Gramp is full of hospitalities, he would like Buddy to make more friends whose are good , suck as Joe. 

 

Stagecrafter

As presented by the Stagecrafter and discussed by the group, the following are details related to the setting in this section of the book:





Discussion Summary

 

Group Leader: Wenda mo

 

This is the last chapter of the book“Summer Wild”, we have figured out the climax of the book, but we were still wondering more deeper meanings of the book. In Yesterday’s discussion, we talked about the themes of the book, and also the characters.

 

Before we can find out the themes of the book, we needed to find out the themes of this chapter. In my opinion, the themes of this chapter are morality and responsibility. Base on the themes, Daisy pointed out, the scene that Buddy saves Pearl from dangerous, is the climax of this chapter. After that, it went to the resolution of the book, a happy ending.

 

As we were closer to the themes of the book, I found an interesting question, and it was partly my own experiences. Does Gramp educate Buddy in correct ways? Buddy tells all his adventures to Gramp, but he receives some negative comments from him. Sukeyuki thought Gramp was wrong. He worries about Buddy might lose his creation. Leona and Daisy supported Gramp, they thought Gramp would be a great role model for Buddy to study, avoid to make the same mistakes, and it would also make positive efforts to Buddy’s future.

 

There are so many things happened in Buddy’s summer vacation, all these things probably make some changing of Buddy’s characters. Daisy thought Buddy changed a lot after the summer. After Chapter 9, Buddy becomes more mature, and also becomes to take responsibilities of his sister after Chapter 11. Sukeyuki said, the friendship with Joe helps Buddy to learn respect, which means to treat his sister equal to himself.

 

After all the questions finished, we came up with the themes of “Summer Wild”. Daisy told that the theme of the book was about family. Buddy has everything done with his family, even though it wasn’t a completed family. Sukeyuki thought the theme should be more about friendships, including the friendships with Joe and the “Three Musketeers”. In Leona’s opinion, the theme of the story is growing, from a boy to an adult.

 

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