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Chapter 41

Holes

Trailblazers · 4th–6th

Copywork

But we just took what we needed, never more. So when I saw the shoes on display in the shelter, I just reached in the glass case and took them.

Read the passage aloud. What does the word “So” join together?

Discussion

Narration Tell back what happens in this chapter, from the water hole and the washed socks to everything Zero says about the shoes.

1. Zero says he had to find someone to pretend to be his mom at the shelter. Why might he go to such trouble?Inference

2. Zero says he used to pretend he was a Cub Scout, then wonders if he would have liked it. What does that tell us about him?Character

3. Zero says it was better to take someone’s old shoes than to steal new ones. Does that reasoning hold up?Moral reasoning

4. Zero calls the uproar over the missing shoes “kind of funny, in a way.” What tone do you hear as he tells it?Tone

5. Stanley says very little while Zero talks about the shoes. Why might the author keep him mostly quiet?Author's choice

Make a Connection Tell about a time you did something without knowing how much it mattered to someone else.

Vocabulary

Crossword
1234
5
6
7
8
9
Across
  • Across 1. Put out for people to look at.
  • Across 5. To act as if something false is true.
  • Across 6. Taken by the police for a crime.
  • Across 7. Dark and cloudy.
  • Across 9. To make something dirty or unsafe.
Down
  • Down 2. A place that gives people somewhere to stay.
  • Down 3. Right away.
  • Down 4. The state of someone's health.
  • Down 8. A person the government looks after.
The words in the chapter
  • display the shoes on display in the shelter
  • shelter the shoes on display in the shelter
  • murky It contained almost two feet of murky water.
  • contaminate afraid to contaminate the water
  • pretend I’d have to find someone to pretend to be my mom.
  • ward Zero was a ward of the state
  • immediately immediately took off the shoes
  • arrested I ended up getting arrested the next day
  • condition Zero’s condition continued to improve.

Critical thinking

1. The boys wash their socks and keep the water clean. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how they are looking after themselves and each other.

2. Zero tells Stanley about his mother twice. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the chapter lets us know about her, and what it does not.

3. Zero says he should have just kept the old shoes. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he seems to regret.