Ask: How would you describe the narrator? Show me places in the book that support your ideas. How do you think Desmond's feelings changed from the beginning to the end of the story? How would you feel in the same situation? What would you do if you met a person from another country? Would you want to make friends with him or her?

Discuss the Character Map, and have students compare their ideas about mood. Students may have different ideas about the mood. This is appropriate as long as they can justify their ideas with reference to the book. 

Word Work
Verb Tense
Remind students that verbs carry the tense in a sentence. That means that we know when something happened in a story by the tense of the verb. 

Read the following sentences and have children call out what tense the sentence is in. Is it past, present, or future? 

Jason is going to the game.

Amy sat on the chair.

Laina has eaten dinner.

Gus will run a mile in the race.

Angela decided to come. 

Point out that the sentence "Laina has eaten dinner" can be tricky. This is because the sentence is in the present tense (as of now, Laina is full of her dinner), but the tense sounds like it is in the past. Explain that these are the types of sentences that can confuse readers and writers alike. Point out that strong writing sticks to one tense. Otherwise, it is difficult to figure out when the story's events are happening. 

Action Verbs
Explain that writers use strong action verbs to make their writing more interesting and to help build tension and excitement in their writing. Call students' attention to the verbs forced and demanded in the first two chapters. Point out that these words create a stronger visual image than if the writer had used the words made or asked. Have students work in pairs to find and list other strong verbs in the story. Have the pairs share their lists when they are finished. 

Writing Link
Have students write a short descriptive piece that creates a particular mood. Encourage them to use strong verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to help build the mood in their writing. They should begin by:

• Deciding on a topic for their writing
• Deciding on the mood they wish to convey
• Brainstorming a list of words they can use to develop the mood 

Assessment

• Review students' completed comprehension worksheets to assess whether they can identify the mood of a chapter and explain how the author has created the mood.
• Have students write sentences or paragraphs using selected words from the vocabulary list, or word work examples from the lesson, to demonstrate their understanding of word meaning.
• Review students' completed worksheets to assess whether they can identify adverbs and explain what words the adverbs describe. Note whether they can create their own adverbs by adding -ly and using them correctly in a sentence.