Close Reading Guide – The Ravine
Characters, the people or animals the story is about, and the
setting, or time and place of a story, are important tory elements
that an author usually identifies early in a story. The author quickly
establishes who the main character or characters are and what the
problem might be.
1. Reread lines 1-12 and identify the story characters and
setting, including who is the main character.
Dialect is a form of language spoken in a specific place by a
particular group of people. Dialect varies from Standard English. Pay
attention as you read. Make sure you understand its meaning and
use.
3. Reread lines 26-29, point out the variations from Standard
English, and then restate the boys’ dialogue in Standard
English. How does this use of dialect help you better
understand the character?
You often have to figure out something that an author hasn’t
explained. In these cases, readers may need to make an inference,
or a logical guess based on facts and one’s own knowledge and
experience, to understand story clearly.
2. Reread lines 8-12 and state an inference you can make about
any of the characters or the setting. Who is the main
character? What is the setting?
Characters in a story have traits, or personal qualities, and
motivations, or reasons why they do things, just as real people do.
These elements, as well as story events, contribute to a character’s
development throughout a story.
4. Reread lines 38-53 and tell what you learn about Vinny’s
feelings in these paragraphs.
5. Define gnarly.
Close Reading Guide – The Ravine
6. What do you think a gnarly tree would look and feel like, and
how does that description add to your idea about the setting
and atmosphere of the story.
You can learn much about a character’s personality from his or her
actions and ideas. You can make inferences about a character’s
traits by combining details from the story using your own
knowledge and experience.
9. Review references to Starlene in lines 54-81 and then
describe her personality based on what you find.
7. Authors often reveal character traits through a character’s
reactions to other characters and their ideas. Reread lines
54-65, and tell what you think Vinny’s thoughts about the
goddess reveal about him.
Authors vary the length, structure, and pattern of sentences in their
writing to create reader interest or emphasis, or to develop
meaning. Authors use repetition, or repeated words or phrases, to
create emphasis and drama.
10. Review lines 93-102, point out specific instances of sentence
variations and repetition that create interest and drama.
8. Setting is often a factor that affects a character’s
development. Write down words and phrases that indicate
how the setting is making Vinny uneasy and afraid.
Close Reading Guide – The Ravine
Character development is how a character changes or becomes
better known to the reader over the course of a story.
11. Reread lines 110-117, identify another conflict that is
affecting Vinny, and describe what this tells you about
Vinny’s personality.
Traits are developed through the story for the main character.
13. Reread lines 153-157, tell me any new information that you
have learned about Vinny.
14. Why would Vinny want to hug Starlene?
Authors use repetition, or repeated words or phrases to create
emphasis and drama in their writing. Repeated words can create a
rhythm in language that propels the reader forward through the
text.
12. Reread lines 147-152, point out specific instances of
repetition. What effect does this repetition have?
Authors develop characters in a story by using actions and words.
15. Explain Vinny’s idea that “It was asking for it” as a reaction to
Starlene’s jump.
Close Reading Guide – The Ravine
16. In lines 189-197 describe Joe-Boy’s personality, using both
his actions and Vinny’s reaction to them.
The author uses dialogue to create authentic characters and to
show a character’s traits and development in a story.
19. Read Starlene and Vinny’s conversation in lines 217-240.
Summarize or retell in your own words, what factors Vinny
has been worrying about.
An author can use sensory details that appeal to your sense of
sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing to help readers get a clear
picture of a story and it characters. A simile is a kind of descriptive
language that compares two unlike things using the words like or as.
17. What sensory language, including similes does the author
use in lines 212-216?
Sometimes you need to use what the author writes as well as your
own knowledge and experience to understand a character more
deeply.
20. Using your experience, explain in a full sentence why Vinny
has an urge to fly as he looks down into the ravine.
18. How does this help you picture Starlene and the pond more
clearly?
21. Define rivulet.
Close Reading Guide – The Ravine
22. Define cascade.
One way authors develop characters is by describing thoughts and
feelings the character has.
25. Define precipice.
26. Why would the author use precipice instead of edge or cliff?
23. Read lines 279 through 283 and then tell what these lines
help explain about Vinny and his fears.
27. Using words in the book, also called text evidence, explain
how you know after reading line 318 that Vinny will walk
back down the trail and not jump.
24. Review lines 297-312. Will Vinny jump or walk back down
and why?