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Vocabulary Lists • Discussion Questions
Writing Ideas • Activities

Book One, pages 1-24

Samantha's aunt and uncle leave their prize weimaraner, Buck, in her care while they go off on vacation. Ever since she discovered Alvin Howell's body on the edge of the swamp seven years earlier when she was nine, Sam has steered clear of the Powhatan, but when Buck runs off into the swamp after a bear, Sam gives chase. That night she sleeps in a hollowed stump. At twilight she hears two shots and later a large man splashes by, carrying what looks like a dead body wrapped in a blanket.

Vocabulary

din 4	sawtoothed 4	gauged 4	weimaraner 5
ruckus 5	dietitian 6	commuted 7	audible 8
bruin 8	waders 9	mystical 9	semidormant 9
hibernate 9	poachers 11	biologists 11	geologists 11
archeologists 11	sloughs 12	random 12	frigid 13
incidental 14	briar 15	bramble 15	refuge 17
predicament 18	haven 19	spillwayman 21	unsociable 22
oxblood 22

Discussion Questions

1. What are your impressions of Sam? Would you say she is brave—or foolhardy? Is she like you in any way(s)? (Sam is 16 now, wishes she could travel, wants modern furniture, is afraid of the swamp, doesn't share her father's love of hunting, feels responsible for Buck, holds down a job, thinks clear-headedly in the swamp, doesn't panic.)
   
   
2. What sort of life does Sam lead? (She lives in a small, rural town in North Carolina; she wishes her life were more exciting.) What is her home like? (She lives in an old farmhouse in the country, wishes she were less isolated.) What is her family like? (Her father is a Coast Guard bo'sun—and a swamper, hunter, and fisherman; her mother is a dietitian; her older brother is away at college.) What is her community like? (Albemarle County is rural—nearby Virginians consider it "hick"; everyone knows everyone else's business.) Would you be happy with this life? Do you think Sam is? (She plans to leave after high school.)

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