Alex

4/16/10

2. I think the most mysterious scene in this book __The House of Dies Drear__ is when Mr. Small and Thomas first discover the hidden and secret cavern. I think this is the most mysterious scene because Mr. Small and Thomas don’t know what is going to happen and they don’t know if Pluto is hiding and waiting for them to fall into a trap. It is also very mysterious because they see all of the priceless valuables and treasures. When I read that I felt like I was actually there, with Thomas and Mr. Small, looking at everything and watching in awe. Another reason it was very mysterious is because Mr. Small and Thomas saw Pluto leave the cavern, so they didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing. They also didn’t know that all those valuables had been there for awhile so they were very amazed when they saw all of the treasure: tapestries, glass bottles, carpets, canoes, totem poles and the painted wood chests. They were amazed until they saw Mayhew, and heard the whole story. **Comment From Shirley** - You wrote a clear and accurate response, Alex. I liked how you tell about the unknown and describe this mysterious cavern. I think you could have included more details in your description of this scene but you have clearly answered the question. Well done!

1. Yes, I do think that The House of Dies Drear is a good title for the book because mostly the whole book is based on the house and the cavern that belonged to Dies Drear. The House of Dies Drear is the name of the house because there used to be a slave, a runaway slave named Dies Drear. Drear was a good man because he had a secret cavern for other runaway slaves to go to, in the cavern it was kind of like a workshop. Drear had the workshop because most of the slaves worked and made beautiful carpets, tapestries, glass bottles and totem poles. The reason Dies Drear named the house after himself is because when the people who looked for runaway slaves, they might've wanted to find Dies Drear because he always escaped his owners. So when someone heard the name Dies Drear they would think of the house not the person, so everyone soon forgot of the person Dies Drear and always thought of the house Dies Drear.

I would’ve chosen the same title for the book as the author because the book is all about the Small family moving into the House of Dies Drear. Also because the house is very spooky and at first Thomas doesn’t want to move there. I would also choose this title for the book because soooo many things happened at the House of Dies Drear: Thomas first sees Mac Darrow and Pesty, Thomas falls into the tunnel, he hears sounds, the mirror in the hall is spooky, and the captains chair in Thomas’ room. If I wouldn’t have chosen the title The House of Dies Drear I would’ve titled it “The Moving Family” because the Small family moves to the house of Dies Drear and gets spooked out by the house. I really enjoyed this book because of its great detail, description and the way and time Virginia Hamilton puts in the mystery! Comment From Shirley - I love the second paragraph of this answer because it is interesting, accurate and clearly written. The first paragraph need to be reworded as it does not clearly state your ideas. Please edit and look at the sentences highlighted in blue.

 Week 6 Questions - Please write your response here

Emily Qu. #2:

Yes, I think the plan of scaring the Darrow's worked because the Darrow's looked terrified when Pluto said "Come, my winged bird, my glory, nightbird! Come, all ye demons three who walk with me forever. Come parade awhile with Pluto, who has missed ye so!" They also looked completely terrified when Pesty, Thomas, Mr. Small, and Mayhew popped out of the ground. Even one of the Darrow's said something like "Spare me." If I were one of the Darrow's, and I saw what they saw I would move to another country!

Here's some information about the Dies Drear book!!! Hope you enjoy it!

Book Group Questions 6

Kristi Qu. #1:

​ At the end of the book Mr Small, Mayhew and Thomas made a plan because Mr. Pluto was very ill and they knew the Darrows will come to the cavern and want to take the "treasure". Since Mr. Small told part of the Darrow family that Pluto is ill and that he will be going to a doctor and be back tomorrow, the Darrows make a plan to sneak into Pluto's cavern and take the valuables. But see, this is a trap for the Darrows to come to cavern and there Mayhew, Mr. Small, Pesty and Thomas will be dressed in ragged clothes and acted like Dies Drear's slaves. They ended up waiting, lying on the ground for four hours until, finally the Darrows //thought// that it was safe to go near the cavern. When the Darrows approached the cavern they jump out of the grass, leaves and pine needles to scare the Darrows away from the cavern. They scare them so that they will never want to go near there ever again...the plan, make them get scared of the cavern because it's "haunted" and //never// go near it again to take the valuables or anything inside it. Mia: __** I like how descriptive you were on question #2. You supported your answer very well.
 * __


 * __emily :__** Hi Alex i really liked the way that you used a quote to describe the first question.
 * Amelia: Alex, I agree with Emily and Mia and you described Kristi's first question well. Good Job!**

Joe: Alex I agree with you. Well written. Good job!

Week 3 Questions

I'm going to answer question. 3. I think that Pluto was keeping the cave a secret and not telling anyone about it because there are a lot of valuable tapestries, rugs, and glassware inside the cave. Also the town...especially the Darrow family thought that Pluto is suspicious and weird because he cared for the house of Dies Drear soooo much, and Pluto cares and likes the house so much he doesn't want anyone to wreck it. The town also doesn't like Pluto because they know that he is hiding something and the whole town wants to find out what it is! Pluto was also afraid that the Smalls would turn out to be like the Darrows so he didn't tell anyone about the cavern.

Shirley:
Hi Alex: I enjoyed reading your response and agree with all your reasons for keeping the cave a secret. I wonder what Pluto is going to do with all these treasures as they must be worth a good deal of money? Remember to check over your work....did you see the red lines indicating spelling errors? Alex: No Shirley I clicked on edit and I didn't see any errors. Thank you though!

Joe: Alex, I thought your question was great. I wish you could have been a little bit more descriptive other than that.... great!


 * Amelia: I really liked your answer and I agree with it. I also agree with Joe, though. You could have added a little more description. Otherwise, it was a very good answer. Good job!**