1a. According to the main character, what did the applause she and her sister received for their sister act in Las Vegas sound like?
2a. How does the main character's mother respond when a reporter asks her daughter if she has a big head?
3a. Why did the number of victims at the La Brea Tar Pits keep growing?
4a. Why does the main character like going to the tar pits?
5a. Find references to "having what it takes" in the short story, "Hollywood and the Pits." What does this phrase mean for child actors? for the main character as a young child? for the animals in the La Brea Tar Pits? What happened to the animals in the pits who had what it takes?
6a. How is time recorded at the La Brea Tar Pits? What does the main character learn about time from her work at the tar pits? How is this way of looking at time different from how she viewed time in terms of acting?
1b. Why do you suppose it sounded like this to her? How did she feel about the applause?
2b. Why does the mother interrupt the interview? Why does she respond so defensively? Do you think she pushes her child to act? What expectations does she have for her daughter?
3b. What do you think happens to the child actors in Hollywood? What similarities do you see between Hollywood and the La Brea Tar Pits?
4b. Why would she rather be groveling in tar than going on auditions or interviews? What has changed about her?
5b. What does the narrator learn about herself in this story?
6b. How is geologic time different from time as we experience it in our lifetime? How is time measured in a human lifetime? How is it measured in the history of the earth?
First-Person Point of View. "Hollywood and the Pits" tells us a lot about what the main character is thinking. What is her personality like? Make a list of character traits based on evidence from the story.
Background Information. Review the italicized passages that refer to the La Brea Tar Pits. How are they inserted in the story? Did their appearance surprise you? Why, or why not? How might these passages be related to other elements of the story?
Internal Conflict. Look at the chart you completed that lists signs of inner conflict or struggle for the main character. Compare your list with that of a partner.
1. Imagine that you are a young actor who has just finished an audition. Write a letter to a friend telling him or her how the audition went and how you feel about it.
2. What would you find if you dug a deep hole in your yard? Write a log of items you think you would find, how old the items might be, and any other relevant information about them.
3. Write two sentences using the first-person ("I," "we") voice. Then rewrite each sentence using the third-person ("he," "she," "they") voice.
Working with Inverted Sentences. A sentence is inverted when all or part of the complete predicate comes before the subject. In English, we may invert sentences for variety or for special emphasis. We also invert sentences to indicate that a question is being asked.
Examples After a career in Hollywood, she worked at the La Brea Tar Pits. (The sentence is inverted because After a career in Hollywood, which modifies the verb worked, is in front of the subject she.)
Yesterday she starred in her own television show. (The sentence is inverted because Yesterday, which modifies the verb starred, is in front of the subject she.)
Will you attend the seminar on fossils? (The sentence is inverted because the helping verb will, which is part of the verb will attend, is in front of the subject you. This inversion makes clear that the sentence is a question.)
Rewrite the sentences in the spaces provided using regular construction. Star the simple subject once and the verb twice. Note that questions will become statements when they are rewritten without the inversion of subject and verb. One example has been done for you. For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 3.23, "Working with Inverted Sentences."
Example When I was younger, I* got** a lot of roles because I was small for my age. Rewritten using regular construction: I got a lot of roles when I was younger because I was so small for my age.
1. Tomorrow she may work as a paleontologist.
2. When I was fifteen, the pit opened its secret to me.
3. Have you ever learned about tar pits in school?
4. In the La Brea Tar Pits, many of the excavated bones belong to juvenile mammals.
5. Could I explain my newfound interest to her?
6. Did she earn a lot of money as an actor?
7. Last week I visited the La Brea Tar Pits.
8. Will you come with me the next time I visit?
9. Are the La Brea Tar Pits still full of tar?
10. On that trip, I learned a lot about dinosaurs.
Researching an Archaeological Site: Using library resources and/or the Internet, do some preliminary research on the La Brea Tar Pits or on an archaeological site in your state. Then write a letter to the director of the museum or other facility at the site. Express your interest in learning more about the site and ask what programs or activities they have for young teens. Find out what kinds of fossils and/or artifacts have been found there, how old they are, and what this evidence tells us about the past. Keep a research log as you investigate. Share your findings with your class. For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 5.18, "How to Locate Library Materials," 5.27, "Conducting an Internet Search," and 6.6, "Writing a Business Letter." Research Log. Use this research log to track your findings about an archaeological site.
Archaeological site:
Fossils or artifacts and estimated ages:
What researchers are learning from the fossils or artifacts:
Sources of information about the site:
Contact information about the site:
Adjectives. An adjective is a word used to modify, or describe, a noun. In the phrase "the blue house," blue is an adjective that modifies the noun house. Write a sentence for each of the following adjectives.
Example coarse Jill brushed the horse's coarse winter fur.
1. plush
2. semiregular
3. bewildered
4. cascading
5. painstaking
6. glamorous
7. trendy
8. filthy
9. natural
10. ancient
