1a. What is Carlos trying to write a poem about? What are the only words Carlos is able to write?
2a. What does the speaker imagine that Carlos is planning?
3a. Identify the words and phrases that describe Carlos? What does he do? How does he act?
4a. Why is the parrot so important to Carlos?
1b. Why is Carlos unable to write more?
2b. Why does the speaker think Carlos wants to do this?
3b. Describe Carlos in your own words. What do you think prevents Carlos from writing more?
4b. What do you think will happen to Carlos if he never finds the parrot? How might his teacher and classmates help him?
Dialogue. Using the dialogue in this poem, rewrite the conversation between the speaker and Carlos, using quotation marks and tag lines to indicate who is speaking. Be creative with your tag lines—for example, instead of writing "he said," write "he whined."
Symbol. What do you think the parrot in this poem might symbolize?
