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Punished!
By David Lubar
Summary: Logan and his friend Benedict are playing tag in the library when a mysterious man punishes him for his disrespect by making him speak only in puns. Logan has to work through some challenges to get his real voice back.
Questions:
Page 3 of 4
Punished!
By David Lubar
1. Why do Logan and his friend Benedict go to the library on a beautiful May day?
2. What is Benedict hoping to win?
3. Do they find the information they need at the library the first day?
4. Where does Benedict go in the library, and what happens there?
5. After the collision, what does the old man do to Logan?
6. What happens to Logan when the man “punishes” him?
A1. Their teacher, Mr. Vernack had assigned them a five page paper on “What’s so great about being a Human?” and Benedict thought they should get started early.
A2. He wanted to be picked as Student of the Month and get a coupon for a free super-deluxe pizza.
A3. No. Logan finds books on baseball (796.357), but Benedict starts playing tag and when he tags Logan the boys chase each other instead of finding books.
A4. Benedict heads down to the basement to the Reference Section, and Logan crashes into an old guy there.
A5. He says Logan needs to be “punished” and he blew a puff of dust off a book into his face.
A6. Logan starts to speak in only puns. He doesn’t notice it himself, but the librarian and Benedict do.
7. What is everyone’s reaction to Logan now that he only speaks in puns?
8. What happens the next day at school?
9. What does the man tell Logan when he goes back to the library to find him?
10. What does the man say Logan needs to do first?
11. Where does Logan find the 7 oxymorons he needs?
12. What does Professor Wordsworth tell Logan when he brings him the camera with the 7 oxymorons?
13. How does Logan get the anagrams into he bag?
14. Who helps him with the first anagram?
A7. The adults (Mom, Dad, Mrs. Tanaka) all groan; his little sister Kaylee laughs.
A8. The class gets a student teacher (Ms. Glott) and Logan gets sent to the principal’s office by his teacher for making puns with his vocabulary words. The principal thinks he is funny and sends him back to class.
A9. The man (Professor Robert Wordsworth) tells Logan he has to make it go away himself. It will take 3 steps to stop the punishment.
A10. Logan has to use a special camera to take pictures of 7 oxymorons in only 24 hours. (An oxymoron is a phrase containing contradictory terms—like “Jumbo Shrimp.”)
A11. He finds the first 3 in the supermarket (jumbo shrimp; red-hot chili; and plastic glasses). Benedict helps him find lamp shade at the lighting store and straight hooks at the hardware store. He finds the sixth one in the garage (old news). He finds the last one at school just in time (student teacher).
A12. That he needs to do all his own work--- and that the next step is to put 7 anagrams in a cloth bag. (an anagram is a word made from the exact same letters as another words--- like slow and owls).
A13. When he holds the item close enough, it gets sucked into the bag.
A14. His sister Kaylee. She has drawn a picture of a rat- “rat art”—and she gives it to Logan.
15. How does Logan get all the anagrams in the bag?
16. What is the next (and last) step to getting rid of the punishment?
17. How does he collect the palindromes?
18. Why doesn’t Benedict help Logan with the anagrams and palindromes?
19. How does Benedict save Logan at school?
20. Where does Logan find the last palindrome?
21. What happens after Logan is done with his punishment?
A15. He writes down all his ideas and then goes around the house to find them. He finds them all in one night.
A16. Logan is given 7 rubber bands to get 7 palindromes with. (a word or a sentence spelled the same backwards and forwards).
A17. When he puts a rubber band around an object that is a palindrome, the band turns from brown to yellow. The first 6 are easy, but the last one isn’t
A18. Logan tries to do the anagrams by himself and Benedict gets mad. He stops talking to Logan.
A19. Mr. Vernack tries to make Logan give him a sentence that uses a vocabulary word. Logan can’t answer because it will be a pun and he will get sent to the principal’s office and miss the deadline for to end the punishment. So Benedict makes a scene--- saying his pants are on fire--- and the teacher has him stay after instead. He loses his chance to be Student of the Month.
A20. Right in front of him-- Professor Wordsworth is named Bob.
A21. He can tell Benedict the whole story. They go to the pizza shop to share Logan’s free pizza from when he was student of the month. Benedict says he is writing his class paper on puns.