Your assignment
Press Play all and follow every line with your eyes.
Go back and read each line out loud yourself . Tap a line to hear it again.
Use Slow for any line that is hard, until you can say it smoothly.
The five tinted words are your Critical Vocabulary — the sentence around each one
tells you what it means.
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Words to watch resolutions doubts relying clumsy awkward
1 A year of change¶1 ▶ It is the Chinese Year of the Rat , a year people believe brings change, and Pacy’s life has changed a lot. ▶ Her best friend Melody has moved to California, and things feel strange now with Becky and Charlotte . ▶ A new boy, Dun-Wei , has moved into Melody’s old house, and the children call him the enemy. ▶ Pacy wants to be an author and illustrator, but her father calls that a cold door : a hard job that can lead to a hard life. ▶ She was born in the year of the tiger, yet does not feel brave. ▶ As the year ends, she thinks about the resolutions she made — her promises about what she would do differently.
2 The cold door¶2–5 ▶ So much snow falls that school is cancelled, but when Pacy runs outside the freezing wind stings her face and she shuts the door again. ▶ Her father laughs and says that is what you get when you open a cold door. ▶ His joke makes her think of the other cold door — her dream of becoming an author. ▶ The doubts she once had about her talent are gone, that unsure feeling has left her, but she still fears that door. ▶ Is her dream only a wish, or something she can really make happen?
3 Only you know yourself¶6–13 ▶ Pacy asks her father how a person tells the difference between what you make happen and what you only wish for. ▶ It is different for everyone, he says: you have to know yourself. ▶ Pacy asks him to tell her. ▶ No one can, he answers, because only she knows who she is. ▶ She says her parents must know her, but that does not mean they truly know her, he replies — and he tells her a story.
4 Knowing the Fish — a story inside the story¶14–18 ▶ Two philosophers, wise men who study hard questions, stop on a bridge and watch an orange fish. ▶ One says the fish are happy, and the other asks how he can know that, since he is not a fish. ▶ They walk on in silence. ▶ At last he asks a question of his own: how do you know that I do not know the fish are happy, since you are not me?
5 I am a tiger¶19–23 ▶ Only you really know yourself, her father says, so only you can make your own decisions, and Pacy sees that it is up to her. ▶ Everything she dislikes is hers to change: the cold door, her shame about Dun-Wei and about being Chinese, her bad grades, the strangeness with her friends. ▶ That is frightening, but her father tells her she is growing up, and reminds her of the race of the twelve animals. ▶ The tiger came third with no raft and no friends to help, and crossed the wild water relying on nothing but his own courage. ▶ You were born in the tiger’s year, he says, so you are brave. ▶ His words warm Pacy like a fur coat: she does not need a tiger’s luck, because she is a tiger.
6 Melody calls¶24–27 ▶ That night Melody telephones: she is coming to visit at Chinese New Year, because her mother must sell the old house to Dun-Wei’s family. ▶ The winter days go quickly. ▶ At school the class is doing projects about endangered animals, and this time Pacy is making a book about pandas, by herself.
7 On the playground¶28–36 ▶ At recess Becky asks again whether Pacy really wants to work alone. ▶ The girls are watching the boys play football in the snow. ▶ If she wants to be an author and illustrator, Pacy says, she must practise. ▶ Charlotte asks what happens if she never becomes one, but Pacy answers that she will be one no matter what — and saying it makes her feel like a tiger. ▶ Then Becky says they will not see Pacy at all once Melody arrives. ▶ Pacy stops smiling, and suddenly understands why everything feels clumsy and awkward with these two — careless and bumpy, tense and uncomfortable. ▶ When Melody came two years ago, Pacy let these friendships go and hurt their feelings. ▶ Becky and Charlotte had not changed. ▶ She had changed.
8 Saying his name¶37–46 ▶ A ball flies past, and Charlotte asks who made such a good throw. ▶ It was Dumb-Way, Becky laughs. ▶ Pacy gathers her tiger strength. ▶ If things are to be better, they have to see how she has changed — what would not have bothered her before bothers her now. ▶ It is not nice to call him that, she says; his name is Dun-Wei . ▶ Everyone calls him that, says Becky. ▶ Pacy looks at her feet and says that she does not, because it is mean. ▶ Becky tilts her head like a surprised pigeon, then nods and agrees to stop. ▶ The cold feeling in Pacy’s stomach melts away, and she invites both girls for a sleepover when Melody visits. ▶ Deep inside she hears a tiger roar, so loud and strong that it surprises her — she never knew it was there. Remember: this is a short retelling, not the real story.
The numbers beside each scene — like ¶14–18 — show you which
paragraphs to open in your course pack. When a test asks for text evidence , the words
have to come from the book, not from this page.
Tap any line to hear it again. Press Space to stop.