Searching for Summer By Joan Aiken

WARM UP Supply your own adjectives to complete the sentences. Write the whole sentence. Sunlight gives a __________ gleam to the clock on the mantle. Tom and Lily take one look at the ________ spare room and decide to stay. The young couple revel in the _______ days and _______ nights. Despite their age and physical problems, Mrs. Hatching and William are _______ people.

Now let me tell you a story. At 2 a.m. on June 3, 1980, some poor Air Force staffer deep within the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was working the late night shift when he noticed that the screen readout that usually read "0 Incoming Missiles" suddenly read "2 Incoming Missiles." This was bad enough, but then, it announced "220 Incoming Missiles.” Alarms sounded everywhere as the Air Force collectively freaked out all across America. Bombers carrying nuclear bombs began taking off throughout the country.  Luckily, before anyone could actually fire a missile, someone realized that the hundreds of warheads weren't showing up on the radar screens. 

How about another one? On November 9, 1979, a low-level Air Force officer sat down at a computer and booted up a training program that would simulate what would happen if the Soviets fired 1,000 nuclear missiles at America at the same time.  Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that his computer was hooked up to the mainframe in the main NORAD control room. When he began the simulation, computers from NORAD to the Pentagon started reporting that every nuke in Russia was on a collision course with the USA. 

Warnings went out to every missile silo in the United States informing the crews that the country was under nuclear attack and to prepare to launch. Fighter planes started taking off to shoot down the Soviet bombers that were probably headed their way. The president's airborne command center was readied for takeoff, but no one could find Jimmy Carter to put him on board. So his plane took off without him. Thankfully, the commander of NORAD decided it would be a good idea to double check that the crisis was real before they went ahead and destroyed the world.

But that was all in the past, right? Watch this.

Vocabulary Indomitable Omen Unavailing Voluble Withered On a blank piece of paper answer 1-5 on the bottom of p. 40 by matching the idiom to the vocabulary word. Then either write each word in a sentence OR draw a picture that represents that word. You may also do both! High five!

1. What words or phrases would you use to describe the setting of the story? 2. Why do you think the sun shines only over the Hatchling’s cottage? 3. Do you think Tom and Lily do the right thing in not going back to the cottage? 4. Compare Lily and Tom’s motives for finding a bit of sunlight with those of Mr. Noakes.

One last thing! Read the poem THE SUN by Mary Oliver on p. 38 Finished? How does Mary Oliver’s Depiction of the sun differ from the sun as described in Joan Aiken’s story? How is it similar?