Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

Rita Williams-Garcia • Vernacular

The Arrow is the monthly digital product that features copywork and dictation passages from a specific read aloud novel (you purchase or obtain the novels yourself). It’s geared toward children ages 11–12 and is an indispensable tool for parents who want to teach language arts in a natural, literature-bathed context.

This guide contains the following features:

• 4 Passages (one per week) for copywork/dictation
• Notes about punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, and literary devices
• Weekly Reading Guide
• Arrow Planner and Skills Tracker
• 3 Grammar or Punctuation Spotlights 
• Literary Device: Vernacular
• Writing Activity: Vernacular Time Travel
• 9 Discussion Questions
• Book Club Party Ideas
• 51 pages
• Publication Date: February 2025

How does the Arrow fit into the Brave Writer complete language arts program? Learn more on our Getting Started page.

All products are digital and downloadable. All sales are FINAL. No refunds.

About the book 

From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander.

Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live.

Armed with his grandfather’s brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him.– Amazon

Purchase the Clayton Byrd Goes Underground novel here.

This Arrow is also part of the 2024-2025 Year-Long Arrow program.