Midsummer's Mayhem

Rajani LaRocca • Intertextuality

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
• 3 Grammar or Punctuation Spotlights 
• Literary Device: Intertextuality
• Writing Activity: Find Your Inspiration!
• 9 Discussion Questions
• Book Club Party Ideas
• 47 pages
• Publication Date: May 2022

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 

Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson comes from a big Indian American family: Dad's a renowned food writer, Mom's a successful businesswoman, and her three older siblings all have their own respective accomplishments. It's easy to feel invisible in such an impressive family, but Mimi's dream of proving she's not the least-talented member of her family seems possible when she discovers a contest at the new bakery in town. Plus, it'll start her on the path to becoming a celebrity chef like her culinary idol, Puffy Fay.

But when Mimi's dad returns from a business trip, he's mysteriously lost his highly honed sense of taste. Without his help, Mimi will never be able to bake something impressive enough to propel her to gastronomic fame.

Drawn into the woods behind her house by a strangely familiar song, Mimi meets Vik, a boy who brings her to parts of the forest she's never seen. Who knew there were banyan trees and wild boars in Massachusetts? Together they discover exotic ingredients and bake them into delectable and enchanting treats.

But as her dad acts stranger every day, and her siblings' romantic entanglements cause trouble in their town, Mimi begins to wonder whether the ingredients she and Vik found are somehow the cause of it all. She needs to use her skills, deductive and epicurean, to uncover what's happening. In the process, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet.– Amazon