CONTENTS Character’s Motives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Use clues in the text to understand a character’s motives.

Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Read, write, and learn the meanings of new words.

“The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 written and illustrated by Bonnie Christensen

• Learn the features of a biography. • Monitor your comprehension by rereading text you do not understand.

“Around the World in Seventy-two Days” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 by Nellie Bly

Read an article by Nellie Bly explaining why she went around the world.

Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 • Compare texts. • Review vocabulary. • Reread for fluency. • Write a travel diary entry.

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Ge

iog nr e: B

r a p hy

Genr e: Pe r son a l N a r r a t ive

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Character’s Motives You have learned that a character’s motives are the reasons the character acts as he or she does. In fiction stories, a character’s traits, thoughts, words, and actions are clues to the character’s motives. You can also use these clues to understand the motives of real people described in nonfiction texts. Character Character’s Traits, Thoughts, Words, Actions

Character’s Motives

Tip A character’s motives are often related to the character’s traits. For example, a kind person may be motivated by a desire to help others.

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Read the paragraph below. Then look at the graphic organizer. It shows how the Dolley Madison’s traits and actions are clues to understanding her motives. Dolley Madison was the fourth First Lady of the United States. She made everyone who visited the White House feel welcome— from foreign leaders to poor farmers. She understood that the White House was an important symbol for the young nation. When the British attacked the capital during the War of 1812, Dolley Madison refused to leave the White House until important documents and special portraits were safe.

Character: Dolley Madison Character’s Traits, Thoughts, Words, Actions Traits: hospitality, courage Action: She refused to leave the White House until important papers and special portraits were safe.

Character’s Motives Dolley Madison wanted to keep the White House documents and portraits safe because they were important symbols for the nation.

Try This Look back at the paragraph. What do you think was Dolley Madison’s motive for welcoming all kinds of people to the White House?

www.harcourtschool.com/storytown

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Build Robust Vocabulary

Local Hero Rescued eccentric crusaded impassable infuriated relented disheartened faze

A Late-Night Call On a cold January night, firefighters received a call from Annie Bell. Some people in Alderville think of Bell as an eccentric woman who lives alone on Pine Mountain. However, most people know her as a local hero. For 65 years, Bell has tirelessly crusaded for people who are less fortunate. Stranded on Pine Mountain Annie Bell needed to get to a doctor, but the road was impassable. High winds had knocked down a tree, and it lay across the road. “I was infuriated when I saw my way blocked. I didn’t want to have to call for help,” Bell said later. “But when I saw the fallen tree, I relented.”

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Fast Action The fire chief and his crew sped toward Pine Mountain. At first, the crew was disheartened by the size of the fallen tree. “Don’t let this faze you!” the chief said. They worked to remove the tree and then went on to Bell’s house. From there, they were able to take Bell to the hospital for treatment.

On that cold winter night, it was Annie Bell who needed help.

www.harcourtschool.com/storytown

Word Detective This week, search for the Vocabulary Words around you. Be alert for them as you watch television, read books, and listen to stories read aloud. In your vocabulary journal, write the words you find and list where you found each one.

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B i o g r a p hy

Genre Study A biography is a written account of a person’s life, told by someone else. As you read, look for • events presented in time order. • information that shows why the person’s life is important.

Character

Character’s Traits

Character’s Motives

Comprehension Strategy Monitor comprehension by stopping to reread text you did not understand.

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written

and illustrated

b

n n o yB

hr C ie

istensen

ELIZABETH COCHRANE, who wrote under the name Nellie Bly, arrived in New York City in 1887 determined to get a job as a newspaper reporter. After six months of failure, she took a big risk by reporting on the unfair practices affecting the lives of ordinary women. Her news stories became a sensation, and Nellie Bly became a newspaper star.

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oon Nellie Bly was the World’s star stunt reporter, responsible for coming up with her own great story ideas. One sleepless night she had an extraordinary idea. She would break the fictional record of Phileas Fogg, who went around the world in eighty days in Jules Verne’s popular novel. In the late 1800s it took many months to travel around the world. Boats were late, trains were slow, and connections were often missed. But Nellie checked the timetables and was convinced she could beat Fogg’s record. Her editor was doubtful. A woman could not travel without a chaperone, he argued, and transferring her dozens of trunks would cause missed connections. But Nellie was determined—she didn’t need a chaperone and could travel with only one piece of hand luggage. Besides, if the World wouldn’t send her, she’d simply find another newspaper that would. Finally her editor relented. The question was: Could she start her journey in two days? The short notice didn’t faze Nellie a bit. She visited a dressmaker and ordered a dress that would stand constant wear for three months. Then she bought a long, loose coat and one handbag, 16" x 7", into which she would squeeze all her essentials.

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For Nellie Bly the clock began ticking at 9:40 A.M., November 14, 1889, when her ship, the Augusta Victoria, steamed away from its pier in HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY. She had been warned of intense heat, bitter cold, terrible storms, shipwrecks, and fevers, but her greatest fear was failure. She said she’d rather return dead than “alive and behind time.” Along the route she would cable stories back to the World, sharing with her readers rare glimpses into life on the other side of the globe. No sooner had the Augusta Victoria left harbor than Bly was confronted with her first challenge—overcoming seasickness. “And she’s going around the world!” one man sneered. But Nellie’s motto was “Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything.” By the time she arrived in Southampton, England, she had conquered her seasickness and was in good spirits. From SOUTHAMPTON Nellie made a quick side trip to AMIENS, FRANCE, to meet Jules Verne. Together they charted her journey on the map Verne had used to outline Phileas Fogg’s route. Then, worried about missing her train to BRINDISI, ITALY, Nellie departed.

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The trip through France and Italy was dark, cold, and foggy. When the train arrived at Brindisi two hours late, Nellie feared her ship, the Victoria, had sailed without her. Luckily, it was still in port, so on she traveled without delay. On through the SUEZ CANAL to ADEN, YEMEN. A shipboard friend told Nellie it was rumored she was “an eccentric American heiress, traveling about with a hairbrush and a bankbook.” Nellie reached COLOMBO, CEYLON (now Sri Lanka), two days ahead of schedule; then her luck ran out. Her next ship, the Oriental, was delayed five days. Any more delays between Colombo and Hong Kong would mean losing her race. Nellie lost patience when an elderly gentleman suggested that Colombo was a pleasant place to stay. “It may be,” she exclaimed, “if staying there does not mean more than life to one!”

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Nellie was infuriated by another daylong delay in SINGAPORE, which she feared would seal her doom. That night she endured agonies of “suspense and impatience.” The next day she toured the city, though, and bought a monkey, whom she named McGinty. When her ship finally sailed, it was wracked by raging monsoons, which at one point filled Nellie’s cabin with water. Against all odds, they arrived two days early in HONG KONG. Nellie was thrilled. It was the thirty-ninth day of her journey and she’d traveled halfway around the world. Then, at the steamship company, a man informed Nellie that she had a competitor. Reporter Elizabeth Bisland had been sent by a magazine to beat Nellie’s time, and it looked like she would succeed. Nellie was further disheartened to learn that her own ship, the Oceanic, would be delayed five days before sailing to Japan.

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On January 7 the Oceanic began the Pacific crossing from YOKOHAMA, JAPAN, to San Francisco. Nellie had an ocean and a continent to cross—8,000 miles—and only twenty-five days in which to do it. Everyone on board knew Nellie’s story, and everyone was rooting for her. The ship’s chief engineer had emblazoned across the engines, “For Nellie Bly, we’ll win or die.” Thirteen days later SAN FRANCISCO was in sight, but there was more troubling news. The worst snowstorm in ten years had hit the Northwest. The planned train route was impassable. The World decided to hire a special train to take a southerly route cross-country. All along the way Nellie was greeted by crowds of well-wishers, bands, and fireworks. Telegrams, flowers, fruit, and candy poured in.

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On January 25, 1890—seventy-two days, six hours, and eleven minutes after the start of her journey—Nellie Bly set foot in the Jersey City train station. A huge, cheering throng greeted her. Cannons roared. “The American girl will no longer be misunderstood,” declared the mayor. “She will be recognized as pushing and determined, independent, able to take care of herself wherever she may go.” Nellie Bly had won much more than her race against the clock. Nellie’s exploit increased the World’s circulation by 24,000. The newspaper described her as “the best known and most widely talked of young woman on earth today.” It wasn’t an exaggeration. Her picture appeared on games, toys, soaps, and medicines. A racehorse, hotel, and train were named after her. The name Nellie Bly was heard and recognized everywhere. Throughout her life Nellie Bly continued to campaign for the rights of women and the working class. In 1895 she married Robert Seaman, a wealthy industrialist, and when he died, she successfully ran his huge manufacturing company as a model of social welfare. She invented the first steel barrel and held patents for twenty-five other inventions.

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During World War I, Nellie Bly, at fifty, was the first woman journalist to report from the Eastern Front. After the war she returned to New York City, where she wrote a column for the New York Journal and crusaded tirelessly to find permanent homes for orphans. Although she was in and out of the hospital from exhaustion, Nellie Bly continued her work, writing that each individual has a moral responsibility to “the whole wide world of mankind: good, bad and indifferent.” When Nellie Bly died on January 27, 1922, her friend and editor Arthur Brisbane dedicated an entire column to her. “She was the best reporter in America,” he wrote. “. . . She takes with her from this earth all that she cared for, an honorable name, the respect and affection of her fellow workers, the memory of good fights well fought and of many good deeds never to be forgotten by those who had no friend but Nellie Bly.”

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Think Critically 1 What was the first challenge Nellie Bly faced when she started her journey around the world? SEQUENCE

2 Why did Nellie Bly want to break a record that had been set by a fictional character?

CHARACTER’S MOTIVES

3 If you were a journalist, what kind of stories would you want to cover? IDENTIFY WITH CHARACTERS

4 How does the author show Nellie Bly’s determination to meet her goal? Find three examples of Nellie Bly’s determination in the selection. AUTHOR'S CRAFT/LANGUAGE USE

5

WR ITE How did Nellie Bly’s fans from around the world

support her during her journey? Use details and information from the selection to support your answer. SHORT RESPONSE

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ABO UT THE AUT HOR /ILL UST RAT OR

When Bonnie Christensen was growing up, her family moved a lot. She attended nine different schools. Her third-grade art teacher inspired her to develop her artistic skills. Bonnie Christensen practiced by drawing each of her new homes. Today, she is the author and illustrator of four books for children and has illustrated several others. Bonnie Christensen lives in Vermont with her daughter. Each summer, they travel to Venice, Italy, where they draw scenes of the city. On the cover art of each book she illustrates, Bonnie Christensen finds a way to include her daughter’s name. www.harcourtschool.com/storytown

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Social Studies

P e r s o n a l N a r r a t i ve

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What gave me the idea? This idea came to me one Sunday. I had spent a greater part of the day and half the night trying to fasten on some idea for a newspaper article. It was my custom to think up ideas on Sunday and lay them before my editor for his approval or disapproval on Monday. But ideas did not come that day and three o’clock in the morning found me weary and with an aching head, tossing about in my bed. At last, tired and provoked by the slowness in finding a subject, I thought fretfully: “I wish I was at the other end of the earth!” “And why not?” the thought came. “I need a vacation; why not take a trip around the world?” It is easy to see how one thought followed another. The idea of a trip around the world pleased me and I added: “If I could do it as quickly as Phileas Fogg did, I should go.” Then I wondered if it were possible to do the trip in eighty days. I went easily off to sleep with the determination to know before I saw my bed again if Phileas Fogg’s record could be broken. I went to a steamship company’s office (the next) day and made a selection of time tables. Anxiously I sat down and went over them. If I had found the elixir of life I should not have felt better than I did when I conceived a hope that a tour of the world might be made in even less than eighty days.

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Comparing Texts 1. People thought Nellie Bly’s goal was impossible to reach. What goals do you have that others might find impossible?

2. Compare Nellie Bly’s words about herself to her story told by a different author.

3. Nellie Bly’s motto was “Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything.” Describe a situation to which this motto would apply.

Vocabulary Review eccentric

Rate a Situation With a partner, read aloud each sentence below. Point to a spot on the line to show how happy you would be in each situation. Explain your choices. Least Happy

• • • •

Your best friend was infuriated with you. Your eccentric relative gave you a present. You crusaded for healthier school food. Rain made the roads to school impassable.

Most Happy

infuriated disheartened impassable relented faze crusaded

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Fluency Practice Timed Reading Work with a partner to improve your reading rate. Choose three paragraphs from “The Daring Nellie Bly” to read aloud while your partner times your reading with a stopwatch. Reread the paragraphs three times, focusing on improving your reading rate each time. Then switch roles.

Writing Write a Travel Diary Entry Nellie Bly kept a travel diary of her journey. Imagine you are a first-time visitor to your town or city. Write a diary entry for a day you might spend there.

✔ I used a grap

Word Choice

hic organizer to plan my writi ng.

✔ I chose vivid the location.

words to des cr

ibe

✔ I used inform

ation from per sonal exp erience in my writing.

What? Where? When? Why? How?

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