“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” By Mark Twain Annotation Activity Textbook Page 679

What are we annotating? Realism & Literature Elements POV, Trickster, Local Color, Dialect, Hyperbole Regionalism Figurative Language Unfamiliar Vocabulary

Narrator First few paragraphs before narration changes From the East Coast Educated Goes to see Simon Wheeler Thinks he’s been set up Simon Wheeler Good Natured Likes to Talk Tells the story of Jim Smiley (Likes to gamble and will bet on ANYTHING!)

“Thish –yer Smiley had a …” - Mare Female Horse that was sickly and old Always won at the end of a race - Bull Pup Wasn’t much to look at, but had a talent for fighting Grab other dog by hind leg Lost a fight to a dog without hind legs Got discouraged and died - Frog Daniel Webster Taught the frog to catch flies and jump on command

The Stranger Bet with Smiley on jumping frogs Tricked Smiley by filling Daniel (Smiley’s frog) with quail shot

The following link is a fun video adaptation of the story to help with comprehension. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXivgpLSQeo

Realism & Literature Elements POV, Trickster, Local Color, Dialect, Hyperbole Regionalism

Figurative Language

Unfamiliar Vocabulary