When Shi-shi-etko and Shin-chi are traveling to the residential school, the dust on the road hurts their eyes and noses and is said to be following them like a snake. On the way home from the school, the dust “rose around the cattle truck like a great big butterfly.” Ask students: Why is the dust depicted differently, when for both trips the children are in the same cattle truck traveling along the same roads?
Activity: Have students depict the two trips visually in a drawing, painting, collage, etc.
Curriculum Connection: the Arts