Name: _____________________________________ Date: _____________________

David Almonds SKELLIG

Characterization: Owl Pellet Water Dissections

Directions: Read the excerpt from Skellig below. With the floor of Michaels dilapidated garage littered with owl pellets, Mina finds the hands-on process of dissecting them fascinating. What does this interest reveal about Mina? Brainstorm character traits by branching off the main circle with smaller circles. An example is provided.

She filled a little bowl with warm water and put it on the table. She reached up onto the shelf and took down a ball of skin and bone and fur, like the one she had taken from the garage floor. She dropped it into the warm water. She rubbed it with her fingers. It separated into fragments or dark fur and ripped skin. She pulled out tiny bones. There was a skull, the skull of a tiny animal. Her mother watched and smiled. Another animal pellet, she said. Yes, said Mina. She looked at me. Owls eat their victims whole, Michael, she said. They digest the flesh. Then they regurgitate the parts that cant be digested. Skin and bone and fur. You can see what the owl has been eating by inspecting the pellet. This owl, like most owls, has eaten small creatures, like mice or voles (138).

Curious

MINA