Welcome to Chapter 18: “Away to the South!” This post offers classroom-ready resources for analyzing setting shifts, character motivation, and transitional plot elements.
New to the series? Visit the Introduction to the Book Study for guidance on using the unit across grade levels.
Learn how the Oz novel study is organized, with details on the full unit, free sampler, mentor sentences, and chapter handouts.
Mentor sentence lessons, student practice pages, and grammar-focused writing tasks are included.
Download the free handout for this chapter, complete with instructions and materials for the activities described here.
🧭 Chapter Summary
Chapter 18: “Away to the South”
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion mourn the loss of Oz. They gather in the Throne Room to discuss how to get Dorothy back to Kansas. First, they decide to use the Golden Cap to summon the Winged Monkeys. When the Monkeys arrive, they explain that they cannot leave the Land of Oz and therefore cannot help Dorothy.
Next, the group calls the soldier with the green whiskers to ask for advice. He suggests traveling to the Land of the South to seek help from Glinda the Good Witch. He warns them that the journey will be dangerous, with wild animals and a group of strange men who dislike travelers.
The group agrees to begin their journey the next morning.
Chapter 18: “Away to the South” Projects
Mentor Sentences
One way to turn classic literature into a powerful teaching tool is to pull mentor sentences straight from the text. Instead of random worksheets, students get to see grammar, punctuation, and style in action—inside a story they’re already reading.
Here are a few examples you can use right from Chapter 18 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
📌 Dorothy wept bitterly at the passing of her hope to get home to Kansas again; but when she thought it all over she was glad she had not gone up in a balloon.
Focus: Adverbs + Emotional Tone
Practice Prompt: Write a sentence that uses an adverb to describe how someone cried, laughed, or spoke. Use this adverb: quietly.
📌 The Scarecrow decided to think, and he thought so hard that the pins and needles began to stick out of his brains. Finally he said:
“Why not call the Winged Monkeys, and ask them to carry you over the desert?”
Focus: Cause and Effect + Sentence Structure
Practice Prompt: Write a sentence that shows cause and effect using “so” to connect the ideas. Use these ideas: she studied hard, she passed the test.
📌 There has never been a Winged Monkey in Kansas yet, and I suppose there never will be, for they don’t belong there.
Focus: Verb Tense + Negative Statements
Practice Prompt: Write a sentence using present perfect tense to describe something that has never happened. Use this idea: visit the moon.
Would You Rather
- Would you rather travel by balloon or by silver shoes?
- Would you rather live in the Emerald City or in Glinda’s palace?
- Would you rather walk across a desert or climb a mountain to reach your goal?
Focus Skills
Each chapter in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Novel Study includes a constructed response question and a skill-based graphic organizer. These two pieces are part of the full-paid unit, which includes comprehension questions, skill lessons, assessments, answer keys, and Google Slides versions.
The free handout linked below includes the activities from the blog post for this chapter. If you’d like the complete set of constructed responses and skill organizers for all 24 chapters, you’ll find them inside the full unit once it is released.
Constructed Response Skill – Comparing Dorothy to Another Book Character
Students compare Dorothy to another literary character—perhaps Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Meg from A Wrinkle in Time, or Fern from Charlotte’s Web. They analyze traits, choices, and growth, then explain how each character responds to challenges.
Standards: RL.5.5, RL.6.5, RL.7.3
Language Arts Skill – Analogies with Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homophones
Students build analogies using:
- Synonyms: brave : courageous :: kind : compassionate
- Antonyms: hopeful : hopeless :: generous : selfish
- Homophones: pair : pear :: knight : night
Use a foldable or chart to define, sort, and create analogies. Include examples from the chapter (e.g., leave/stay, help/hinder, plain/plane).
Standards: L.5.5.c, L.6.5.b, L.7.5.b
Click here to download the FREE Chapter 18: “Away to the South!” resource.
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2 comments
This is a wonderful resource, but I can’t get chapter 12.
Author
Here is the link: http://bookunitsteacher.com/reading_oz/oz12.pdf