The Trumpet of the Swan · Garden Heights

Part 4

for The Trumpet of the Swan · Part 4 · Chapters 10–12

8 Parts40 min

What Happens in Part 4

The trumpet is glorious — and heavy with its unpaid price. Louis resolves the only honorable thing: he will earn money and repay the music store, restoring his father’s name. Opportunity arrives through Sam, who is spending the summer at Camp Kookooskoos, a boys’ camp in the north woods: the camp needs a bugler, and Sam knows a candidate with feathers. Hired at a salary of one hundred dollars, Louis becomes the camp’s alarm clock and evening bell — but first the trumpet must actually be played, and here the book delivers its boldest practical stroke: to work the three valves, Louis needs fingers, so Sam carefully slits the webbing of the swan’s right foot, freeing three ‘toes’ to dance on the keys. It hurts, it is strange, and it works. Louis practices until reveille rings true across the lake. Then comes the summer’s defining moment: a boastful camper named Applegate Skinner capsizes and starts to drown, and it is Louis — fast, fearless, built for water — who reaches him and brings him in. The camp awards its hero a lifesaving medal, which joins the slate and trumpet on his increasingly crowded neck. The debt has begun, dollar by dollar, to shrink.

What We Will Learn

Section	What you will practice
Vocabulary	Working words: salary, bugler, reveille, capsize, medal…
Literary Elements	Honor as plot, and a hero’s body as his instrument
Cross-Curricular	Summer camp — an American invention

Chapter Summary

Ch.	What happens
10–12	The camp bugler — determined to repay the stolen trumpet, Louis takes a $100 job as bugler at Camp Kookooskoos; Sam slits the webbing of his foot so three toes can work the valves; and when boastful Applegate Skinner capsizes, Louis’s rescue earns the camp’s lifesaving medal.

Part 1

Vocabulary

Study 10 key words from Chapters 10–12, then answer each question.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Why a Bugle Plays So Few Notes

Lexicology · Why a Bugle Plays So Few Notes

At camp Louis blows the calls that shape a camper’s day, and the science behind them is fascinating. Because of this, it can sound only a handful of notes, the ones that belong to what scientists call the harmonic series : the natural steps a column of air divides itself into as the player tightens the lips and blows harder. That is why famous calls like reveille , the bright wake-up in the morning, and taps , the gentle goodnight, are built from so few pitches. The limitation is really a kind of gift: with only a few clear notes, a bugle call carries far across a camp or field and is easy to recognize. Louis, who must earn every sound he makes, learns that even a small handful of notes can speak with real authority . Such language choices reveal the author’s deliberate diction.

salaryn.Ch.10–12

Money paid regularly for work

“The camp offered a salary of one hundred dollars.”

buglern.Ch.10–12

One who plays the camp’s horn calls

“Camp Kookooskoos needed a bugler.”

reveillen.Ch.10–12

The morning wake-up call

“Reveille rang true across the lake.”

webbingn.Ch.10–12

The skin between a waterbird’s toes

“Sam slit the webbing so three toes could move.”

valven.Ch.10–12

A key that changes a trumpet’s pitch

“Three toes learned to dance on three valves.”

boastfuladj.Ch.10–12

Fond of bragging

“Applegate Skinner was a boastful camper.”

capsizev.Ch.10–12

To overturn in the water

“The canoe began to capsize far from shore.”

drownv.Ch.10–12

To die from being underwater

“A boy who cannot swim can quickly drown.”

medaln.Ch.10–12

An award worn for a brave or great deed

“The lifesaving medal joined the slate and trumpet.”

repayv.Ch.10–12

To pay back what is owed

“Every dollar earned would help repay the store.”

ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.

1Money paid regularly for work is a ___.Ch.10–12

2‘Reveille’ is the slow melody played at lights-out.Ch.10–12

3To overturn in the water is to ___.Ch.10–12

4‘Webbing’ is the skin between a waterbird’s toes.Ch.10–12

5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.10–12

Word choices:buglermedalboastfulrepay- some words will not be used

The camp needed a .

Every dollar would help the store.

6Fond of bragging is ___.Ch.10–12

7A ‘valve’ is a key that changes a trumpet’s pitch.Ch.10–12

8An award worn for a brave deed is a ___.Ch.10–12

9Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Ch.10–12

Word choices:salarycapsizereveillewebbing- some words will not be used

Sam slit the of Louis’s right foot.

Each dawn, rang across the lake.

10To pay back what is owed is to ___.Ch.10–12

Part 2

Comprehension

Show you understood what happens in Chapters 10–12.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Putting Events in Order

Narrative Logic · Putting Events in Order

A dramatic chapter like the camp rescue rewards a reader who tracks sequence — the exact order in which events happen. Watch how one step leads to the next: Louis arrives at camp, earns the campers’ trust, notices young Applegate Skinner in trouble in the water, races to save him, and is later honored for his bravery. Words like first , then, next, and finally are an author’s signposts, and good readers follow them the way a hiker follows blazes on a trail. Sequencing also helps you see cause hiding inside order: because Louis acted at exactly the right moment, a life was saved. Whenever a scene moves quickly, slow yourself down and lay the events out step by step, and you will understand not just what happened but why each step mattered in turn . The unstated link is supported by careful inference.

1What does Louis resolve after receiving the trumpet?Ch.10–12

2What job does Louis take?Ch.10–12

3Sam slits the webbing of Louis’s foot so he can work the valves.Ch.10–12

4Who gets into deadly trouble on the lake?Ch.10–12

5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapters 10–12. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.10–12

The webbing operation frees three toes.
The rescue of Applegate earns the medal.
Louis’s calls ring true across the lake.
Sam arranges the bugler job at camp.
Louis resolves to repay the music store.

6Louis rescues Applegate because the boy has always been kind to birds.Ch.10–12

7What does the camp award Louis?Ch.10–12

8Why does the webbing operation matter beyond the pain?Ch.10–12

9By the end of Part 4, the debt has begun to shrink.Ch.10–12

10What do the slate, trumpet, and medal around Louis’s neck represent together?Ch.10–12

Part 3

Literary Elements

Understanding HOW and WHY E.B. White tells the story across Chapters 10–12.

🧠Knowledge Bank · When the Real World Meets the Impossible

Literary Technique · When the Real World Meets the Impossible

A swan wearing a trumpet on a cord, playing bugle calls at a boys’ summer camp, is a wonderful example of E.B. The camp is utterly real — the canoes, the swimming lessons, the homesick boys are all drawn from ordinary life. Into that solid, everyday setting White drops one magical thread: a musical, thinking swan. Because everything around Louis behaves by real rules, the reader accepts the one impossible thing and even forgets to doubt it. This is why the rescue can feel both fantastical and completely believable at once. White learned that fantasy grows most convincing when it is planted in honest, careful detail . Watch how he keeps the world grounded so that Louis’s extraordinary gifts never tip into pure make-believe, and you will understand the secret of every story that asks you to believe the impossible . Sentence and scene arrangement determine its pacing.

Honor-driven plot

Not danger but a debt freely shouldered pulls the hero from place to place.

Costly craft

The webbing pays for the valves — art always bills the body.

Grace without gloating

The scorned swan saves the scorner and says nothing — strength’s best manners.

1This story’s plot is pulled forward mainly by ___.Ch.10–12

2Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.10–12

Word choices:honordangermetersequel- some words will not be used

A plot pulled by a debt is -driven.

3The webbing operation expresses the book’s idea that ___.Ch.10–12

4Louis gloats over Applegate after the rescue.Ch.10–12

5Applegate’s rescue by the bird he scorned creates ___.Ch.10–12

6The camp job matters structurally because it ___.Ch.10–12

7White treats the swan-as-bugler premise as too silly to describe seriously.Ch.10–12

8Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.10–12

Word choices:gracegreedguiltglory- some words will not be used

Saving the scorner without a word shows without gloating.

9The growing collection on Louis’s neck works as ___.Ch.10–12

10Part 4 proves something Part 3 only promised: ___.Ch.10–12

Part 4

Think Deeper

Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Courage That Serves Others

Ethical Reasoning · Courage That Serves Others

When Louis spots Applegate Skinner drowning and rushes to help, he shows a kind of courage that this book prizes above all others: bravery aimed at someone else’s need. It would have been easy for a swan who feels different and left out to hold back, to decide the human boys were not his concern. Instead Louis acts, and in acting he discovers something the whole camp comes to see — that his worth was never about the voice he lacks. Notice how his courage and his earlier determination work together: because he had already built skills and confidence, he was ready when the crucial moment came. White is teaching a quiet lesson here about self-worth: we often prove ourselves not by fixing our weaknesses but by offering our strengths when others need them. That conflict belongs to the field of ethics.

Think back over these chapters. At dawn, over a lake of glass, a trumpet call rises — played by a swan whose right foot, newly and painfully nimble, dances on three valves. At the waterfront, boys line up for swim call. One afternoon a canoe tips far from the dock, and a boastful voice goes under; something huge and white crosses the lake like thrown silk, and a very wet camper is towed to shore by the bird he liked least. That evening, taps — and around a long neck, beside a slate and a horn, a new medal throws back the campfire light.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1Claim: “Louis’s summer is about honor, not just wages.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence

2What Louis earns, or What Louis pays? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two

◄ What Louis earnsWhat Louis pays ►

3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect

The stolen trumpet weighs on Louis→

Three valves demand three fingers→

Practice fills the early mornings→

A canoe capsizes with a boaster aboard→

4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument

White makes the rescued boy someone who DISLIKES birds because , which shows that .

Part 5

Standardized Test

Reading passage · Summer Camp: An American Invention · SAT & TOEFL-style practice

🎯 You already have the skills from the sections above — this is just a fun way to meet real SAT & TOEFL-style questions. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer the questions below. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.

The summer camp — cabins, canoes, campfires, and a bugle marking the hours — is a genuinely American invention. The first organized camps appeared in the 1870s and 1880s in the northeastern woods, born of a worry that city childhoods were growing soft and pale. Reformers wanted boys (and soon girls) to spend summers in fresh air, learning self-reliance — the ability to manage for yourself — far from paved streets. The formula spread fast: by the early 1900s, hundreds of camps dotted the lakes of New England, New York, and Canada, many with invented ‘wilderness’ names meant to sound adventurous and woodsy.

A classic camp ran on routine: the bugle’s reveille at dawn, inspection, swim call, crafts, canoeing, supper, campfire, and the slow notes of taps at lights-out. Swimming was the summer’s central skill and its central danger — which is why waterfront rules, buddy systems, and lifesaving certificates became camp institutions, and why a camp’s proudest medals honored rescues. E.B. White, himself a devoted camper and counselor in Ontario’s lake country as a young man, wrote Camp Kookooskoos from memory as much as imagination: the bugle calls, the canoe drills, the medal for a lifesaving — every detail of Louis’s working summer stands on a real American institution, affectionately and exactly recalled.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Ideas

2Why were the first camps founded?TOEFL · Factual Information

3In the passage, self-reliance means ___.SAT · Words in Context

4In the passage, camp routine refers to ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary

5What was the summer’s ‘central skill and central danger’?SAT · Detail

6In the passage, lifesaving certificates are ___.SAT · Words in Context

7What does the passage say about camp names?TOEFL · Factual Information

8What personal experience shaped White’s camp chapters?SAT · Detail

9Why do camps honor rescues with their proudest medals?SAT · Inference

10Insert Text (TOEFL). Look at the four squares [1]–[4] in the excerpt below. They show where this sentence could be added:
“That horn, in other words, was the camp’s clock, and everyone lived by it.”

A classic camp day was framed by the bugle from end to end. [1] Reveille pulled campers from their bunks; calls marked meals and swim; taps closed the day. [2] So when a camp hired its bugler, it was hiring the keeper of its whole schedule. [3] Which is why Camp Kookooskoos considered its feathered candidate so carefully. [4]

Where would the sentence fit best?TOEFL · Insert Text

Part 6 · Optional

Creative Writing

A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.

About This Section

This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!

Writing Task — Part 4 “Reveille”

Louis’s trumpet frames the camp’s whole day. Write one full camp day — dawn to taps — from the BUGLER’s point of view (Louis, or yourself with the horn): what you see from the bugler’s rock at each call, and the one moment of the day worth all the early mornings. 6–10 sentences. End with the last note of taps and what the lake sounds like after.

You can start with: “The lake was still gray when I lifted the horn for reveille...”

0 / 40 words minimum

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.

Part 4 Complete!

You finished Chapters 10–12 of The Trumpet of the Swan.

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Your Writing

Your writing was checked automatically for length, spelling, grammar, and whether you included the key parts of the scene. Scroll back to Part 5 anytime to read your feedback and improve your work.

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Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by E.B. White. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows E.B. White’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.