Harbor Me: "Harbor Me" by Jacqueline Woodson

by Jacqueline Woodson
In this novel by award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, six fifth and sixth graders meet once a week to discuss their problems and fears.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. perch
    sit, as on a branch
    Outside, a blue jay perches on the edge of a branch.
  2. upright
    a piano with a vertical sounding board
    It’s an upright—scratched wood and yellowing keys.
  3. stall
    come to a stop
    Rivers ran down along the curbs, and at the corner near our school, cars had stalled in the middle of the huge pools of rainwater.
  4. slick
    made smooth, as by ice, grease, or water
    An hour after class started on that Friday, Esteban came in, his head down, his hair slicked wet against his forehead, his Yankees cap dripping with rain.
  5. vague
    lacking clarity or distinctness
    It was this vague fear around the edges of myself.
  6. parole
    a conditional release from imprisonment
    In the last letter we’d gotten, he said he wasn’t sure what would happen with his parole.
  7. acronym
    a word formed from the initial letters of several words
    I could have added an R and thrown an acronym out there.
  8. resistant
    disposed to or engaged in defiance of established authority
    I can’t believe you all are so resistant.
  9. chap
    make or become cracked or sore, especially from cold
    His lips were chapped and he had tiny freckles over his nose that I hadn’t noticed before.
  10. lair
    the place where a wild animal lives
    The snake said, Freedom is through my lair.
  11. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    So when the wild boar said, Freedom is inside that thicket of branches where I sleep, they followed him.
  12. borough
    one of the administrative divisions of a large city
    Our story starts in Ms. Laverne’s class in the borough of Brooklyn in the city of New York.
  13. harbor
    a place of refuge and comfort and security
    Ms. Laverne said every day we should ask ourselves, ‘If the worst thing in the world happened, would I help protect someone else? Would I let myself be a harbor for someone who needs it?’
  14. chord
    a combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously
    He strummed the same chords over and over, then moved up the frets and strummed something different.
  15. fret
    bar of metal across the fingerboard of a musical instrument
    He strummed the same chords over and over, then moved up the frets and strummed something different.
  16. lisp
    a speech defect that involves mispronouncing "s" and "z"
    Was her voice high like mine? Did she have an accent? A lisp?
  17. verge
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    Esteban looked like he was on the verge of laughing.
  18. hurl
    throw forcefully
    I had been talking fast to cover it with words, send it hurling through the window, but I couldn’t.
  19. silhouette
    a filled-in drawing of the outline of an object
    When he climbed up onto the ledge, he looked like a silhouette, like someone Amari could draw.
  20. segregation
    a social system that provides different facilities for minority groups
    It’s not like before when we couldn’t swim in pools or go to stores and stuff because we were black or something. It’s not segregation.
  21. stoop
    small porch or set of steps at the front entrance of a house
    I stood on our stoop and stared up the block.
  22. disrespect
    an expression of lack of regard
    No disrespect to you, Ashton, but it sort of sucks that you can still go to the park with that gun and not have to worry about getting killed.
  23. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    I watched Ashton sink further down into himself, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to swat the hands away.
  24. bodega
    small shop selling groceries, especially in a Hispanic area
    Signs in the corner bodega window said WE ACCEPT EBT and ATM INSIDE.
  25. specialty
    an asset of special worth or utility
    Looking back on that, I remember the woman had a nearly shaved head, which should have been a sign to him that hair wasn’t her specialty.
  26. ragged
    worn out from stress or strain
    His voice was deep and ragged and filled with so much sadness, it registered through my pain.
  27. haze
    confusion characterized by lack of clarity
    Through the haze of everything, I could see surprised looks on people’s faces.
  28. blare
    make a loud noise
    I don’t know how it got there, but I was inside of it, the sirens blaring, my uncle’s ragged voice, the bright lights and someone else—a paramedic maybe—moving around us.
  29. paramedic
    a person trained to give emergency medical treatment
    I don’t know how it got there, but I was inside of it, the sirens blaring, my uncle’s ragged voice, the bright lights and someone else—a paramedic maybe—moving around us.
  30. indivisible
    impossible to split into parts
    All over America, kids were saying the Pledge of Allegiance, saying ‘indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
  31. falter
    speak haltingly
    His voice faltered—like he wasn’t sure if he was saying it right this time.
  32. detention
    a state of being confined (usually for a short time)
    The Thursday night before, he had gotten a letter from his father, who was still in Florida at the detention center.
  33. pry
    move or force in an effort to get something open
    I tried to pry your mouth open with my fingers and scoop it out...
  34. doom
    make certain of the failure or destruction of
    Red hair on both sides, my uncle said. You were doomed.
  35. accelerator
    a pedal that controls the throttle valve
    My dad was driving, and when they got a block away from home, my dad accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake and mowed into a lamppost before swerving the car and hitting the outside wall of a donut shop.
  36. conviction
    an unshakable belief in something without need for proof
    I’d never heard you have so much conviction before that day.
  37. lurch
    move haltingly and unsteadily
    One of the eighth-graders who had necked Ashton gave us the finger, and Tiago, Amari and Ashton jumped out of their seats and lurched toward him.
  38. revolution
    the overthrow of a government by those who are governed
    Beneath rocks, there is damp earth
    and an army of ants
    planning a revolution.
  39. resurrection
    a revival from inactivity and disuse
    It must have been like...like a resurrection, Ashton said.
  40. glint
    be shiny, as if wet
    He smiled at me, his glasses glinting.
Created on Thu Sep 27 16:29:45 EDT 2018 (updated Tue Jan 08 12:26:47 EST 2019)

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