As Brave as You: Chapters 16–21

by Jason Reynolds
When brothers Genie and Ernie leave the city to spend the summer in Virginia with their grandparents, they learn about what it means to be truly brave.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–6, Chapters 7–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–21

Here are links to our lists for other books by Jason Reynolds: When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, Long Way Down, Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gospel
    a genre of evangelical Christian music
    She turned the radio on but changed the station from gospel to hip-hop, which on any other day would’ve been totally cool.
  2. splint
    support with a device that immobilizes a body part
    “Now, I might be able to reimplant his teeth—I’ll splint them to make sure they’ll hold steady until they’ve stabilized in the gum, which could take a while. But it won’t be pretty, and you’re still gonna want to take him to see an orthodontist, eventually, to make sure things are healing properly once the teeth are secure.”
  3. interpretation
    the act of expressing something in an artistic performance
    Desperate to help Ernie out somehow, Genie decided to joining him up in the bedroom and imitate his ninja interpretations, leaping off the bed, kicking the air, pretending to chop the wall, which Genie thought would be pretty funny.
  4. guzzle
    drink greedily or as if with great thirst
    Then he guzzled the rest of his drink, and he cleared his throat.
  5. funk
    a state of nervous depression
    Genie didn’t wait around for Ernie to get out of his funk.
  6. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    So while Ernie let Samantha lick his sadness away, Genie, on Day Sixteen, ventured off to the yellow house to check the trap.
  7. lurk
    lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
    This was the first time he’d be going by himself, and he was kinda nervous, and went a little crazy swinging his trusty stick in front of him, swiping away invisible webs that might have been homes to poisonous spiders, scaring away any lurking poisonous snakes.
  8. traipse
    walk or tramp about
    Whenever he wasn’t traipsing through the woods, which was less and less scary each time, Genie would pop in and out of the inside-outside room to keep up with his duties.
  9. frenzy
    state of violent mental agitation
    Grandma was on a cooking frenzy, making all kinds of crazy soups so Ernie wouldn’t hurt his teeth on anything hard, and turned Genie into a sous-chef, she called it, which was just a fancy word for helper.
  10. rig
    connect or secure to
    Then finally, “Binks, I don’t know how to ask you this, but, see, my old friend who rigged up the splint said Ernie would eventually need to see somebody just to make sure that—”
  11. awe
    an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration
    Soon as the couple walked away, the guy already opening up the bag to stare some more at the tooth, Genie asked in awe, “You can really sell teeth for twenty bucks?”
  12. appraise
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    He appraised the tooth.
  13. certify
    guarantee as meeting a certain standard
    She dug into her can and pulled out a face mask. The kind doctors wear. The kind Tess’s mother had been wearing every time Ernie and Genie saw her. A certified mouth hider.
  14. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    “Well”—Genie turned around to make sure the front door was closed—“there are, uh, no new discoveries,” he said cryptically.
  15. wring
    twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid
    Motioning for Genie and Tess to go after him, Grandma picked both towels up off the floor and wrung them out angrily over the sink, twisting them like she was trying to strangle them, if a towel could be strangled.
  16. halting
    limping; not able to walk steadily or properly
    Grandpop’s face seemed to crumple as he stepped haltingly back into the inside-outside room.
  17. tramp
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    He, Genie, and Tess tramped down the hill.
  18. gripe
    complain
    “So much for bein’ healed,” Tess griped.
  19. slur
    utter indistinctly
    “Little Wood, listen me when I tell you that life ain’t nice to nobody. Nobody. Not me, not Mary, not Ernie, not your daddy, not Uncle Wood. Nobody,” Grandpop’s words were slurring.
  20. dismissive
    showing indifference or disregard
    Grandpop was flinging his hand around dismissively, like he was swatting at a mosquito.
  21. sanity
    normal or sound powers of mind
    “We’re going because I told your parents we would. And because I need to know that you’re fine before you go home. For my own sanity.”
  22. stony
    showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings
    “Dang. I thought that would at least get a smile,” he said, clearly to Ernie, who stared stonily at the window.
  23. rickety
    inclined to shake as from weakness or defect
    Once they positioned themselves across from each other, Genie glanced at the yard in front of him, the rickety birdcages all cracked and mangled and peeking from just behind the house.
  24. lurch
    move haltingly and unsteadily
    The bird began to struggle, to flap its wings, and as soon as it lurched in its fight to fly, pecking at Genie’s hand, he got scared.
  25. lope
    run easily
    “I suppose,” Crab said, loping over to the porch.
  26. frank
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    Plus, to be frank, I felt so dern bad I ain’t know what to do.
  27. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    It seemed like it was some kind of amends, but Genie couldn’t be too sure.
  28. dispose
    throw or cast away
    Thoughts were coming every which way—the death of Michael Jackson, the disposing of the body, the constant fear that Grandpop would find out, the fact that he wasn’t sure anymore if he should catch another one, and he realized that he also felt...trapped.
  29. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    Grandpop smiled sheepishly.
  30. gush
    praise enthusiastically
    Grandma, on the other hand, gushed. “Aww, thank you, Ernie.”
Created on Thu Dec 20 20:51:59 EST 2018 (updated Thu Jan 03 12:20:46 EST 2019)

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