Shout: List 4

by Laurie Halse Anderson
In this memoir-in-verse, author Laurie Halse Anderson reflects on the real events behind her acclaimed novel Speak and the aftermath of the book's publication.

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4

Here are links to our lists for other works by Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak, Speak: The Graphic Novel, Chains, Fever 1793
35 words 25 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. furtively
    in a secretive manner
    on page two he wrote more
    furtively, turning his hurt
    into hunger, thundering, covering
    the truth of his circumstances
  2. scrawl
    write carelessly
    he told a tale of justice failed,
    jailed innocent, he declared
    wondering why the world
    had turned against him
    line after scrawled line
    he mounded his hurts into a bonfire
  3. catalyst
    something that causes an important event to happen
    I knew that Kate’s I’m fine! mask was suffocating
    but I didn’t know what would convince her
    to take it off
    she needed a catalyst
    that spark, a goad to force her out of her shell
    so she could see herself for the very first time
  4. goad
    a pointed instrument used to provoke into motion
    I knew that Kate’s I’m fine! mask was suffocating
    but I didn’t know what would convince her
    to take it off
    she needed a catalyst
    that spark, a goad to force her out of her shell
    so she could see herself for the very first time
  5. quandary
    state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options
    one night, after hours of scribbling
    and throwing out pages,
    frustrated with my Kate quandary, I doze-dreamed
    fingers dribbling sand by the ocean
    of my imagination
    I watched
    as a new girl appeared
  6. marrow
    the most essential or vital part of some idea or experience
    readers bewitched by a book
    rarely peek under the lid of names
    to the stewpots of boiling imagery below
    but I need to taste a name’s marrow
    to write a character to life
  7. rectory
    housing that a church provides for its clergy
    he blessed me,
    invited me
    (special! so special!)
    to the wreck room,
    the re-creation room
    wood-paneled basement lair
    below the rectory
  8. manipulation
    exerting shrewd or devious influence for one's own advantage
    the wreck room stank
    of moldy clothes,
    sweat and desperation
    sweet wine and manipulation
    vomit, candy, and exploitation
  9. exploitation
    an act that victimizes someone
    the wreck room stank
    of moldy clothes,
    sweat and desperation
    sweet wine and manipulation
    vomit, candy, and exploitation
  10. legion
    a vast multitude
    Infected by the angel-cloaked demons
    whose hymns condemned us to darkness
    with a smile;
    we are legion.
  11. parochial
    relating to or supported by or located in a parish
    all the Catholic kids left after lunch on Wednesday
    and walked to the parochial school down the block
    for lessons from the priests and the nuns
  12. chrysalis
    pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon
    wet-winged butterflies
    wobbly antennae, shaky knees
    their faces still lined
    with chrysalis wrinkles
    finally at liberty
    straining to take flight
  13. stasis
    inactivity resulting from a balance between opposing forces
    witness the butterflies’
    metamorphosis
    effecting change
    from elementary stasis
    to fluttering chaos, launching
    in the dawn’s early fight
  14. deliverance
    recovery or preservation from loss or danger
    touch me
    with permission only, yes—signed, sealed
    deliverance from evil, no sin to be
    tempted
  15. lichen
    a plant occurring in crusty patches on tree trunks or rocks
    if you travel to the far north of Greenland
    then a little farther still
    you might land the mythic land of Ultima Thule
    home to the wind, ice, and lichen old as time
  16. benign
    pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence
    ...just for a little while
    imagining all the layers of clothes
    I’d wear on Ultima Thule
    the benign joy of studying polar bear songs
    or renegade glaciers
  17. renegade
    having deserted a cause or principle
    ...just for a little while
    imagining all the layers of clothes
    I’d wear on Ultima Thule
    the benign joy of studying polar bear songs
    or renegade glaciers
  18. arboreal
    of or relating to or formed by trees
    my peculiar condition arboreal

    After they stole the mountains from the Mohawks
    and thrashed the British, my grandfather’s
    people tapped sugar maple trees
  19. canker
    an ulcerlike sore
    Ganoderma applanatum is a fancy
    way of saying the fungus you find
    on some trees in the North, a boil,
    canker sore, wide as a working man’s hand,
    a worry bursting from the hip
    of an uprighteous beech
  20. testament
    strong evidence for something
    She wanted to play the piccolo
    or at least the flute, delicate instruments
    elegant, feminine testaments to belie her size
    but the director gave her the trombone
    cuz she
    had the longest arms in the band.
  21. belie
    be in contradiction with
    She wanted to play the piccolo
    or at least the flute, delicate instruments
    elegant, feminine testaments to belie her size
    but the director gave her the trombone
    cuz she
    had the longest arms in the band.
  22. panache
    distinctive and stylish elegance
    She hunched, slouched with panache,
    tried to shrink herself down
    to the size of other girls, origami-folded
    herself in upon herself, accidentally forging
    a backbone that twisted
    and misaligned her hips.
  23. skein
    coils of worsted yarn
    I have a faded plastic grocery bag
    brimming with my most
    favorite skeins,
    audacious schemes.
  24. audacious
    disposed to venture or take risks
    I have a faded plastic grocery bag
    brimming with my most
    favorite skeins,
    audacious schemes.
  25. bristle
    react in an offended or angry manner
    Kin unpinned, my mother
    was 100 percent wool, unprocessed
    and itchy as hell, a hair shirt unraveled
    then rerolled like razor wire
    —carefully—
    into a porcupine abristle
    with resentment,
    protecting her underbelly
  26. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    racing to the toilet
    berating myself
  27. stoicism
    an indifference to pleasure or pain
    and we talked
    unrolling our family legacies
    of trauma and silence
    the stoicism that alternates with rage
    the kindness that hides anxiety
  28. institutionalize
    cause to be admitted, as a person to a hospital
    Before she died, my mother told me that Daddy
    had been institutionalized
    diagnosed as manic-depressive
    when he was studying
    to be a preacher and she worked to pay the bills.
  29. tendril
    slender structure by which some plants attach to an object
    Most trees take care of each other
    and the beeches are no exception.
    Underground tendrils secretly feed
    the girl rooted in the sterile glacial till,
    old ones lean to the side
    so the boy burned by lightning
    gets more sun than his brothers.
  30. sterile
    free of pathological microorganisms
    Most trees take care of each other
    and the beeches are no exception.
    Underground tendrils secretly feed
    the girl rooted in the sterile glacial till,
    old ones lean to the side
    so the boy burned by lightning
    gets more sun than his brothers.
  31. susurration
    speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords
    Survival of the fittest
    is a recipe for loneliness,
    the beeches susurrate
    if you know how to listen,
    guaranteeing a nasty life,
    brutish and short.
  32. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    Old English roots of
    Halse
    are tangled ingehálsian
    a verb that means “to implore
    or invoke the gods;
    to speak,”
    in Danish, hals means “throat”
  33. invoke
    request earnestly; ask for aid or protection
    Old English roots of
    Halse
    are tangled ingehálsian
    a verb that means “to implore
    or invoke the gods;
    to speak,”
    in Danish, hals means “throat”
  34. steadfast
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    the wings of angels connect
    to their backbones
    just behind
    their steadfast hearts
  35. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    and your backbone
    will unfurl until
    you can again dance
    to the beat
    of your steadfast
    heart
Created on Wed Apr 03 13:50:46 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Apr 04 09:03:02 EDT 2019)

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