A Place to Belong: Chapters 19–29

by Cynthia Kadohata
Like many Japanese-Americans, Hanako and her family are imprisoned in an American internment camp during World War II. After the war ends, they emigrate to Japan — but they struggle to make a home in a country that is unfamiliar to them.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–8, Chapters 9–18, Chapters 19–29, Chapters 30–41
15 words 32 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. accost
    approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently
    Three men suddenly accosted them, asking loudly all at once if they wanted to sell their rations for yen.
  2. yen
    the basic unit of money in Japan
    After they’d quickly walked a ways, Jiichan explained, “We don’t sell for yen. Yen is paper. You cannot eat paper.”
  3. awry
    away from the correct or expected course
    He was babbling, like he was trying to figure out what had gone awry.
  4. doggedly
    with obstinate determination
    And there was Akira, doggedly eating the rest of his tan, fake mochigashi. “I won’t waste it,” he said.
  5. torrential
    pouring in abundance
    But she was sure she understood now, watching the torrential rain that was barely visible in the darkness. Here, in the most unlikely place, in the pouring rain in the middle of the night, she understood her teacher.
  6. pall
    a sudden feeling of dread or gloominess
    There was a pall in the house because Akira had hardly moved all day, except to wobble his head and groan softly.
  7. weathered
    worn by exposure to the elements
    Baachan disappeared and reappeared with a weathered envelope.
  8. compulsory
    required by rule
    “This is where we are, and we just have to accept that. There is nothing for you to do all day, and anyway, Baachan says there is a rumor that the Americans will be insisting on compulsory school at least until after ninth grade.”
  9. socialist
    advocating the state ownership of industry
    And then when we come back to Japan, country have powerful people who want military state and powerful people who want socialist state.
  10. coup
    a sudden and decisive change of government by force
    Even though my country may have many hard time, these year with coup and assassinate is very unusually bad time for my country.
  11. abacus
    a manual calculator with counters on rods or in grooves
    But when everybody took abacuses out of their desks, Hanako gaped. Abacuses? She had seen one once before but had no idea how they worked.
  12. feudal
    relating to a system where vassals are protected by lords
    The sensei talked about the samurai and the feudal period in Japan, but she didn’t use the word “samurai.” She used the word bushi, a word Hanako had never heard.
  13. samurai
    Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal aristocracy
    So it took her ten minutes just to understand that the teacher was actually talking about samurai...or that maybe samurai were a type of bushi...or vice versa.
  14. gird
    prepare oneself for action or a confrontation
    She girded herself and walked into the kitchen.
  15. flabbergasted
    as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise
    She looked too flabbergasted that the rice was gone.
Created on Wed Oct 02 14:30:12 EDT 2019 (updated Fri Jul 18 13:28:12 EDT 2025)

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