Flying Lessons & Other Stories: "Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push" by Walter Dean Myers

by Ellen Oh
This collection, edited by We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh, features short stories by popular writers of middle grade and young adult fiction.

Here are links to our lists for the anthology: How to Transform…; The Difficult Path; Sol Painting, Inc.; Secret Samantha; The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn; Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains; Main Street; Flying Lessons; Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents; Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. executive
    a person responsible for the administration of a business
    Still, he played pro ball in Europe for five years before giving it up and becoming an executive with a high-tech company.
  2. elder
    any of various church officers
    I hadn't thought about that when Mr. Evans, an elder in our church, asked me if I wanted to join a wheelchair basketball team he was starting.
  3. harness
    an arrangement of straps for holding something to the body
    Our van is equipped with safety harnesses for my chair, and we used it on the drive to see a game between Madison and Rosedale.
  4. stabilize
    support and make steadfast
    They were specially built with rear stabilizing wheels and side wheels that slanted in.
  5. casual
    not showing effort or strain
    Dad picked up a basketball and threw it casually against the backboard. It rolled around the rim and fell through. He did it again. And again. He didn't miss once.
  6. arc
    something curved in shape
    He nodded, exhaled slowly, then turned and shot a long, lazy arc that hit the backboard and fell through.
  7. collision
    an accident resulting from violent impact of a moving object
    Okay, so most of the guys are pretty good wheeling their chairs up and down the court. But our baseline plays looked more like a collision derby.
  8. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    The guys from Madison were having a good time, and we were feeling miserable. At halftime, we rolled into the locker room feeling dejected.
  9. congestion
    excessive crowding
    We ran a few plays along the baseline, but it still seemed more like bumper cars than basketball with all the congestion.
  10. fundamental
    any factor important to the understanding of a subject
    At practice he shows us fundamentals, stuff like how to line your wrist up for a shot, and how the ball should touch your hand when you're ready to shoot.
Created on Wed Aug 05 13:39:37 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Feb 04 09:59:18 EST 2021)

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