The Other Half of Happy: Chapters 16–30

by Rebecca Balcárcel
Quijana has never felt connected to her Guatemalan identity, but when her cousins move to town and her parents plan a trip to Guatemala, she must navigate complex feelings about her heritage.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–15, Chapters 16–30, Chapters 31–46
35 words 29 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. irate
    feeling or showing extreme anger
    I tap the bell again. He plays on. I ring three times, like an irate customer. A shrill, repeated pinging.
  2. mantle
    the layer of the earth between the crust and the core
    Spanish is the inside of the world and English is the outside. Like in earth science. Español is the molten mantle, flowing and shapeable, but Inglés is formed, rigid.
  3. garbled
    lacking orderly continuity
    Or sounds could get dizzy spiraling their way to the brain, so they arrive garbled and backward.
  4. exasperated
    greatly annoyed; out of patience
    He’s been reminding me that water is more important than food since I was little. "Yes, Dad,” I say, trying to sound grateful instead of exasperated.
  5. spigot
    a regulator for controlling the flow of a liquid
    She waves her empty water bottle in the air and trots toward a spigot sticking out of the ground.
  6. keel over
    fall suddenly; collapse
    “It’s like, I don’t know, when you overload on sugar and almost keel over!”
  7. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    I can’t even tell if her ankle is hurting, she’s being so stoic.
  8. truffle
    creamy chocolate candy
    Of course, when Jayden opens his lunch, no surprise chocolate truffle comes out.
  9. bristly
    having or covered with protective barbs or spines
    Dad’s unwrapping a rectangular bristly thing. It looks like a brush for scrubbing potatoes.
  10. integration
    the act of combining into a whole
    “A sensory integration brush. Memito’s teacher gave it to us. She says brushing his skin might help him be less sensitive.”
  11. lance
    a long pointed rod used as a weapon
    “The man who took up his lance to make things right.”
  12. noble
    having high or elevated character
    “Sometimes the lost causes are the noblest,” he says, his voice like warm milk in a mug.
  13. flourish
    make steady progress
    You’ll flourish in your life, I’m sure of that.
  14. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    The great secret is to relish the moments as they happen, but let endings happen, too.
  15. reverie
    absentminded dreaming while awake
    I think of the huipil, out of my drawer and zooming farther away every second.
    My phone vibrates, bringing me out of my reverie.
  16. pristine
    completely free from dirt or contamination
    She’d tell hiking stories while she rinsed dishes, like the time she lost the trail but found a pristine pond.
  17. vigorously
    in an energetic manner
    I rake vigorously.
  18. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    Understood or not, Abuela fills the phone with lilts and curls, swishes and swoops. It’s pretty great that she’s willing to waste all these words on me, knowing I can’t understand them.
  19. recede
    become faint or more distant
    The clack-clack sound recedes down the hall.
  20. luminous
    softly bright or radiant
    Dad always says he’s not religious, but spiritual. He also tapes Yoda’s words on notecards to our light switches: “Luminous beings are we.”
  21. bout
    a period of illness
    She pauses for a bout of coughing.
  22. thespian
    a theatrical performer
    “Um, yeah. He’s in a play at school.”
    “A thespian! Good sign. But he must be very busy, then.”
  23. emboss
    raise in a relief
    She pulls out four booklets bound in blue covers. Each has a bald eagle embossed in gold on the front and PASSPORT above it.
  24. writhe
    move in a twisting or contorted motion
    He starts tearing up and covering his eyes, still yelling. Now Dad lifts him up, and Memito’s little head burrows into Dad’s shoulder. He’s writhing and gripping Dad’s shirt.
  25. quirky
    strikingly unconventional
    Memito isn’t a late-talker like Einstein. He’s not just different or quirky. Something is wrong.
  26. tousle
    disarrange or rumple; dishevel
    Exclamations pour out, pats on the back, hair tousling—the works.
  27. auditory
    of or relating to the process of hearing
    Mom’s reading a book about allergies and something called leaky gut, and I found headphones for sale that help “auditory processing”—unless that’s a scam.
  28. enterprising
    marked by initiative and readiness to undertake new projects
    “The enterprising Quijana Carrillo,” shouts Ms. Thomas.
  29. regal
    belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
    The Thomases, tall and regal, bend their heads down to greet my petite parents.
  30. intricate
    having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate
    Ms. Thomas remarks, “The fabrics from Guatemala are so intricate and colorful. I love the—”
  31. flub
    blunder; make a mess of something
    “Seth has to interrupt me in Scene Three, and then I have to talk over him a line later. It has to feel real without confusing the audience. Sometimes we flub it, but tonight—”
    “—it went like clockwork.”
  32. banter
    light teasing repartee
    Their easy banter makes me wish I had a sister.
  33. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    Dad’s voice wafts through the air, the slow, deliberate tones he uses when quoting an author.
  34. intercede
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    “We can’t set this up right now. Maybe another day.”
    “But there’s nothing to set up! I want to stay!”
    “We can bring her,” Tía intercedes.
  35. resonant
    characterized by a loud deep sound
    “That chord can be played with different fingers. More resonant.”
Created on Thu Sep 10 10:53:13 EDT 2020 (updated Fri Sep 11 16:48:38 EDT 2020)

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