The School for Good and Evil: Chapters 1–4

by Soman Chainani
Sweet, angelic Sophie and moody Agatha are shocked when Agatha is sent to the School for Good and Sophie is sent to the School for Evil. Did the School Master make a mistake or does he know the two girls better than they know themselves?

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–22, Chapters 23–30
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Tonight these children dreamt of a red-eyed thief with the body of a beast, come to rip them from their sheets and stifle their screams.
  2. prattle
    speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly
    “Everyone’s prattling on that you’re to be taken this year,” her father said, nailing a misshapen bar over her bedroom window, now completely obscured by locks, spikes, and screws.
  3. crone
    an ugly, evil-looking old woman
    As for the poor hag in the square, that old crone, despite claiming hunger day after day, was fat.
  4. turret
    a small tower extending above a building
    To get there, she had to walk nearly a mile from the bright lakeside cottages, with green eaves and sun-drenched turrets, towards the gloomy edges of the forest.
  5. offset
    compensate for or counterbalance
    First, she had fed the lake’s geese a blend of lentils and leeks (a natural laxative to offset cheese thrown by oafish children).
  6. straggle
    go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
    Sophie watched his straggly hair recede down the hill.
  7. prudent
    marked by sound judgment
    She knew it was the prudent thing to do, since the School Master must be judging her as closely as St. Nicholas the night before Christmas.
  8. haphazardly
    in a random manner
    Across the hilltop, moldy headstones forked haphazardly from dunes of dead leaves.
  9. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    Agatha started to close the door but then saw her crestfallen face.
  10. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    Handsome ones had their hair lopped off, teeth blackened, and clothes shredded to rags; homely ones were scrubbed, swathed in bright colors, and fitted with veils.
  11. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    Even the homeless hag got into the act, hopping before a meager fire, croaking, “Burn the storybooks! Burn them all!”
  12. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    She wanted a mundane marriage to a man who would grow fat, lazy, and demanding.
  13. fickle
    liable to sudden unpredictable change
    Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. The ages were just as fickle; one could be sixteen, the other fourteen, or both just turned twelve.
  14. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth.
  15. devious
    characterized by insincerity or deceit
    Taken fifty years before, sweet Anya now sat on moonlit rocks in a painting as the Little Mermaid, while cruel Estra had become the devious sea witch.
  16. pompous
    puffed up with vanity
    Philip, the priest’s upright son, had grown into the Cunning Little Tailor, while pompous Gula spooked children as the Witch of the Wood.
  17. callous
    emotionally hardened
    Now he wanted to marry that beast. Five years after her mother’s death, it wouldn’t be seen as improper or callous.
  18. feign
    give a false appearance of
    Feigning sleep, Callis heard Agatha’s urgent footsteps, then the door close.
  19. odious
    extremely repulsive or unpleasant
    The footprint of a clump so odious, so foul it could only belong to one person.
  20. gauntlet
    a severe or trying experience
    Agatha dodged the gauntlet of firetraps and dashed to save her friend before the shadow pulled her into the forest.
  21. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    All around, flames spewed higher and higher, poised to devour the entire village.
  22. gangly
    tall and thin
    All around, gangly trees snatched at the girls as the bird dipped and climbed to avoid them, until thunder exploded ahead and they smashed headfirst into a raging lightning storm.
  23. careen
    move sideways or in an unsteady way
    Fire bolts sent trees careening towards them and they shielded their faces from rain, mud, and timber, ducked cobwebs, beehives, and vipers, until the bird plunged into deadly briars and the girls blanched, closing their eyes to the pain—
  24. spire
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    One castle glittered in sun mist, with pink and blue glass turrets over a sparkling lake. The other loomed, blackened and jagged, sharp spires ripping through thunderclouds like the teeth of a monster.
  25. edification
    uplifting enlightenment
    With a squeak, Sophie scampered through and looked back at rusted words over the gates, held between two carved black swans:
    The School for Evil Edification and Propagation of Sin
  26. propagation
    the spreading of something into new regions
    With a squeak, Sophie scampered through and looked back at rusted words over the gates, held between two carved black swans:
    The School for Evil Edification and Propagation of Sin
  27. willowy
    slender and graceful
    Some fell on the shorter side, others were willowy and tall, but all flaunted tiny waists, slim legs, and slight shoulders.
  28. dour
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    Where exactly these beauties were coming from, Agatha hadn’t the faintest idea. All she wanted was a dour or disheveled one to poke through so she wouldn’t feel so out of place.
  29. incensed
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    Incensed, she tried to catch the fairy, but it moved lightning quick, so she hopped around uselessly while it bit her over and over until the fairy mistakenly flew into her mouth and she swallowed it.
  30. emblazon
    decorate, adorn, or inscribe with a design
    Moving forward, Agatha glanced up at the frosted castle doors, emblazoned with two white swans.
  31. ominously
    in a manner suggesting something bad will happen
    Girls crowded her ominously.
  32. foist
    force onto another
    She screamed and dropped the books, before a spotted satyr foisted musty black fabric at her.
  33. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    Turning away, she took comfort in the glowering girls around her, who clearly hadn’t forgiven her for the incident in the hall.
  34. frieze
    an ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band
    The two pink glass staircases had PURITY and CHARITY emblazoned in gold, along with delicate friezes of sculpted maidens, princesses, and kindly animals.
  35. jaunty
    having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air
    In the middle were silver frames, for those who found lesser fates as jaunty sidekicks, dutiful housewives, and fairy godmothers.
  36. bate
    moderate or restrain; lessen the force of
    Agatha waited with bated breath, until she finally reached a pink-haired nymph.
  37. grouse
    complain
    “Only Nevers live in the Murmuring Mountains, you fool,” Hester groused.
  38. revel
    take delight in
    “Short for ‘Nevermore,’” Hester reveled. “Paradise for Evildoers. We’ll have infinite power in Nevermore.”
  39. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    Beyond the gates, the forest returned to green and stretched into dark oblivion.
  40. gilded
    made from or covered with gold
    Her eyes found the frosted doors in the corner, gilded words etched in glass:
    THE GALLERY OF GOOD
Created on Thu Apr 22 13:24:42 EDT 2021 (updated Thu Apr 29 15:09:02 EDT 2021)

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