Ruby Lost and Found: Chapters 11–17

by Christina Li
While struggling to deal with the death of her grandfather and the separation from her friends, thirteen-year-old Ruby Chu decides to ditch school and ends up spending time in both detention and her grandmother's apartment in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–10, Chapters 11–17, Chapters 18–27
40 words 16 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    We both stared at the blue road sign for a moment.
    “That’s a Cyrillic language,” Liam mused. “Based on the characters. I’m guessing a country in Eastern Europe. Or Russia.”
  2. begrudgingly
    in an unwilling manner
    Auntie Lin waved me over. I begrudgingly settled into the chair next to her.
  3. brittle
    lacking warmth and generosity of spirit
    She shook her head and let out a brittle laugh. “That’s the thing about kids. They grow up and go to college and then fly away from you for good.”
  4. legacy
    anything handed down by someone or something in the past
    “She says there’s ways to reduce the rent. You can, like, apply for something called a Legacy Business Registry. If you apply and get accepted, they can stabilize your rent so you don’t have to pay more. Or they can help you out with money.”
  5. stellar
    distinguished from others in excellence
    “I would have never ditched you. It would have been a stellar project. You were actually one of the nicer project buddies.”
  6. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    Her eyes looked wistful. They weren’t lighting up like I thought they would.
  7. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    Nai-Nai waltzed through the kitchen, swathed in the bright colors of her sweater, cupping my face as she sang.
  8. fluke
    a stroke of luck
    I searched her face for any hint of recognition, any sign that it was all just a fluke.
  9. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    Colorful fabrics stacked to the ceiling, all around us, in bolts and swaths and patches, from deep purple to light yellow to sheer pearly blue.
  10. sheer
    so thin as to transmit light
    Colorful fabrics stacked to the ceiling, all around us, in bolts and swaths and patches, from deep purple to light yellow to sheer pearly blue.
  11. mesh
    an open fabric woven together at regular intervals
    I reached my hand out, and my fingers brushed thick wool and thin mesh cloth that was decorated with almost-lifelike stitched butterflies.
  12. chenille
    a heavy fabric woven from soft tufted cord
    I wandered down the aisles, imagining the cloths for different things. A prom dress for Viv. A sweater for Mom with the soft chenille.
  13. funky
    stylish and modern in an unconventional way
    I wandered down the aisles, imagining the cloths for different things. A prom dress for Viv. A sweater for Mom with the soft chenille. A bag from the cloth with the funky mushroom prints.
  14. resourceful
    adroit or imaginative
    “She’s a resourceful one, your nai-nai. She told me she just found places along the way that she remembered me telling her about. She called them her little hints.”
  15. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
    “Isn’t that, like, an old people thing?” Viv said, transferring one stack to another. It was like watching a precarious game of Jenga with a lot of old tennis T-shirts.
  16. sift
    check and sort carefully
    She knelt in front of her papers and started sifting through them.
  17. diplomatic
    marked by tact in dealing with sensitive matters or people
    “Well, we can’t wait to meet her, whenever she comes,” Nai-Nai said diplomatically.
  18. regard
    a polite expression of desire for someone's welfare
    “Oh, yeah. I’ve emailed, like, landlords before. You just have to make sure you use fancy words and spell things right. And you always sign off your email with regards and your name.”
  19. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    “‘The end is where we begin to meet/everything is a circle by the sea.’ That was the clue.”
    “Ooh. Cryptic.”
  20. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    “Wow,” Liam said, his voice incredulous.
  21. emphatically
    in a forceful manner; with emphasis
    “Thank you,” Nai-Nai said emphatically.
  22. tender
    easy to cut or chew
    “The important thing,” Auntie Lin was saying when we were climbing the stairs, “is to steam the chicken for just long enough that it’s cooked, but still tender.”
  23. brim
    be completely full
    Then she looked to the table. Plates filled every inch, brimming with potstickers and steamed buns and vinegar-soaked cucumbers, with platters of braised pork and scallion pancakes.
  24. braised
    cooked by browning in fat and then simmering
    Then she looked to the table. Plates filled every inch, brimming with potstickers and steamed buns and vinegar-soaked cucumbers, with platters of braised pork and scallion pancakes.
  25. impromptu
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    Nai-Nai put on some music to dance, and soon the dance party turned into an impromptu karaoke showdown.
  26. heartrending
    causing or marked by grief or anguish
    May Wong belted out a heartrending cover of “Shanghai Tan.”
  27. dementia
    mental deterioration of organic or functional origin
    “What happens when you get dementia? What happened to Hu ā-yí?”
    “I don’t know,” Liam said slowly. “But I’ve heard that when you have it...you keep forgetting things.”
  28. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    “I don’t know,” Liam said, crestfallen.
  29. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    Nai-Nai had seemed so happy, just a fleeting moment before.
  30. reel
    be dizzy, disoriented, or bewildered
    I was still reeling from what Liam had told me about Nai-Nai and didn’t catch the pointed look that Liam gave me.
  31. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    But it didn’t matter, anyway, because May Wong’s expression was slack, her face ashen.
  32. dialect
    the usage or vocabulary characteristic of a group of people
    I walked across the room and heard voices whispering in three different dialects, probably about how much of a nuisance I was.
  33. chastise
    scold or criticize severely
    I waited for Nai-Nai to chastise me further. But she didn’t, and maybe the silence was worse.
  34. constrict
    squeeze or push together
    And all the while, my chest slowly constricted.
  35. tendency
    an inclination to do something
    Because it was all there, with symptoms that were so clearly echoed in the handwritten list I had made.
    Forgetting names of loved ones.
    Forgetting common tasks and places.
    Increased wandering and irritability.
    Tendency to get lost in familiar places.
  36. bobbin
    a spool around which thread or other material can be wound
    “I’m a mess, but an organized mess,” she’d say, when Ye-Ye would gently tease her for leaving her paintbrushes or bobbins out.
  37. headstrong
    habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition
    Her eyes flashed. Headstrong, stubborn Viv.
  38. dense
    having high compaction or concentration
    I imagined myself compressing smaller and smaller, until I was denser than anything.
  39. conspiratorial
    relating to or characteristic of a secret plot or agreement
    “He was, well...bookish,” Ye-Ye said with a small conspiratorial smile. “Imagine a skinny kid with the largest Coke-bottle glasses you’ve ever seen.”
  40. determined
    strongly motivated to succeed
    And this time, I was determined to win.
Created on Sun Mar 24 17:34:45 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Mar 25 15:20:21 EDT 2024)

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