Ida B: Chapters 24–32

by Katherine Hannigan
Fourth grader Ida B. Applewood enters an angry "Black Period" when unfortunate circumstances change her life beyond her control. With the help of a kind teacher, a loyal cat and dog, her loving parents, and her own resilience, Ida B comes to have a better outlook on life.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–8, Chapters 9–15, Chapters 16–19, Chapters 20–23, Chapters 24–32
15 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. retribution
    the act of taking revenge
    So, for the rest of the weekend and the whole bus ride to school on Monday, I was getting ready for Claire and retribution.
  2. persuasive
    intended or having the power to induce action or belief
    Now, I don’t need to explain what happens when a popular and persuasive young woman, like Claire, decides she’s going to go after a solitary, no-friends-to-speak-of, somewhat rude young woman, like myself, at a place like Ernest B. Lawson Elementary School.
  3. mortification
    strong feelings of embarrassment
    Depending on how clever and cruel Claire was, and how much pain she thought I deserved, I was looking at a period of misery and mortification that might last a week or, maybe, the rest of my life.
  4. humiliation
    state of disgrace or loss of self-respect
    I tried to think of every possible thing Claire might do, especially the worst, most excruciating ones, and figure out how I could either avoid total pain and humiliation or, at least, convince myself that it wasn’t really that bad.
  5. vengeful
    disposed to take action in return for a perceived wrong
    But I scanned the room from the corners of my eyes, back and forth like a minesweeper, for Claire the Vengeful.
  6. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Her face was always turned away from me, like I was the scene of a gruesome accident she couldn’t bring herself to even glance at.
  7. peripheral
    on or near an edge or constituting an outer boundary
    Ms. W. did her usual check-in and I almost didn’t hear or see her, I was watching Claire so carefully using my peripheral vision.
  8. retaliate
    make a counterattack and return like for like
    Truth is, I wanted Claire to retaliate.
  9. righteous
    morally justified
    “What if you weren’t a big, strong, righteous conquering hero that Saturday in the woods, Ida B? What if you went too far this time?”
  10. petrified
    struck with fear and unable to move
    If I had been any less shocked, I would have turned around and locked the stall door, but I was petrified.
  11. scheming
    concealing crafty designs for advancing your own interest
    And right away, I knew what I had to do.
    No plans. No least-possible-pain-and-humiliation scheming. Just plain and straight do the deed.
  12. vicious
    able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
    My legs were shaking because those trees and I hadn’t chatted in quite a while, and I wasn’t sure how angry and maybe vicious they were going to be.
  13. atonement
    the act of making amends for sin or wrongdoing
    Before long it was time to go, since I had a few more stops to make on Ida B’s Avenue of Atonement.
  14. perseverance
    persistent determination
    Mama would say he is persistent, and many days I found that quality of his burdensome. On that particular day, however, I found his perseverance to be something I was almost grateful for, if I let myself admit it.
  15. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    Daddy and I hadn’t spent too much time looking directly at each other in quite a while...So the two of us stayed there staring, a little embarrassed and kind of mesmerized, for a minute or so.
Created on Sat Oct 11 14:05:46 EDT 2025 (updated Fri Dec 19 18:32:40 EST 2025)

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