Rules: Pages 89–144

by Cynthia Lord
To help her younger brother make sense of life in Maine (and avoid embarrassment), twelve-year-old Catherine writes down a list of rules.

This list covers pages 89–144 in the 2006 Scholastic Press edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
12 words 577 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. clutter
    a confused multitude of things
    Kristi’s garage is full of boxes, bikes, rakes, a snow blower, and a clutter of other things.
  2. jostle
    make one's way by pushing or shoving
    Cinnamon and Nutmeg jostle each other, their front feet high against the side of the cage.
  3. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    Tuesday I bring something to the clinic I’ve never brought before. Something that means I need to leave the top of my backpack unzipped, and instead of swinging it to my shoulder, I carry it gingerly in my arms.
  4. tolerant
    forgiving under provocation
    Of my two guinea pigs, I figured she’d be more tolerant of Jason’s sudden movements and noises.
  5. avalanche
    a slide of large masses of snow, ice and mud down a mountain
    The full guilt avalanche, thundering down the mountainside, sweeping away houses, knocking me flat.
  6. perspective
    appearance as determined by distance from the viewer
    I practice drawing perspective, angling the lines of the corridor narrower with each door to pass.
  7. frilly
    having decorative ruffles or similar ornamentation
    Dad turns a frilly leaf to check the underside.
  8. fringe
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    I follow her gaze out across the pond to the fringe of pine and white birch trees on the other shore.
  9. minnow
    a very small freshwater fish
    “Only minnows come near the shore.”
  10. distortion
    a shape resulting from being deformed
    Standing in the pond, my ankles look crooked, cut by the water’s surface. I study the waterline’s ripple of distortion, wanting to capture it in my sketchbook.
  11. backfire
    return with an undesired effect
    “Why is it in fairy tales, wishes always backfire?”
  12. warp
    bend or twist out of shape
    In my sketchbook I try to draw my ankles distorted by pond water, but they don’t look warped and interesting.
Created on Sun Jul 27 20:16:50 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Aug 04 15:38:39 EDT 2025)

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