Flying Lessons & Other Stories: "Sol Painting, Inc." by Meg Medina

by Ellen Oh
This collection, edited by We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh, features short stories by popular writers of middle grade and young adult fiction.

Here are links to our lists for the anthology: How to Transform…; The Difficult Path; Sol Painting, Inc.; Secret Samantha; The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn; Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains; Main Street; Flying Lessons; Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents; Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. grudge
    a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
    For starters, Doña Rosa was mean enough when she was alive. Who in their right mind wants to risk meeting her now that she's a spirit nursing a grudge?
  2. putrefaction
    a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
    "She's scared of putrefaction."
  3. prominence
    something that bulges out or projects from its surroundings
    You had to name the body parts correctly. "No, not the Adam's apple," he'd say as I tweezed out a piece without making the buzzer sound. "It's the laryngeal prominence. Say it or it doesn't count."
  4. amoeba
    a single-celled organism that lives in water or soil
    Roli and I will both be at Seaward Pines, although I'll be in the lower school with all the other seventh-grade "amoebas" (his word).
  5. tycoon
    a very wealthy or powerful businessperson
    Maybe we'll be painting one of the big mansions? I could run into one of the rich tycoons who live here and run a few business ideas past him....
  6. maneuver
    direct the course of or determine the direction of traveling
    Papi maneuvers us around back to the service entrance near the fields and parks in a spot reserved for maintenance crews.
  7. chisel
    carve with an edge tool
    I start down the path, dodging the sprinklers and hopping over the bricks with people's names chiseled into them.
  8. regulate
    bring into conformity with rules, principles, or usage
    She might even be an enforcer, so I'll have to keep my eye on her this year. Uniform length, the shine in your shoes, standard-issue headbands. You name it, she'll regulate it.
  9. prone
    having a tendency
    You never know what's in your permanent record. Height: four eleven. Prone to daydreaming and lost assignments.
  10. levitate
    be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity
    Every time I shift my eyes to the floor, I see globs of blue and green floating in front of me, like levitating beach balls.
  11. alfresco
    in the open air
    We usually pack our lunch and dine "alfresco," as Papi calls it, which just means we picnic under a tree.
  12. brood
    think moodily or anxiously about something
    That afternoon, I let Roli sit in front and brood all the way home as I pick the dried red paint from under my nails.
  13. poach
    cook in a simmering liquid
    The deck chairs are lopsided, and the scummy water is warm enough to poach you.
  14. cherub
    an angel portrayed as a winged child
    I think of the pretty office at Seaward Pines, the fountain with cherubs spitting water, and feel mad all over again.
  15. cranium
    the part of the skull that encloses the brain
    Instead, he cups my scalp with his enormous hand and gives a squeeze. "Try to let this idea into your thick cranium. Papi chose to be invisible today so you won't ever have to be."
Created on Wed Aug 05 11:10:44 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Feb 04 09:38:04 EST 2021)

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