Starfish: "Take Two"–"Brace, Brace, Brace"

by Lisa Fipps
Ellie, an 11-year-old girl from Texas, learns to stand up for herself and confront bullies who tease her about her weight.

This list covers "Take Two"–"Brace, Brace, Brace."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
25 words 112 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. go to the dogs
    become ruined
    When her border collie enters the office
    and jumps up on me as if he’s
    the size of my pug instead of a pony,
    I’m tempted to make a joke about
    Dr. Woodn’t-You-Like-to-Know’s
    practice going to the dogs.
  2. confront
    deal with head on
    I can help you confront the bullies
    and cope with your feelings,
    if you want.
  3. carrel
    small individual study area in a library
    Enemy Number 3 is at a library study carrel,
    and when I sit down at one, he gets up
    to move a little farther away.
  4. furl
    form into a cylinder by rolling
    One of his shoe soles is loose,
    flapping and furling,
    and he trips over it.
  5. snarl
    a vicious angry growl
    I flash a snarlcasm lip curl:
    one part snarl, three parts sarcasm.
  6. nauseated
    feeling queasy, as though one is about to vomit
    Sometimes when you’re nauseated,
    the only way to feel better is to hurl.
    And it’s as if I’ve puked up
    all the sick feelings
    I swallowed that movie night.
  7. gloat
    dwell on with satisfaction
    “Cheers to you for not gloating.”
  8. dismissive
    showing indifference or disregard
    “Pfft,” she says, with
    a dismissive flick of the wrist.
  9. pucker
    gather something into small wrinkles or folds
    At the custard place,
    an overweight woman
    eyes me from head to toe,
    and puckers her lips in disgust
    as if she’s bitten into
    a sour lemon.
  10. stereotype
    a conventional or formulaic conception or image
    “Stereotypes stink.
    They give people an excuse to
    hate people who are different
    instead of taking the time
    to get to know them.”
  11. feral
    wild and menacing
    Like a pack of feral cats
    with a trapped mouse,
    the other team tortures me slowly
    during dodgeball by
    making me the last one standing.
  12. welt
    a raised mark on the skin
    Then the players pounce,
    zinging me with all the balls at once,
    leaving stinging welts.
  13. glare
    an angry stare
    Each girl freezes—like an armadillo in headlights
    under my glare.
  14. rivalry
    the act of competing as for profit or a prize
    Forget sibling rivalry.
    I’m all about sibling bribery.
  15. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Catalina tucks her head into her shirt,
    like a turtle into its shell—
    a makeshift mask from germs.
  16. wrangle
    herd or round up
    Now I can imagine
    what Dad looked like
    growing up on the Panhandle ranch
    and wrangling bucking bulls.
  17. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    As flames
    devour his words and
    smoke swirls up my nose,
    I realize the anger I feel right now
    isn’t just about Liam’s
    horrible, heartbreaking words in the journal.
    It’s from all the words I’ve ever wanted
    to say back to him.
    Words that’ve been
    smoldering inside of me.
  18. scrimmage
    practice play between two teams
    In the Lone Star State,
    Friday nights in the fall
    are all about football,
    but not at our house,
    although we could use
    a few referees
    —especially after this week,
    when it’s been
    one scrimmage after another.
  19. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    Dad booked a fall foliage tour.
    Two flights and countless hours
    just to see dying leaves
    in New Hampshire and Vermont.
  20. grotesque
    distorted and unnatural in shape or size
    a human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape.
  21. deviate
    be out of line with
    a human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape.
  22. stationery
    paper cut to an appropriate size for writing letters
    Doc hands me
    a piece of stationery and a pen.
    “Write that girl a letter
    and confront her.”
  23. strut
    walk in a proud, confident way
    A few people clap as
    she struts down the aisle
    and out the door.
  24. brace
    prepare for something unpleasant or difficult
    Like a passenger on a nose-diving plane,
    I brace for impact.
  25. gavel
    a small mallet used by a presiding officer or a judge
    Dad bangs his tea glass down on the table
    like a judge with a gavel
    calling for order in the court.
Created on Thu Jan 06 12:31:03 EST 2022 (updated Fri Jan 07 16:44:18 EST 2022)

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