How to Find What You're Not Looking For: List 1

by Veera Hiranandani
Set in the 1960s, eleven-year-old Ariel Goldberg travels to New York City in hopes of reuniting her family after her older sister Leah elopes with Raj, an Indian immigrant.

This list covers "How to Be the Lazy One"–"How to Try Harder."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
30 words 39 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vanity
    low table with a mirror where one sits while dressing
    She sits in her black leotard at the small white vanity, her back straight as a board, a magazine cutout of Paul Newman taped to the corner of her mirror.
  2. draft
    engage somebody to enter the army
    He already enrolled in graduate school this fall because he wants to keep studying and doesn’t want to get drafted into the Vietnam War.
  3. knead
    use the hands to mix and work something into a uniform mass
    Still, Ma makes you knead bread dough to make your hands stronger.
  4. cursive
    handwriting in which letters are connected within words
    Daddy has the strongest hands of anyone you’ve ever known, and his handwriting is beautiful. He writes the daily special on the chalkboard every day in perfect curly cursive.
  5. sweltering
    excessively hot and humid; marked by sweating and faintness
    The last place you want to be on this sweltering afternoon is the bakery.
  6. blare
    make a loud noise
    Occasionally, a grown-up, usually a man in a suit carrying a briefcase, cuts through Stallings to get to the train station and squints his disapproval at a blaring radio.
  7. uprising
    organized opposition to authority
    Today they talk about the uprisings happening around the country, and you wonder what they mean. Leah says she understands why Black people are so upset. Raj says riots aren’t the way to change things, that nonviolent protests are more powerful, like what Gandhi did in India, like what Dr. King is doing now.
  8. establishment
    any large organization
    “But our love is stronger than the racist establishment.”
  9. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    “I’m not naïve, Ari. I see the looks people give us when we walk down the street. It’s not going to be easy for me and Raj.”
  10. slur
    a negative or offensive remark about someone
    At home, Ma and Daddy had explained what the horn statement meant—how it had to do with a wrong translation in the Bible saying that Moses had horns instead of light around his head when he came down from Mount Sinai. Ma said it was still used as a slur today and that some people actually believed it was true.
  11. ingrained
    deeply rooted; firmly fixed or held
    “Maybe they’ll let go of their ingrained prejudice. And who uses the word gentile anymore? I guess it’s better than goy. Maybe Hindus are gentiles? Does it mean anyone who isn’t Jewish?”
  12. gentile
    a Christian as contrasted with a Jew
    Gentile. Goy. You know those words. Sometimes your parents use them to describe someone who’s Christian, but only to each other or you and Leah, never in front of anyone else.
  13. kosher
    conforming to the dietary laws of Judaism
    You wondered if being vegetarian for Hindus was like keeping kosher, the way some Jewish people do, like Aunt Esther in Brooklyn, and the way Ma and Daddy don’t.
  14. naturalize
    make into a citizen
    I’m sure Raj just means that they wouldn’t have naturalized if they weren’t planning to stay.
  15. unanimous
    in complete agreement
    The Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that states cannot outlaw marriages between whites and non-whites.
  16. prejudice
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    “You should have seen the way you both stared at Raj when he walked in the door. I had to pick your jaws off the floor. And you should know what prejudice feels like, living in this narrow-minded town.”
  17. orthodox
    adhering to what is commonly accepted
    My Orthodox parents didn’t think Daddy was Jewish enough for me.
  18. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    “I didn’t mean to make you upset,” you say to Leah, but maybe you did. You wanted her to say something, anything. She turns and glares at you.
  19. muffled
    being or made softer or less loud or clear
    As you press your ear harder against the door, Leah’s voice from the kitchen travels in muffled bursts through the cracks. Is she talking on the phone?
  20. piercing
    very perceptive
    Through the picture, Elizabeth Taylor stares at you with her piercing eyes, straight teeth, and perfect red lips.
  21. persecution
    causing someone to suffer
    It had to do with what her parents and Daddy’s parents went through; with the Holocaust and the history of religious persecution that Jews will always have to carry.
  22. wispy
    thin and weak
    She sings loud and strong, not high and wispy like many of the other girls.
  23. sift
    separate by passing through a straining device
    After sifting the flour, you realize Ma isn’t there.
  24. migraine
    a severe, recurring headache
    Ma does get headaches a lot. She calls them migraines and says she even sees flashes of color before they start. That sounds sort of magical to you rather than painful, but Ma sure does seem like she’s in a lot of pain when she gets them.
  25. linoleum
    a floor covering made from linseed oil, cork, and resin
    It bounces a bit on the floor, then becomes still on the yellow linoleum.
  26. pore
    direct one's attention on something
    You want to pore over every word and find the part that’s written for you in between the lines, because there must be something.
  27. keen
    very good
    All the girls you know have a favorite Beatle. Paul’s pretty keen, but you don’t like him the way Jane does.
  28. elegant
    refined and tasteful in appearance, behavior, or style
    You look at Ma in her short green-and-white dress, her blond hair that’s not really blond, up in an elegant bun, her peach lipstick still fresh, highlighting her green eyes.
  29. kvetch
    express complaints, displeasure, or unhappiness
    “What are you kvetching about? You spend too much time in the kitchen. Go do your homework,” she says.
  30. spat
    a quarrel about petty points
    You listen to the words he sings: We had a quarrel, a lover’s spat.
Created on Mon Nov 21 12:15:10 EST 2022 (updated Fri Jul 14 10:44:27 EDT 2023)

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