Operation Sisterhood: Chapters 8–11

by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
When eleven-year-old Tokunbo Marshall moves with her mother into a Harlem brownstone, she must adjust to an extended family that includes three new sisters who see everything in life as a possible project in their self-designed education.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–17, Chapters 18–22, Chapters 23–29
35 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    Sunday came running out, yelling loud enough to elicit a cacophony of protest from the animals, indoors and out.
  2. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    Sunday came running out, yelling loud enough to elicit a cacophony of protest from the animals, indoors and out.
  3. solemnly
    in a serious and dignified manner
    Mum hadn't said Bill asked me to marry him, which she'd been expecting for a while. She'd planned to nod solemnly when Mum first brought her the news, then lay out a list of pros and cons with her mum before offering her real, but still slightly solemn, blessing.
  4. promptly
    at once (usually modifies an undesirable occurrence)
    Sunday started crowing about how they might redecorate “their” bedroom, and Bo slid into the nearest love seat. One of the cats promptly jumped up on her lap.
    “Back off, cat,” she murmured.
  5. practical
    concerned with actual use
    But even though Bill and Mum were In Love, they said they were also Practical and On a Budget, so it was city hall and a train ride to show off their wedding clothes.
  6. glom
    latch or seize upon; take hold of
    The animals all acted like they'd been waiting to glom on to Bo for their entire little lives.
  7. menagerie
    a collection of live animals for study or display
    It was a beautiful day to be in the backyard, and it had turned out that the hens were the least bothersome pets in this menagerie.
  8. charter
    a document creating an institution and specifying its rights
    Mum said she'd escaped just in time; right before the year ended, they'd found out that the increase in bubble tests was because Terrell had been taken over by a bank that was turning it into a Scholar Achievement charter school.
  9. preposterous
    inviting ridicule
    “Plus, Mum had already told me about the chickens, so a panther didn't seem that preposterous.”
  10. indubitably
    in a manner or to a degree that could not be doubted
    The girls got bonus points for using good words in everyday conversation. But it had to be natural, not something awkward like “That was indubitably erroneous,” which Lil had tried a couple of days ago.
  11. erroneous
    containing or characterized by mistakes
    The girls got bonus points for using good words in everyday conversation. But it had to be natural, not something awkward like “That was indubitably erroneous,” which Lil had tried a couple of days ago.
  12. relentless
    never-ceasing
    But Sunday's relentless friendliness gave Bo other things to feel guilty about.
  13. meticulously
    in a manner marked by extreme care of details
    Sunday had shown great appreciation for Bo's collections as Bo had slowly and meticulously unpacked, and Sunday seemed to have a lot of random “stuff” that she seemed eager to share with Bo's well-organized side of their room, whether Bo wanted to or not.
  14. acquire
    come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
    Bo kept it secret, but sometimes she tested out a few beats on the cats when they curled up on one of the beanbags next to her newly acquired drum set that Bill's old friend “Uncle Winston” had dropped off for her.
  15. genuinely
    in accordance with truth or fact or reality
    If anything was genuinely weird, it was Sunday's attitude. One minute she didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space; the next, she was sulky.
  16. necessarily
    in such a manner as could not be otherwise
    Bo had also learned that a big, “historic” brownstone didn't necessarily mean the people inside were rich.
  17. improvise
    manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand
    “Sounds like it's time to improvise!” said Sunday, rubbing her hands together. "Woot!” She started pulling items from the pantry.
    “Okay, the thing is,” said Bo, “it's cool to improvise, but you have to know what flavors will go together.”
  18. broil
    cooking by direct exposure to radiant heat
    “If we do broil instead of three hundred fifty degrees, won't they be ready faster?” asked Sunday. “Papa Charles made his blackened salmon on broil, and there was smoke everywhere.”
  19. serendipity
    good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
    “Let's get ourselves to the park,” she said. “I hope the B is running well today, or it will take forever. Isn't it great that one of their favorite spots is also one of ours? So much serendipity!”
  20. tenant
    any occupant who dwells in a place
    “Should we bake Welcome Muffins for the new tenants?” she asked sweetly, keeping her face blank.
  21. legacy
    anything handed down by someone or something in the past
    Mr. Korin even posted a list of Black businesses in the lobby, and Mrs. Dougie said it was our legacy.
  22. fringe
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    But Mum couldn’t force Bo to participate, and so Bo had stayed carefully and safely on the fringes, occasionally being a scorekeeper or a tiebreak judge but never really joining in.
  23. sheer
    complete and without restriction
    After they'd had a lot of good laughs about what Mum called “the sheer, sad ignorance,” Bo and Mum had had a lot of fun sending Cousin Yemi postcards of New York City every day for a year until she stopped.
  24. sublime
    inspiring awe
    Mum's friend Gustavo led tours of the park and knew all of its secrets, from the strange, like the fact that the zoo kind of started when someone in the olden days just left a bear in the park, to the sublime, like the Whisper Bench.
  25. formerly
    at a previous time
    Bo had cried when Gustavo told her about the community of formerly enslaved people who had built a whole neighborhood called Seneca Village in an area where she and so many kids now ran and jumped and played.
  26. hearty
    consuming abundantly and with gusto
    For a family with such hearty and enthusiastic appetites, they weren’t exactly kitchen whizzes.
  27. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    Sunday was wearing leggings that said Black Girl Magic in gold letters down the side, and an oversized purple tank top; Lil was wearing denim shorts overalls with circles embroidered all over—Bo wondered if she’d done that herself.
  28. swoon
    pass out from weakness or physical or emotional distress
    “Perish the thought!” said Sunday, lifting her hand to her forehead and swooning, which helped to lighten the mood.
  29. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    And she told them about Amber and Celia, and they nodded and made indignant sounds at all the right moments.
  30. obligated
    caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course
    “It's a WEDDING! I mean, you're, like, legally obligated to fuss!”
  31. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “I guess Mum did throw a whole party when I finished third grade,” mused Bo.
  32. pontificate
    talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner
    “Speak up! Feel free! Pontificate! Elaborate! Cogitate!”
  33. cogitate
    exercise the mind to arrive at a solution or judgments
    “Speak up! Feel free! Pontificate! Elaborate! Cogitate!”
  34. forte
    an asset of special worth or utility
    “It's just that…this will probably require some real organization and careful planning,” she said slowly, the words putting a song in her heart. This was where she felt comfortable. “And, um, maybe that's not totally your, uh, forte?”
  35. barrage
    an overwhelming or vigorous outpouring
    She grimaced, waiting for the barrage of denial and many more indignant sounds.
Created on Wed Feb 15 10:00:59 EST 2023 (updated Wed Feb 15 16:49:58 EST 2023)

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