The Mighty Miss Malone: Chapters 1–7

by Christopher Paul Curtis
This companion novel to Bud, Not Buddy focuses on middle schooler Deza Malone during the Great Depression, which causes her parents to lose their jobs in Indiana and complicates the family’s shared goal of journeying to someplace wonderful.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–21, Chapters 22–33
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. grandiose
    impressive because of unnecessary largeness or magnificence
    Once upon a time...in Gary, Indiana, lived a family of three very special, very happy and uniquely talented people. I am the fourth member of that family and much too modest to include myself in such a grandiose description of their exalted number.
  2. exalted
    of high moral or intellectual value
    Once upon a time...in Gary, Indiana, lived a family of three very special, very happy and uniquely talented people. I am the fourth member of that family and much too modest to include myself in such a grandiose description of their exalted number.
  3. ilk
    a kind of person
    But many people say I am of the same ilk and for that I remain internally grateful.
  4. willowy
    slender and graceful
    She is willowy and radiant and spell-blindingly beautiful.
  5. patriarch
    the male head of family or tribe
    She has a great job cleaning for the Carsdale family. Yes, that Carsdale family! The family whose patriarch is the president of the Gary Citizens’ Bank.
  6. endearing
    lovable especially in a childlike or naive way
    Her most endearing trait is that she is the glue holding this family together.
  7. toil
    work hard
    He toils and labors mostly for the Company doing work in a horribly hot furnace and sometimes being a janitor.
  8. matriarch
    a female head of a family or tribe
    Father also calls Mother the Marvelous Mammalian Matriarch, but she says she won’t respond because she refuses to play silly word games with such a “hardheaded husband who hasn’t heard how horrible he is.”
  9. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    Jimmie’s most annoying trait is that he has what Mother says is a napoleon complex. That means Jimmie is not as tall or robust as most boys his age and tries to make up for it by being as loud and full of braggadocio as he can.
  10. braggadocio
    vain and empty boasting
    Jimmie’s most annoying trait is that he has what Mother says is a napoleon complex. That means Jimmie is not as tall or robust as most boys his age and tries to make up for it by being as loud and full of braggadocio as he can.
  11. pry
    move or force in an effort to get something open
    He says we Gary people pry and poke and pull the envelope so carefully and daintily and take so long doing it that we might as well be doing brain surgery.
  12. disposition
    your usual mood
    I have a pleasingly even disposition unless it’s one of those times that I become very angry or scared and have embarrassing wishes to hurt someone real bad.
  13. whit
    a tiny or scarcely detectable amount
    I thought about making one up, but even with my good imagination nothing came to mind that anyone with a whit of sense would believe.
  14. verbose
    using or containing too many words
    My most annoying trait is that some of the time I might talk a little too much, I can be very verbose.
  15. modest
    humble in spirit or manner
    My most endearing trait, and being as modest as I am I had to ask my brother Jimmie for this, is that I have the heart of a champion, am steady as a rock and can be counted on to do what is required.
  16. pervasive
    spreading or spread throughout
    Jimmie also said I am the smartest kid he has ever met, but my all-encompassing and pervasive humility prevents me from putting that on this list.
  17. humility
    a lack of arrogance or false pride
    Jimmie also said I am the smartest kid he has ever met, but my all-encompassing and pervasive humility prevents me from putting that on this list.
  18. arid
    lacking sufficient water or rainfall
    They’ll say Dee-za instead of Dez-uh, just like the first syllable of a desert, like the Sahara, which is geologically a arid, huge part of Africa.
  19. summation
    a concluding statement that presents the main ideas
    In summation and conclusion, the Malone family has four members who are very bright, very good-looking and uniquely talented, just not all in one person at the same time.
  20. ken
    range of what one can know or understand
    We are the only family in the world, in my ken, that has a motto of our own!
  21. humble
    marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
    “Yeah. That’s what I did. I took from the rich and gave to the poor.” He said it like he was very humble and proud at the same time.
  22. epiphany
    a usually sudden insight, perception, or understanding of something
    “Only problem with your epiphany is I don’t believe there’s a rich person within ten miles of here. All right, Robin Hood, how much did you eat?”
  23. measly
    contemptibly small in amount
    He’d written his name at the end of the note but scratched it out. With one measly line.
  24. intuitive
    obtained through instinctive knowledge
    When I got home I asked Mother how to spell “epiphany,” then looked it up in my dictionary.
    Sudden intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, commonplace occurrence or experience.
  25. initiate
    bring into being
    When I got home I asked Mother how to spell “epiphany,” then looked it up in my dictionary.
    Sudden intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, commonplace occurrence or experience.
  26. dignity
    the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
    All there was left for me to do was quietly and with a bunch of dignity walk to my desk.
    I told myself, Stop being silly. Keep your chin up.
  27. bray
    make a sound characteristic of donkeys
    She was making sure our classmates took their mocking eyes off of me and put them on her by waving her paper in the air and braying like a donkey.
  28. ponder
    reflect deeply on a subject
    I’ll probably be pondering what went wrong until I’m weak and weary.
  29. digress
    turn aside from the main subject of attention
    Good writing is simple and communicates naturally. Your past work has shown this is something you can easily do. I appreciate that you are not digressing as much.
  30. grandstand
    behave or perform in a showy way to impress an audience
    “That’s why I gave you that A minus, Deza, and it won’t be the last if you’re not up on your p’s and q’s. Any more grandstanding in your writing, there might even be a B or two down the road. Remember, much is required of her to whom much has been given.”
  31. idly
    in a lazy, casual, or aimless way
    And while President Roosevelt is far too busy to give a hoot, I have nothing but time on my hands. I will not sit idly by and see you fall.
  32. astray
    away from the right path or direction
    No matter how well a mouse, or a human being, plans for the future, those plans ‘gang aft a-gley.’ In other words, no matter how well you think something through, many times schemes simply will not work out. They will go astray.
  33. prevail
    use persuasion successfully
    “By the way, a former student of mine is graduating from Meharry dental school and plans on returning to Gary. I have prevailed upon him to take you on in September once he’s officially a dentist and starts practicing.”
  34. darn
    repair a garment by weaving thread across a hole
    My shoes are quite tired and my socks have been darned a million times. Jimmie says our socks and clothes are very religious because they are so holey.
  35. gingham
    a woven cotton fabric, typically with a checked pattern
    It was a lovely, soft blue gingham dress!
  36. archaic
    so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
    “That’s right, you’re going to be responsible for a change in the King’s English. Another archaic saying is doomed to bite the dust due to Daddy’s Darling Daughter, Deza!”
  37. sliver
    a small thin sharp bit of wood, glass, or metal
    He dug the straight pin around in my foot to make the sliver show its head so he could tweezer it out.
  38. moot
    of no legal significance, as having been previously decided
    “Well,” he said, grabbing the tip of the splinter with the tweezers, “because of you that old saying that something is as hard to find as a needle in a haystack won’t be used anymore, it will become moot..."
  39. calico
    coarse cloth with a bright print
    I gotta tell you, though, Ma was right, that getup was made for you. You’re one sharp bit of calico.
  40. sift
    distinguish and separate out
    Deza, before I cook the oatmeal I always sift any of those beetles out, and the boiling water kills any germs.
Created on Thu Jul 18 11:52:16 EDT 2024 (updated Thu Jul 18 21:25:53 EDT 2024)

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