A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation: List 5

by Pablo Cartaya
Gonzalo Alberto Sánchez García finds himself on a cross-country roadtrip with his estranged grandfather, an internationally acclaimed author of a children's fantasy series. Over the course of the 10-day trip, Gonzolo learns the truth behind his grandfather's famous tales and gains a better understanding of himself and his family.

This list covers vocabulary from "Comments and Captions"—"Epilogue."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. venue
    the scene of any event or action
    My grandfather sits on the edge of his bed with his phone in hand, scrolling through a list of restaurants and music venues in Nashville.
  2. hack
    a mediocre writer, especially one who writes for hire
    “Jorge is a hack,” my grandfather suddenly blurts out. “He’s full of himself.”
  3. regime
    the governing authority of a political unit
    “They cut me out of their lives completely when I was forced into the military. They thought I had joined the violent regime in Cuba, but I hadn’t.”
  4. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    “So why are we visiting her now?” I decide to ask.
    “To make amends.”
  5. rift
    a personal or social separation
    “What does it say, Mom?”
    “That she’s sorry the family had a rift and hopes they can reconcile. And she’s sad that Abuelo’s mother passed away.”
  6. interaction
    mutual or reciprocal dealings or influence
    “Not every interaction has to be a social media post, Veronica,” he says, sounding kind of irritated.
  7. tribulation
    an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event
    It becomes clear to Gonzalo at this stage that things aren’t so simple, and his tribulations aren’t over yet.
  8. antagonist
    someone who offers opposition
    He’s realizing he will soon have to face the antagonist head-on.
  9. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    There are moments of light on this journey, but they can be fleeting.
  10. scrounge
    collect or look around for
    Alice and Curly had just scrounged up enough money to buy this place in the middle of nowhere.
  11. intuition
    an impression that something might be the case
    Alice saw me first, then told Curly to pull over. They asked me if I was all right, but I didn’t answer. Then, after a couple tries, Alice had the intuition that maybe I didn’t speak English.
  12. misinterpret
    construe wrongly
    It wasn’t until about half an hour searching through the grassy fields near the road that I realized they had misinterpreted what I had said. I had said “perdido” like “lost,” not “perrito” like a “dog,” and we all had a good laugh.
  13. snippet
    a small piece of anything
    You complain about Mom’s social media posts, but all you do is post snippets of your life into your books.
  14. preventative
    tending to hinder
    He never stopped trying to find ways to make life better for the world. He was always trying to clean a beach, or sign petitions to save an endangered spotted owl, or work with forestry officials on preventative measures for forest fires.
  15. sulky
    sullen or moody
    Is Alberto back to his sulky ways? Actually, he visits Vero and Gonzalo in Los Angeles and has plans to do a school-wide presentation at Montverde Middle School!
Created on Fri Mar 27 18:19:21 EDT 2026 (updated Wed Jun 03 19:39:11 EDT 2026)

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