The Red Pencil: Part I: Our Farm, Wheat–Seeing the Same Sun

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
In this powerful novel-in-verse, a twelve-year-old Sudanese girl must make her way to a refugee camp after her village is attacked.

Here are links to our lists for the novel:Part I: Our Farm, Wheat-Seeing the Same Sun, Part I: Our Farm, Broken Bottle Dolly-Displaced, Part II: Kalma, Scraps-Erase, Part II: Kalma, Sweet Invitation–Flight
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. glint
    be shiny, as if wet
    Our gleaming pride,
    stretching tall,
    glinting beneath the sun's smile.
  2. glisten
    be shiny, as if wet
    Our village glistens,
    greets me
    with a wink that shines bright
    on this new day.
  3. jut
    extend out or project in space
    She juts
    from the wheat's strands,
    rustling.
  4. rustle
    make a dry crackling sound
    She juts
    from the wheat's strands,
    rustling.
  5. sift
    check and sort carefully
    We sifted through cream-colored grains,
    searching.
  6. churn
    be agitated
    Twirling,
    giggly-tipping,
    sideways sky,
    tummies churning,
    turning us
    into
    dizzy donkeys.
  7. ware
    commodities offered for sale
    Halima's father no longer wants to sell his wares
    at our small weekly village market.
  8. bustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    He's eager to meet customers
    in Nyala's bustling bazaar.
  9. bazaar
    a shop where a variety of goods are sold
    He's eager to meet customers
    in Nyala's bustling bazaar.
  10. patron
    a regular customer
    Patrons who,
    every day,
    will pay
    higher prices
    for his salt, sugar, coffee, and corn.
  11. giddy
    lacking seriousness; given to frivolity
    Words flap from her
    like giddy chickens escaping their pen.
  12. scorn
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    There's word in our village about Gad.
    Much of it scorn.
    Some, praise.
  13. tradition
    a specific practice of long standing
    Gad is a school that welcomes girls.
    Gad pushes past tradition.
    I want to go to Gad.
  14. stifle
    smother or suppress
    My friend's parents are modern people,
    not stifled by tradition.
  15. hut
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling
    Muma,
    born into a flock of women,
    locked in a hut of tradition.
  16. paltry
    contemptibly small in amount or size
    "Your tomatoes
    are green knots of nothing.
    You may have
    more, but it is more of what is paltry.
    My tomatoes are more.
    More plump.
    More beautiful."
  17. wager
    the money risked on a gamble
    But then this tomato wager started,
    and brought with it a war.
  18. pallet
    a mattress filled with straw or a pad made of quilts
    In the evening before I sleep,
    Dando comes to my pallet.
  19. skein
    coils of worsted yarn
    My father tries to explain something
    that is more twisted
    than a tangled
    skein of raggedy thread.
  20. mangle
    alter so as to make unrecognizable
    Like a mangled mess,
    Dando's words are
    hard to follow.
  21. corral
    a pen for cattle
    I haul
    sacks of grain
    from our storage hut
    to the animal corral.
  22. coarse
    rough to the touch
    I weed
    every coarse,
    thick-rooted shoot
    that chokes our
    leafy greens.
  23. hull
    dry outer covering of a fruit or seed or nut
    I husk
    corn and millet,
    and anything with a hull
    that needs my nimble fingers
    to remove its shell.
  24. nimble
    moving quickly and lightly
    I husk
    corn and millet,
    and anything with a hull
    that needs my nimble fingers
    to remove its shell.
  25. ample
    more than enough in size or scope or capacity
    I wish
    our ample animals
    would give me less to work with.
  26. pout
    be in a huff and display one's displeasure
    Leila pouts.
    My little sister
    wants it to be her birthday.
  27. ditty
    a short simple song
    She sings me a ditty:
    “Your turning-twelve twig—
    big!
    Your turning-twelve twig—
    long!
    Your turning-twelve twig—
    thick!
    Your turning-twelve twig—
    strong!"
  28. taut
    pulled or drawn tight
    He smacks at his drum's taut skin,
    slow at first.
  29. willful
    habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition
    When she gets willful,
    I wonder:

    Is she up there laughing
    at our ways?
  30. pummel
    strike, usually with the fist
    The thundering of their drums and pans
    pummeled the night's thick blackness.
  31. scrawny
    being very thin
    "Birthing Leila was fast, but not easy.
    A beautiful baby, but scrawny,"
    Muma remembers.
  32. frail
    physically weak
    From the beginning,
    Leila was a frail child.
  33. stunt
    check the growth or development of
    But as she grew,
    her stunted limbs
    and hunched backbone
    got strong.
  34. hobble
    walk unevenly due to pain, injury, or weakness
    My sister mostly hobbled.
  35. spirited
    displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness
    Then one day
    Leila met Gamal,
    a spirited village boy her same age.
  36. niggle
    argue over petty things
    There are days when Gamal helps Leila.
    And there are days
    when he niggles with her.
  37. squabble
    a quarrel about petty points
    Since then,
    there have been many days
    when Leila and Gamal are squabbling,
    racing,
    bumping
    to get their bent-up tin can
    past these two weighty branches,
    jammed in the sand,
    now standing proud,
    serving as goalposts.
  38. gritty
    composed of or covered with small particles
    Soft sand.
    Oh, this goz.
    So much of it!

    Between our toes.
    In our clothes.
    Through our hair.
    Up our noses.

    Draping its gritty mix
    over our land.
  39. arc
    a continuous portion of a circle
    Then I pull back
    in a single quick-strike
    that forms an arc,
    sloping long.
  40. parcel
    divide into parts
    Old Anwar and Dando parcel hay,
    gather grain.
Created on Fri Dec 01 17:42:38 EST 2017 (updated Tue Jan 16 14:53:08 EST 2018)

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