Stella by Starlight: Chapters 11–20

by Sharon M. Draper
In this historical novel, a young girl confronts prejudice and injustice in her segregated North Carolina town.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–20, Chapters 21–30, Chapters 31–40, Chapters 41–50

Here are links to lists for other books by Sharon M. Draper: Out of My Mind, Copper Sun, Tears of a Tiger, Forged by Fire, Blended
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. grudging
    petty or reluctant in giving or spending
    Her mother rushed out to the porch, a bandanna on her head, a scrub brush in her hand, and a grudging smile on her face.
  2. gander
    a quick look
    “Of course, honeygirl.” Her mother dried her hands on her apron. “I might even take a gander at his goods myself.” Jojo and Stella raced ahead of her.
  3. ply
    keep offering or supplying something desirable to someone
    Spoon Man traveled all over North Carolina, plying curios and cookware, tools and trinkets—and news.
  4. curio
    something unusual, maybe worthy of collecting
    Spoon Man traveled all over North Carolina, plying curios and cookware, tools and trinkets—and news.
  5. trinket
    a small cheap ornament, knickknack, or piece of jewelry
    Spoon Man traveled all over North Carolina, plying curios and cookware, tools and trinkets—and news.
  6. ponderous
    slow and laborious because of weight
    Climbing down ponderously from the wooden buckboard, he tossed Stella and Jojo each a piece of molasses taffy.
  7. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    “You’ll do that anyway,” her mother replied wryly.
  8. girth
    the distance around something, especially a person's body
    Despite his wide girth, his cheeks looked hollow.
  9. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    How much kindling did Papa need?
  10. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Stella watched out of the corner of her eye as Spoon Man chomped down on his third cookie and covered his mouth to stifle another burp.
  11. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    “Now, you know they don’t want us to votin’,” Spoon Man chided, tipping his chair back on two legs.
  12. tote
    carry with difficulty
    Carolyn lunged through the front door, toting a large pan.
  13. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Stella ran out to find the boys, who were already sneaking samples of okra and hush puppies from the makeshift table.
  14. smirk
    a smile expressing smugness or scorn instead of pleasure
    He looked at her with a smirk.
  15. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    All the while, Spoon Man quietly meandered through the crowd, selling a frying pan, a box of buttons, a kerosene lamp, and a fishing pole.
  16. evasive
    deliberately vague or ambiguous
    “So, how’s school?” he asked as he sat down heavily beside her.
    “Not bad, but not so good sometimes,” she said evasively, popping the last of her mother’s dumplings into her mouth. “I like arithmetic.”
  17. guffaw
    a burst of loud and hearty laughter
    “That’s nothin’,” countered Mr. Winston. “I know a man who was so hungry he ate up his skin and bones and left nothin’ but his shadow!”
    Loud guffaws followed.
  18. stingy
    unwilling to spend
    “Well, I know a man so stingy that he wouldn’t eat out in the sunlight, ’cause he was scared his shadow might ask for some of the food!”
  19. pelt
    rain heavily
    The winds blew something fierce, and heavy rains pelted the eagle and her nest.
  20. flail
    thrash about
    As he spoke, Spoon Man whistled like the wind and burbled thunder from his lips, flailing his arms to capture the fury of the tempest.
  21. tempest
    a strong storm with violent winds
    As he spoke, Spoon Man whistled like the wind and burbled thunder from his lips, flailing his arms to capture the fury of the tempest.
  22. strut
    a proud and confident way of walking
    The mama chicken walked in that funny chicken strut over to him.
  23. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    Then he did something he’d never tried before. He unfurled his wings and flapped as he jumped.
  24. pallet
    a mattress filled with straw or a pad made of quilts
    Then she helped her father set up a pallet in the barn for Spoon Man.
  25. brood
    think moodily or anxiously about something
    She thought about Spoon Man’s tale of the eagle, and his advice about writing away the worries, but mostly she just gazed at the stars and brooded about flight and birds and airplanes, which she’d seen exactly only four times in her entire life as they zoomed across the sky.
  26. furrow
    a long shallow trench in the ground
    Stella gave Mama her school notebook, the one that held the paper marked with a F, the incomplete assignments that sat there like half-plowed furrows, the jumble of scribbles and thoughts.
  27. obscure
    make unclear or less visible
    Mama flipped through it all, squinting as the clouds continued to obscure the stars.
  28. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    She smiled. Because words were starting to make sense. Bright, perfectly formed ideas smoldered in her mind.
  29. pulpit
    a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
    After the songs and the prayers, Pastor Patton finally went to the pulpit to preach.
  30. taut
    subjected to great tension; stretched tight
    The same people who, just a few hours before, had been laughing and joking now looked taut and strained.
  31. cleave
    separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    She glanced out of the window in time to see her father cleave a log into three separate pieces, which he then heaved onto a growing woodpile.
  32. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    “What’s it look like?” he answered gruffly, never losing his rhythm.
  33. relentless
    never-ceasing
    He attacked the wood relentlessly.
  34. befuddled
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Stella felt a little befuddled. “Seems like I can never find the big picture, Papa.”
  35. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    As soon as he finished his apple pie, Papa grabbed his newspapers, sat down in his favorite chair, and began reading intently.
  36. skitter
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    Her thoughts skittered between eagles that learned to fly, and men who were scared to jump off that stump, and Moses who said, “Let my people go.”
  37. scrawl
    write carelessly
    She wrote a few sentences. Scribbled them out. Wrote one more. Bit her pencil. Wrote three more—scratched out two. Dust becomes words. Hey, that was not so bad. Scrawled out a whole paragraph.
  38. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    Then, out of the blue, a gaggle of silvery geese erupted from the reeds at the pond’s edge, honking and swirling in circular disorder. Stella went instantly alert. What had them all riled up?
  39. mantel
    a shelf that projects from the wall above a fireplace
    Mama, her hair wrapped in paper-bag curlers, and Papa, grabbing his shotgun from above the mantel, reached Jojo just as Stella did.
  40. grouse
    complain
    “Can’t get a lick of sleep around here,” their father groused as they all trooped back into the house.
Created on Fri Dec 15 09:34:24 EST 2017 (updated Thu Apr 04 09:32:42 EDT 2019)

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