Sunny: Chapters 1–4

by Jason Reynolds
Although he would prefer to dance, Sunny runs track in order to please his emotionally distant father. Just when Sunny wants to quit, his coach introduces him to an intriguing new event, the discus.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9

Here are links to our lists for the Track series: Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu

Here are links to our lists for other books by Jason Reynolds: When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, Long Way Down
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
    Dear Diary is better, not just because of the double D alliteration action, but also because Diary reminds me of the name Darryl, so at least I feel like I'm talking to an actual someone.
  2. guzzle
    drink greedily or as if with great thirst
    And everything about milk is weird. Even the word "milk," which I think probably sounds like what milk sounds like when you guzzle it. Milkmilkmilkmilkmilk.
  3. concentration
    complete attention; intense mental effort
    Told me to fold it up in you, so he could get some peace. So he could have quiet for concentration when we picked at our puzzles after work.
  4. choreograph
    compose a sequence of dance steps, often to music
    You don't have to create it or choreograph it or nothing like that.
  5. relay
    a race between teams
    It's been three weeks, and something like 1,814,400 ticks since I was watching Patina
    watching Patina,
    watching Patina,
    tee-nuh, tee-nuh,
    tick-tick boom and come from behind and crush the last leg of her first 4x800 relay.
  6. strut
    a proud and confident way of walking
    Ghost and Lu went wild. Threw their arms around me while Patty did some kind of power strut over to us, a winner.
  7. hypnotic
    attracting and holding interest as if by a spell
    Those words are like confetti for the tongue. Like speaking a foreign language. Hypnotic symbolism, amniotic embolism.
  8. symbolism
    the practice of investing things with arbitrary meaning
    Those words are like confetti for the tongue. Like speaking a foreign language. Hypnotic symbolism, amniotic embolism.
  9. scroll
    move through text or graphics on a screen
    Chick chick chick becomes chih chih chih becomes ch ch ch underneath everybody's chatter about what they're gonna do as soon as these last few long laps are over, scrolling on their phones, check check checking, refreshing, then scrolling some more.
  10. seep
    pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings
    It was a quiet ride with nothing but the whin whin of the air conditioner, a ssssss that sounded more like air leaking out of something than seeping into it.
  11. forfeit
    lose the right to or lose by some error, offense, or crime
    That's what I did, forfeited my race, and I knew for a fact he wanted to know why.
  12. dissect
    cut open or cut apart
    Then science class. Which today was dissecting a health bar.
  13. prism
    optical device used to deviate a beam or invert an image
    Like...recite you some poetry that sounds like,
    Thee thither thather rather in rhythm,
    Dost thou knowest such promise of prism,
    O hallowed light!
  14. hallowed
    worthy of religious veneration
    Like...recite you some poetry that sounds like,
    Thee thither thather rather in rhythm,
    Dost thou knowest such promise of prism,
    O hallowed light!
  15. constitution
    law determining the fundamental principles of a government
    We wandered the big halls, staring up at the walls, reading about war and art, gazing at soldiers who wore white ponytail wigs, and queens and kings wrapped in bandages and buried in gold, and castles and constitutions and letters like these, and on and on.
  16. swivel
    turn on a pivot
    Until we finally sat down and just looked at other people looking at the things we just looked at. Watched their heads swivel as they read, and their fingers point, sometimes too close to the art.
  17. amateur
    lacking professional skill or expertise
    Fish was the boyfriend. The one she was messed up with when they were younger. The amateur tattoo artist who gave her the first star in her galaxy.
  18. disrespect
    show a lack of regard for
    Diary, she was talking to me about how I did what I said I was going to do, and when I was going to do it, so that I didn't feel like I was disrespecting my mom by quitting on the day she died or on the day she gave birth to me, and I could hear everything Aurelia was saying—it wasn't going all womp womp or nothing like that—but at the same time I was staring out at the track.
  19. hustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    But I wanted to when Coach called my name and waved me over, and then yelled it louder and told me to hustle up, and that's when I wanted to puke myself out of myself, like blooepp and just lay there on the ground, a slimy brown ooze.
  20. ooze
    any thick, viscous matter
    But I wanted to when Coach called my name and waved me over, and then yelled it louder and told me to hustle up, and that's when I wanted to puke myself out of myself, like blooepp and just lay there on the ground, a slimy brown ooze.
  21. troupe
    an organization of performers and associated personnel
    And then he told me that unfortunately he doesn't know any dance squads, dance groups, dance teams, dance troupes, or dance clubs.
  22. discus
    an athletic competition in which a circular object is thrown
    And Coach spun around and said, Whoosh. Then he spun again, looking like an amateur dancer, but like a proper discus thrower, and said, Whoosh.
    And...I understood. It was dancing. Discus was dancing. Discus was...disco.
  23. invest
    lay out money or resources in an enterprise
    He invested in Mr. Nico's company, which is a puzzle company.
  24. apparently
    seemingly; as far as one can tell
    I have no idea what life insurance is, but apparently old people need it, because that's who's always on those commercials.
  25. plush
    characterized by extravagance and softness
    Do you remember the carpet that looks like yarn and like yawn? Or the big plush zebra in the corner? Do you remember the baby crib?
Created on Wed May 02 12:02:01 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Oct 31 11:01:11 EDT 2018)

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