Gone Crazy in Alabama: List 1

by Rita Williams-Garcia
When sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern visit relatives in Alabama, they find themselves in the middle of an unexpected family feud. Learn these words from the last book in the Gaither Sisters trilogy.

This list covers It Takes a Licking–JimmyTrotter, No Space in Between.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5

Here are links to our lists for other books by Rita Williams-Garcia: One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
35 words 77 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. sashay
    walk with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others
    Then they sashayed past us, the one wearing Vonetta’s watch snaking her wrist around and around like a baton twirler, except there was no baton.
  2. baton
    a metal rod wielded or twirled by a drum major or majorette
    Then they sashayed past us, the one wearing Vonetta’s watch snaking her wrist around and around like a baton twirler, except there was no baton.
  3. impression
    an imitative portrayal of a person
    Fern planted both hands on her nothing hips and tapped her toe, doing her best Vonetta impression.
  4. ally
    an associate who provides cooperation or assistance
    Then Vonetta, her ally, cleared her throat, fluttered her eyelashes, and finished in a voice as close to our stepmother’s as she could mimic, “Delphine. Your sister is capable of wearing a watch.”
  5. flutter
    beat rapidly
    Then Vonetta, her ally, cleared her throat, fluttered her eyelashes, and finished in a voice as close to our stepmother’s as she could mimic, “Delphine. Your sister is capable of wearing a watch.”
  6. variation
    a repetition of a musical theme in which it is modified
    We’ve been laying our voices down, catting and scatting, and following variations of the same notes for so long we didn’t always know we were doing it.
  7. sassy
    improperly forward or bold
    Mrs. smiled, but I could see how tired she was and that her eyes were losing their sassy spark.
  8. bicker
    argue over petty things
    Pa shook his head. “That’s what I mean. None of that bickering and hitting. One minute you’re play-fighting. The next minute you’re cats in the alley. You can’t have any of that on the bus.”
  9. fare
    the sum charged for riding in a public conveyance
    If Pa wanted to save money, I wouldn’t be traveling down south as a thirteen-year-old adult. I’d pay the children’s fare like my sisters, and Pa would have told one of the bus-riding mothers to keep an eye on his little girls.
  10. strut
    walk in a proud, confident way
    “None of that while you’re down there. Delphine, this is no joke. None of that black power stuff in Alabama. Black Panthers strut about in Brooklyn and in Oakland, but they’re not so loud and proud in Alabama and Mississippi. Once you cross the line from North to South all of that black power stuff is over.”
  11. chant
    utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
    My sisters and I started chanting, “Ungawa, Ungawa. Soul is black power.”
  12. ancestor
    someone from whom you are descended
    With everyone in the neighborhood taking on African names and trying to go back to Africa, I was anxious to learn more about the place of our ancestors.
  13. envy
    feel desirous of another's advantages
    I glanced over at Fern and envied the way she raised her eyebrows, a sure sign that she was loving her story and couldn’t wait to turn the page.
  14. genuinely
    in accordance with truth or fact or reality
    She perked up like she missed us and was genuinely glad to hear my voice.
  15. puny
    of inferior size
    It was a miracle Vonetta made it from New Jersey to Atlanta without picking on Fern, and a bigger miracle that Fern’s watch still hung from her puny wrist.
  16. widower
    a man whose wife is dead, especially if not remarried
    Mr. Lucas, a widower with no kids, was practically Big Ma’s brother.
  17. baritone
    the second lowest adult male singing voice
    Mr. Lucas could dip his voice low to sing baritone and make us laugh.
  18. lurch
    move abruptly
    The truck came to an abrupt halt and lurched forward all at once.
  19. gasp
    breathe in a heavy or labored way
    Fern gasped aloud. Her natural instinct was to follow Vonetta, but this time she wouldn’t.
  20. heave
    lift or elevate
    But she couldn’t climb and Uncle heaved her up into the truck bed next to Fern.
  21. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    Old Yeller was a good family dog who got bit by a rabid wolf while protecting the family.
  22. holler
    a very loud utterance
    Did his sniffling cold go away? And the hollering out in the night. Was that gone too?
  23. sparse
    not dense or plentiful
    Caleb’s welcome grew louder as we drove along the sparsely tree-lined road that would bring us to Ma Charles’s property.
  24. scuffle
    an unceremonious and disorganized struggle
    Their fussing and squawking went on for as long as it took one hen to spot something tasty on the ground and the others to join in the scuffle to get a piece of it.
  25. sturdy
    having rugged physical strength
    Caleb, sturdier than when I saw him last, didn’t stop singing his dog song, which was neither a true howl nor a bark.
  26. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    Then Big Ma stepped out on the front porch and scolded him for raising a ruckus.
  27. wiry
    lean but strong
    Big Ma’s mother was wiry and upright but tender-skinned and small-boned.
  28. tender
    physically untoughened
    Big Ma’s mother was wiry and upright but tender-skinned and small-boned.
  29. rig
    a truck consisting of a tractor and trailer together
    She said to Uncle Darnell, “Go drive that rig back over to him before he comes down here.”
  30. snout
    a long projecting or anterior elongation of an animal's head
    Caleb raised his throat and snout and did just that while Vonetta and Fern petted him.
  31. dread
    be afraid or scared of
    They both looked around for a dreaded but familiar sight.
  32. shack
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling
    “Ma Charles, where’s the moon house?” That’s what we called the small blue wooden shack with half-moons painted on its front door and sides.
  33. liberate
    grant freedom to
    Grandpa Louis died four years after he’d come home from liberating Italy along with the all-black army, according to Big Ma.
  34. ajar
    slightly open
    I went to unlatch the lock to the henhouse but it was already undone, the door cracked ajar.
  35. stoop
    bend one's back forward from the waist on down
    I peered through the opening without entering, although I knew that wiry scarecrow form, stooped over the row of hens squatting in small dresser drawer-like boxes.
Created on Tue Feb 12 20:04:59 EST 2019 (updated Thu Feb 28 15:26:16 EST 2019)

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