Louisiana’s Way Home: Chapters 17–28

by Kate DiCamillo
In this sequel to Raymie Nightingale, 12-year-old Louisiana Elefante struggles to figure out where she belongs after her grandmother mysteriously makes her leave their Florida home in the middle of the night.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–28

Here are links to our lists for other books by Kate DiCamillo: Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Flora & Ulysses, Raymie Nightingale
35 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lame
    disabled in the feet or legs
    In the story of Pinocchio, Pinocchio is lost and walking through the woods and a blind cat and a lame fox come along and tell him a lot of lies.
  2. sheer
    complete and without restriction
    The cake smell got stronger and sweeter, and then I saw the pink house. And I was so happy that I must have passed out again.
    Just from sheer joy.
  3. callus
    cause a thick or hard area of skin to form on
    He took hold of my hand, and his hand was so rough and callused and oversized that it was like holding on to a horse hoof.
  4. inadvertently
    without knowledge or intention
    Reverend Obertask, the walrus-magician, was going to inadvertently set fire to the Sweet Shepherd Church!
  5. stealthily
    in a manner marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    I went very quickly and very stealthily into the office.
  6. avert
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    I immediately bent down and picked up the pipe, thereby averting a gigantic and tragic church fire.
  7. blissful
    completely happy and contented
    In the meantime, Reverend Obertask slept blissfully on.
  8. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    “I am unsure exactly what you are referring to,” I said. “And I do not care for your implications.”
  9. vale
    a valley
    “Just a midmorning nap, Miss Lulu,” said Reverend Obertask. He took his feet off the desk and put them on the floor. “I don’t know that it can really be explained beyond that—just a middle-aged man trying his best to make his way through this vale of tears.”
  10. inquiry
    an instance of questioning
    “I came in here to ask for assistance and advice, and also to make some inquiries about your healing and magic words, but you dropped your pipe, and I picked it up so that there would not be some tragic fire. I did not want the Tiny Shepherd Church to go up in flames.”
  11. untoward
    not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper
    Miss Lulu said, “Be that as it may. The child and her grandmother are staying at the Good Night, Sleep Tight. They are just passing through—if you understand my meaning. The child sings. And she is engaged to sing at the Elkhorn funeral tomorrow. But I’m worried that something, uh, untoward is occurring. Or will occur.”
  12. insight
    clear or deep perception of a situation
    “I will take it from here, Miss Lulu,” said Reverend Obertask. “Thank you for your generous insights and kind intervention. Good-bye.”
  13. huffy
    roused to anger
    And then she pulled the door closed in a huffy and important way, and I was alone with Reverend Obertask, the walrus who could maybe perform magic.
  14. extraction
    properties attributable to your ancestry
    “Are you of Spanish extraction?” said Reverend Obertask.
  15. mote
    a tiny piece of anything
    I could see dust motes dancing around joyfully in the air.
  16. presume
    take to be the case or to be true
    Reverend Obertask cleared his throat. He said, “So you were adopted, I presume?”
  17. balm
    preparation applied externally as a remedy or for soothing
    “I am,” said Reverend Obertask. “However, my day-to-day interactions tend to deal more with garden-variety issues—the loss of hope, the combating of despair, the balm of forgiveness, the need to understand, the short tempers and distrustful natures of church organists. That sort of thing. It’s not often that curses come up.”
  18. dispense
    administer or bestow, as in small portions
    I said, “I thought you would be able to help me. I thought you would have some kind of magic. On your door, it says that you dispense healing words.”
  19. ineffectual
    lacking in power or forcefulness
    Poor ineffectual Reverend Obertask.
  20. abscond
    run away, often taking something or somebody along
    “No,” said Bernice. “Your grandmother has absconded, and I do not want to hear whatever hard-luck story you might have about that. I don’t want to hear any of it. You will get your suitcase when the bill is paid, and the bill will only be paid when you have sung at the funeral.”
  21. rectify
    make right or correct
    “Well, we will have to rectify that, I am sure,” said Betty Allen.
  22. verge
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    It was dark outside, and there were lights on inside and the bowl was catching all the light, and everybody was around the table and the bowl was full of ice cream and chocolate sauce and peanuts, and I felt like I was right on the verge of understanding something.
  23. ail
    cause physical suffering to and make sick or indisposed
    “What ails her?” said the grandfather.
  24. atlas
    a collection of maps in book form
    He said he would find the atlas and tear out the map of Florida and locate Lister and figure out exactly how to get there.
  25. truant
    one who is absent from school without permission
    “She’s capable of anything,” said Bernice. “Her grandmother has disappeared, you know. Vanished. Left the child here on her own. As far as I can tell, she is staying with the Allens, and as you are well aware, that Burke Allen is nothing but a truant and vandal, and he will certainly do nothing to further this child’s moral education.”
  26. vandal
    someone who willfully destroys or defaces property
    “She’s capable of anything,” said Bernice. “Her grandmother has disappeared, you know. Vanished. Left the child here on her own. As far as I can tell, she is staying with the Allens, and as you are well aware, that Burke Allen is nothing but a truant and vandal, and he will certainly do nothing to further this child’s moral education.”
  27. moral
    concerned with principles of right and wrong
    “She’s capable of anything,” said Bernice. “Her grandmother has disappeared, you know. Vanished. Left the child here on her own. As far as I can tell, she is staying with the Allens, and as you are well aware, that Burke Allen is nothing but a truant and vandal, and he will certainly do nothing to further this child’s moral education.”
  28. winsome
    charming in a childlike or naive way
    And then Reverend Obertask appeared and said to me, “Louisiana Elefante, it is a delight to gaze upon your winsome face once again.”
  29. spangle
    adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material
    Way at the back of the church, somebody went floating by in a flying-trapeze kind of outfit, which is also not the kind of thing you should wear to a funeral. But maybe the spangly outfit was just something I imagined because it was there—a flash of light—and then it was gone.
  30. project
    communicate vividly
    When I looked away from the glittery light and back at “Granny,” she was still smiling at me. She was sitting up very tall, reminding me to stand up straight, to project my heart into the world.
  31. agitated
    troubled emotionally and usually deeply
    “Mourners faint at funerals,” he said. “It’s a common occurrence. But you are the first musician I’ve ever known to faint midsong. Miss Lulu is supremely agitated, of course. She likes for things to go a certain way, a predictable way.”
  32. mirage
    something illusory and unattainable
    “Provisions have been made.” That is what the Granny mirage had said to me. Or that was what I had heard.
  33. mishap
    an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
    “There was a little mishap at the funeral,” said Reverend Obertask.
  34. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    Miss Lulu continued to play music—pounding away at what sounded to me like a cake raffle dirge—until all the tickets were sold and then Betty Allen said, “We have seventeen cakes, ladies and gentlemen. And I will call seventeen winning numbers.”
  35. yowl
    cry loudly, as of animals
    She said he showed up at the back door and yowled until they let him in, and he has stayed there.
Created on Tue Feb 26 20:55:22 EST 2019 (updated Tue Mar 05 14:06:44 EST 2019)

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