When You Reach Me: Things You Keep in a Box–Things That Stain

by Rebecca Stead
After a fight with her best friend, Miranda starts receiving mysterious letters from a person who can predict the future — and who warns Miranda that someone is going to die.

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

Here are links to our lists for other works by Rebecca Stead: Liar & Spy, Goodbye Stranger
14 words 2887 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. obstruct
    shut out from view
    Unlike me, Mom has glossy red hair that bounces around and might obstruct America’s view of her small freckled face.
  2. scrawl
    write carelessly
    And then there’s the date she’s supposed to show up, scrawled in blue pen on a line at the bottom of the card: April 27,1979.
  3. omen
    a sign of a thing about to happen
    Mom wonders if that’s a good omen.
  4. fundamental
    serving as an essential component
    After-school junk food is another fundamental right of the latchkey child.
  5. nasal
    sounding as if the nose were pinched
    While she listened, Belle made me a turkey sandwich and gave me about ten chewable vitamin Cs because she thought I sounded nasal.
  6. repulsive
    offensive to the mind or senses
    When she finally got there, Mom hugged Belle and told her, “I owe you,” like I was some repulsive burden instead of the person who had very helpfully unpacked three boxes of green bananas and scoured the refrigerated section for expired dairy items.
  7. scour
    examine minutely
    When she finally got there, Mom hugged Belle and told her, “I owe you,” like I was some repulsive burden instead of the person who had very helpfully unpacked three boxes of green bananas and scoured the refrigerated section for expired dairy items.
  8. prosecutor
    an official conducting criminal cases on behalf of the state
    Robbie B.’s dad is a prosecutor.
  9. paralegal
    a person with specialized training who assists lawyers
    Now she’s a paralegal, except she works at a really small law office where she has to be the receptionist and the secretary too.
  10. nozzle
    a projecting spout from which a fluid is discharged
    So after dinner we hid our spare key inside the nozzle of the dusty, folded-up fire hose in the stairwell.
  11. swivel
    turn on a pivot
    Then the little screens swivel around, and it’s the celebrities’ turn to give the clues and the contestants’ turn to guess.
  12. shorthand
    a method of writing rapidly
    Once a month, the neighbors sit in our living room and complain while Mom takes notes in shorthand.
  13. hitch
    a knot that can be undone by pulling against it
    Now I can make every knot he knows, even the clove hitch, which I did backward for a few months before I got it right.
  14. salute
    a formal military gesture of respect
    He was on our corner, marching around in a circle and doing some salutes.
Created on Thu Sep 19 12:44:19 EDT 2013 (updated Wed Jun 25 12:52:23 EDT 2025)

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