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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus: Chapters 1–6

When her parents take jobs at a western theme park in Arizona, Aven gets caught up in a local mystery — and tries to adjust to a new school.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–26, Chapters 27–39
35 words 1468 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. whimper
    cry weakly or softly
    As she drove us home that day, I sat whimpering in my car seat and asked her what had happened to my arms and why they’d fallen off.
  2. wail
    emit long loud cries
    I wailed in despair, and she told me to stop crying because having arms was totally overrated.
  3. despair
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    I wailed in despair, and she told me to stop crying because having arms was totally overrated.
  4. hilarious
    extremely funny; causing laughter
    I got so tired of telling them the same boring story about being born without arms that I started making stuff up. It was stinking hilarious.
  5. traumatize
    inflict an emotional wound or shock upon
    So I kind of traumatized her and had to have a meeting with my parents and the teacher later about my story.
  6. privy
    informed about something secret or not generally known
    I wasn’t completely sure why an eighty-six-year-old woman who lived in a trailer in Kansas was the only person privy to this top-secret information, but she clearly was.
  7. deliberately
    with intention; in an intentional manner
    My parents discussed it with me one night over a dinner of buttered noodles, my favorite meal. Oh, man—I just realized they deliberately buttered me up with buttered noodles.
  8. scowl
    frown with displeasure
    I scowled. “Arizona is really far away.”
  9. grimace
    contort the face to indicate a certain mental state
    “What’s the summer like?” I asked.
    Mom grimaced. “I’ve heard it’s kind of like the surface of the sun.”
  10. entice
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    “Come on,” said Dad. “You’re such a pro, you could play soccer anywhere.”
    “Stop trying to entice me,” I said.
  11. skitter
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    A lizard skittered across the dirt in front of me, and I jumped back.
  12. trudge
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    As we trudged toward our new living quarters, which were apparently located right over the steakhouse, Dad asked, “So when do we get to meet Joe Cavanaugh?”
  13. humble
    low or inferior in station or quality
    Mom and Dad had described the apartment as a cozy but humble little place.
  14. artifact
    a man-made object
    The museum was actually more like a room—just one room with picture-covered walls and a few “artifacts” in glass cases.
  15. spur
    a prod on a rider's heel used to urge a horse onward
    These artifacts included a collection of stone arrowheads, some broken Navajo pottery pieces, a pistol from the 1800s, a pair of old spurs, and a genuine dead tarantula with an information board that shared facts like, tarantulas have no teeth, so they use their venom to liquefy their prey and suck up the liquid nastiness directly into their stomachs.
  16. liquefy
    make a solid substance into a fluid, as by heating
    These artifacts included a collection of stone arrowheads, some broken Navajo pottery pieces, a pistol from the 1800s, a pair of old spurs, and a genuine dead tarantula with an information board that shared facts like, tarantulas have no teeth, so they use their venom to liquefy their prey and suck up the liquid nastiness directly into their stomachs.
  17. reassure
    cause to feel confident
    I got out of the car, swung my bag around to my side, gave Mom a reassuring smile, and slammed the door shut with my hip.
  18. dexterous
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    I lifted my foot and opened the book with it, using my dexterous toes to turn the pages until I got to page twenty-three.
  19. tendency
    an inclination to do something
    I sometimes wondered if people had a tendency not to give me their names or ask me for mine because of their fear of getting too close...too close to something so different.
  20. secluded
    providing privacy
    I went outside, found a secluded spot under a tree, sat in the grass, and read my science book.
  21. senile
    mentally or physically infirm with age
    He’s like a hundred years old and completely senile, but he always remembers my name for some reason.
  22. chronic
    habitual
    I already had Dad arrested for chronic farting, and I didn’t have to pay for it either because my parents run the place (VIP here).
  23. tumor
    an abnormal new mass of tissue that serves no purpose
    Across from the soda shop is a petting zoo with three goats, two sheep, four rabbits, two chickens, and Spaghetti, an extremely old mutant llama with a giant tumor growing out of his head.
  24. psychic
    a person sensitive to things beyond natural perception
    You can have your palm read by Madame Myrtle, the park’s psychic.
  25. callus
    a skin area that is thick or hard from continual pressure
    She had a hard time figuring out my future, though. I asked her to read the bottom of my foot, but all she told me was that I had a lot of callouses and she liked my blue sparkly nail polish.
  26. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    The rest of Main Street is littered with empty "buildings and storefronts that used to house things like a photography studio for taking old-fashioned portraits and a mechanical bull ride you could pay five dollars to try. The mechanical bull still sits in the room, broken down and looking forlorn.
  27. interrogation
    an instance of questioning
    I dreaded going home and being subjected to more of the interrogation about my day Mom had started in the car.
  28. vaguely
    in an unclear way
    Through the film of dirt, I could vaguely make out stacks of boxes and what looked like old props.
  29. rummage
    search haphazardly
    “Why is your whole lunch in here?” Mom asked as she rummaged through my school bag.
  30. dementia
    mental deterioration of organic or functional origin
    I laughed. “I don’t know. Why would he tell me that?”
    “He has dementia, sweetheart. He doesn’t think clearly anymore. Who knows what might have been going on in his mind when he said that?”
  31. sneer
    a facial expression of contempt or scorn
    Mom let out a big sigh. “Now I’ve got to get over to that stupid gold mine and talk to Bob.” She said his name with a sneer.
  32. exasperation
    a feeling of annoyance
    “You know he actually smacked a gold pan out of a four-year-old’s hand today because he kept picking the quartz out instead of the gold. Dad had to give the whole family free ice cream and T-shirts.” She threw her hands up in exasperation.
  33. foretell
    make a prediction about
    Her eyes grew huge with alarm like I was Madame Myrtle and had just foretold the actual future.
  34. sufficient
    of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
    I giggled as she stormed out of my room, having sufficiently worked herself up to lay into Bob, mumbling something about how he better get his butt in line or she’d be putting her foot in it.
  35. nimble
    moving quickly and lightly
    I sighed as I wrote out a math problem, nimbly holding the pencil between my toes.
Created on Wed Oct 30 20:44:54 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Nov 07 15:42:41 EST 2019)

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