Violets Are Blue: "Emily"–"Mermaid"

by Barbara Dee
Following her parents' divorce, twelve-year-old Wren uses her interest in special effects makeup to make friends at a new school while overcoming struggles with her mother at home.

This list covers "Emily"–"Mermaid."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
25 words 16 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. kibble
    pellets of coarsely ground grain used as animal feed
    That was when I realized I’d forgotten Lulu, so I got her leash and took her outside for a quick, careful walk up and down our icy block. Then I fed her some kibble and made myself a cheddar cheese sandwich (still no nurse snacks on the shelf).
  2. flush
    of a surface exactly even with an adjoining one
    But it wasn’t where I always kept it—flush against my headboard, by the wall.
  3. confront
    oppose, as in hostility or a competition
    Don’t accuse anyone. Don’t confront anyone.
  4. scornful
    expressing extreme contempt
    “No one’s getting fired,” Krystal said scornfully.
  5. hallucinate
    have illusions; perceive what is not actually there
    But on the third morning she was completely fine. Fine for the next three weeks, in fact. So fine I wondered if I’d hallucinated the whole Emily business, and also the business about me calling her at the hospital.
  6. subtle
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    I could detect the teeniest makeup details—microscopic trails of powder on someone’s jawline, the extremely subtle difference between Thin Ice Blue and Stone Cold Blue eye shadow.
  7. frantic
    excessively agitated; distraught with violent emotion
    Had she even walked Lulu before she left? Judging by how frantic Lulu was to get outside, it was possible she hadn’t.
  8. presumably
    by reasonable assumption
    Cat FX was coming to Comic Con. The Comic Con that Kai had invited me to! And then uninvited me, presumably. Although he’d never said I was uninvited.
  9. matinee
    a theatrical performance held during the daytime
    “We’re doing the show twice, Friday night and Saturday matinee. Do you want a ticket?”
  10. debut
    the act of beginning something new
    “You need to ask? Of course I want a ticket! You think your mom would miss your big makeup debut?”
  11. prompt
    assist by suggesting the next words of something
    “Omigod, what if I totally blank out and forget all my lines?” Avery was squealing.
    “I’m sure that won’t happen,” Ms. Belfonte told her. “But just in case, I’ll be right in the front to prompt you.”
  12. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    “Oh, definitely. What’s that line Elphaba says about commotions?”
    ‘“I don’t cause commotions; I am one.”'
    “Exactly,” I said. “You look like a commotion.”
  13. ovation
    enthusiastic recognition
    The show went great. At least, that was how it seemed, based on the standing ovation from the audience, and the way everyone in the cast hugged each other when it was over, laughing and crying and smearing all their makeup.
  14. sprawl
    sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
    I ran past Lulu’s slobbery, frantic greeting, straight into the living room, where Mom was sprawled on the sofa, dressed in her scrubs.
  15. playbill
    a printed program for a theatrical performance
    And maybe because Poppy’s words made me feel a little better, I picked up a playbill somebody had tossed in the aisle, wrote RESERVED FOR KELLY LEWIS, and stuck it on a seat in the second row.
  16. improvise
    perform without preparation
    But after a while, if you're serious about this stuff, you need to improvise. Because—trust me here, guys—doing special-effects makeup is not just about imitating me, or any other artist. You need to figure out your own characters and develop your own techniques.
  17. mourn
    feel sadness
    “Okay, talk fast,” he said as Pippa dimmed the lights and the opening notes of “No One Mourns the Wicked” filled the auditorium.
  18. amethyst
    of a moderate purple color
    And did I have the right shade of purple? Maybe not, but Je T’aime Amethyst was close enough.
  19. blare
    make a loud noise
    "I'm great!" I shouted above the Star Wars music that was blaring in front of a booth called TROOPER PRODUCTS: FASHION ACCESSORIES AND COLLECTIBLES.
  20. translucent
    allowing light to pass through diffusely
    You say to use Seafoam Blue by CozMeticks, but it’s semitranslucent, not iridescent.
  21. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    His brow furrowed.
  22. facility
    a building or place that provides a particular service
    “Your mom will be in detox at the hospital for four or five days. After that she’ll go to a twenty-one-day program at an inpatient facility.”
  23. rehabilitation
    use of therapies to restore or improve physical function
    A few days later, Mom left Donwood General Hospital detox and entered an inpatient treatment place—the Glendale Center for Rehabilitation—about forty miles away.
  24. rendezvous
    meet at an appointed place
    “So, dahling, we rendezvous at last,” she said in her Hollywood diva voice.
  25. divine
    of such excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods
    “Yes, dahling. Nice chairs,” I said. “The pleather feels absolutely divine against my legs.”
Created on Mon Mar 07 09:08:31 EST 2022 (updated Mon Mar 14 09:31:40 EDT 2022)

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