Cold Cereal: Prologue–Chapter 6

by Adam Rex
In this first book of the Cold Cereal Saga, eleven-year-old gifted students Scott Doe and Emily and Erno Utz discover that the Goode and Harmliss Toasted Cereal Company is not as sweet as its products.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 6, Chapters 7–13, Chapters 14–22, Chapters 23–29, Chapters 30–40
40 words 53 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. applique
    a decorative design made of one material sewn over another
    Next at the cage door was another woman, wearing a sweatshirt decorated with an appliqué hot dog.
  2. pall
    a sudden feeling of dread or gloominess
    A pall fell over the kitchen, an unscheduled Moment of Silence.
  3. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    What had appeared fleetingly to be an animal with a single spiraling horn in the center of its forehead was merely a smoky gray housecat, thin and twitchy and watching Scott with blue-green eyes.
  4. indifference
    the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things
    Scott whistled to get its attention, but the cat turned its back to him and licked its paw with such ferocious indifference that he soon gave up and pushed his bike into the park.
  5. tendril
    something long, light, slender, and often curling
    Scott prayed they would work against the nauseating tendrils that were just now beginning to twist themselves through the back of his neck.
  6. pallid
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    He recalled a photograph of kids with eggs—eggs in old footballs, eggs with parachutes and little plastic hang gliders—and among these a pallid little girl holding a geodesic globe of balsa sticks like it was a live pigeon.
  7. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    “Our birthday isn’t until the end of the month,” she
 said as the ribbon fell away and the pages unfurled in her hands.
  8. sconce
    a decorative wall bracket for holding candles or lights
    In point of fact, the lightbulb in the wall sconce above her actually flickered on just then.
  9. filigree
    delicate and intricate ornamentation
    Orthodontia had sort of been invented in Goodborough, and the intricate curves and veiny filigree of Emily's hardware suggested that the practice had flowered here into a kind of art form.
  10. preternatural
    existing outside of or not in accordance with nature
    The kids and their teachers crowded into a tiled lobby and were met by a young blond woman with preternaturally white teeth.
  11. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    Erno and Emily shared a wry smile.
  12. tributary
    a branch that flows into the main stream
    Once just a small factory nestled between the Delaware River and Camden Tributary, today Goodco cereals are manufactured in fifteen countries and sold worldwide.
  13. ream
    a large quantity of written matter
    Sixty-five dutiful hands went up, though the question was at best a formality: Goodco had reams of market research to tell them that Clover was more recognizable to the average American than Gandhi, Elvis, and all the current Supreme Court justices put together.
  14. tricorn
    cocked hat with the brim turned up to form three points
    He was dressed in a jacket and waistcoat with comically large buttons, a tricorn hat, short pants, and big-buckled black shoes.
  15. gauge
    a quantity or quality against which others are judged
    Erno didn't have a good gauge of Stephanie's enthusiasm yet, so when he turned, he half expected to see the Snox Rabbit or an actual coconut vampire and not a pair of middle-aged men in short sleeves and ties holding briefcases.
  16. divulge
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    He pried free the tape, and the paper uncoiled like a party favor, and the secret message, which was most plainly not a phone number, divulged its hidden mysteries:
    THIS IS NOT A CLUE.
  17. unassuming
    not arrogant
    Erno couldn't help liking this new kid: he had a kind face that was unassumingly handsome, if that was possible.
  18. mortar
    a substance used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
    The wise men advised King Vortigern to find a boy with no earthly father and kill him, and mix his blood with the mortar of the tower.
  19. wroth
    intensely angry or incensed
    And when he learned he was to be killed, he was exceedingly wroth.
  20. dolorous
    showing sorrow
    ““‘If you wist not why the tower falls,””' read Brandon, ““‘how can you claim to know the solution?” he asked them, and the wise men were dolorously beshamed.
  21. engrossed
    giving or marked by complete attention to
    Brandon tried to pass the book to Erno, but Erno didn't notice, so engrossed was he in the little poem.
  22. sleight
    adroitness in using the hands
    It had given Erno the idea a while back to make up a dummy note he could keep ready to exchange, with a little sleight of hand, for any real note that got discovered.
  23. garish
    tastelessly showy
    For an instant it was like watching a nature film of a tiny white mouse pouncing on some garish South American toad.
  24. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    He supposed Emily was home already—Carla Owens had concocted some story about the day's events that made herself look blameless and Emily look like a rabid animal, so she'd been suspended for fighting.
  25. discomfit
    cause to lose one's composure
    They fell into an uneasy silence, discomfited by the mystery of what, if anything, Carla Owens tasted like.
  26. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    And wouldn't it be a shame to stop now? Just when
 the Scottie Dog was poised to invade Poland.
  27. taper
    give a point to
    They were outmatched only by his feet. Which admittedly Erno had never seen, sure, but they had to be gigantic because why else would he wear such shoes? So long and tapered and to all appearances seaworthy. Like kayaks.
  28. stifle
    smother or suppress
    He was sniffing the air, the great nostrils of his broad pug nose yawning wide. Erno had to stifle a yawn just looking at them.
  29. moribund
    not growing or changing; without force or vitality
    “Emily,” he continued, “would you please spear your father another piece of moribund domestic avian muscle?” And so Emily served him some chicken.
  30. turret
    a small tower extending above a building
    They were standing in front of a high-peaked row house: all eaves and gables and a tall turret topped with a conical cap.
  31. plaque
    a tablet that commemorates a person or achievement
    A plaque on the porch read CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT.
  32. ample
    fairly large
    He was an ample, bowling pin-shaped man with a gray beard trimmed close.
  33. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    The robe was pilly in places and no more than a meager crosshatch of thin gauze in others.
  34. candid
    informal or natural
    A candid shot of Erno and Emily with their second foster mother, taken by her husband in Cereal Town at Christmas.
  35. misdemeanor
    a crime less serious than a felony
    The old woman was yanking Emily's arm over some misdemeanor in front of Marshmallow Manor while Erno scanned the park for a place to hide.
  36. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    Biggs seemed to be good at everything he did, be it knitting them sweaters or fixing a carburetor, and he was a competent nanny, though he approached every task with the same dull demeanor and apparent lack of interest.
  37. rigorous
    demanding strict attention to rules and procedures
    But Erno agreed that theirs was maybe not the most rigorous school. So much busywork, so many movies and field trips.
  38. imploringly
    in a pleading manner
    Emily looked at him imploringly. He could tell she wanted permission to say something.
  39. plucky
    showing courage
    But then he recalled Egg Drop Day, and Emily's Ovothopter rising pluckily into the western sky as two hundred other eggs rained down like a biblical plague.
  40. portcullis
    an iron or wooden grating hanging in the entry to a castle
    {The castle portcullis rises}
Created on Wed Dec 14 11:44:29 EST 2022 (updated Fri Oct 06 13:20:56 EDT 2023)

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