The Best School Year Ever: Chapters 1–3

by Barbara Robinson
Beth Bradley, her sixth-grade classmates, and all of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School have to survive another school year with the Herdmans—Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys—who are "the worst kids in the history of the world." But maybe there is something good about them.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–17, Chapters 8–9
15 words 103 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. notorious
    known widely and usually unfavorably
    When we studied the Old West, everybody had to do a special report on A Cowboy’s Life or Famous Indian Chiefs or Notorious Outlaw Families like the James brothers.
  2. industrious
    characterized by hard work and perseverance
    They weren’t honest or cheerful or industrious or cooperative or clean.
  3. cooperative
    willing to adjust to differences to obtain agreement
    They weren’t honest or cheerful or industrious or cooperative or clean.
  4. splotch
    an irregularly shaped spot or patch
    Mrs. Wendleken always poured iodine all over the bites, so Alice had to go around for days with big brown splotches on her arms and legs.
  5. gerbil
    a small burrowing rodent often kept as a pet
    Besides everything else they did, the Herdmans would steal anything they could carry, and it was surprising what all they could carry—not just candy and gum and gerbils and goldfish.
  6. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    I couldn’t imagine who would take Howard. Even my mother said Howard was the homeliest baby she’d ever laid eyes on, but she did say that he would probably be just fine once he grew some hair.
  7. gritty
    composed of or covered with small particles
    We tried all kinds of things on Howard, but the only thing that worked at all was scouring powder, and that didn’t work too well. It made his head gritty and it didn’t take off all the purple.
  8. hysterical
    marked by excessive or uncontrollable emotion
    Miss Farley was hysterical! She said she could feel them jerking and jumping all up and down her windpipe.
  9. postmaster
    the person in charge of an office for mail delivery
    Somebody got hold of all their school pictures and put them up right next to the “WANTED” posters, and it seemed so natural for them to be there that nobody noticed till Ollie Herdman went up and asked the postmaster, Mr. Blair, how much money he could get for his brother Claude.
  10. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    There was a big crowd of people and a lot of commotion halfway down the block, and sure enough, Ollie had shut Claude up in the men’s room of the Sunoco station.
  11. skitter
    move or skip quickly across a surface
    When he opened the lid, the cat shot out with its tail and its ears and all its hair standing straight up. It skittered around all over the tops of the machines and clawed through everybody’s laundry baskets, and knocked over boxes of soap and bottles of bleach and a big basket of flowers that said "Good Luck to the Laundromat."
  12. anonymous
    having no known name or identity or known source
    Most of the people didn’t even know what had happened because it happened so fast, so the newspaper story was pretty mysterious. “LAUNDROMAT OPENING MARRED BY UNUSUAL DISTURBANCE,” it said. “FIREMEN RESPOND TO ANONYMOUS ALARM. CUSTOMERS DESCRIBE WILD ANIMAL.”
  13. sympathy
    an inclination to support or agree with an opinion
    Mother told her about the snakebite in case Leroy should get some kind of shot for it. But Miss Philips just said she didn’t know of any shot that would benefit Leroy, and anyway, all her sympathies were with the snake.
  14. fed up
    thoroughly disgusted with or annoyed at something
    Mr. Crabtree was fed up with the snake and Leroy Herdman and Mrs. Wendleken, too.
  15. civilize
    teach or refine to be sophisticated in taste or judgment
    Then Miss Philips went to school and told Mr. Crabtree that she had a plan to civilize the Herdmans or, at least, one of them.
Created on Mon Sep 29 11:47:38 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Dec 09 17:07:01 EST 2025)

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