WORD LISTS

"Wishtree" by Katherine Applegate, Chapters 1–9

Sat Jun 23 17:31:17 EDT 2018
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
The narrator of this novel is Red, an oak tree on which people hang their wishes every year. When Samar, a new girl in the neighborhood, faces bullying and intolerance, Red attempts to rally the local animals and intervene.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–18, Chapters 19–30, Chapters 31–42, Chapters 43–51

Here are links to our lists for other works by Katherine Applegate: Home of the Brave, Crenshaw, The One and Only Ivan
flimsy
That’s not to say we can’t do amazing things, things you’ll probably never do. Cradle downy owlets. Steady flimsy tree forts.
bashful
Trees do talk to some folks, the ones we know we can trust. We talk to daredevil squirrels. We talk to hardworking worms. We talk to flashy butterflies and bashful moths.
particularly
Nonetheless, if you find yourself standing near a particularly friendly-looking tree on a particularly lucky-feeling day, it can’t hurt to listen up.
introvert
Most trees are introverts at heart.
ridge
I have ridged, reddish-gray bark; leathery leaves with pointed lobes; stubborn, searching roots; and, if I do say so myself, the best fall color on the street.
aspiration
But for a long time people in the neighborhood have called me the “wishtree.”
There’s a reason for this, and it goes way back to when I wasn’t much more than a tiny seed with higher aspirations.
adorn
Every year on the first day of May, people come from all over town to adorn me with scraps of paper, tags, bits of fabric, snippets of yarn, and the occasional gym sock.
snippet
Every year on the first day of May, people come from all over town to adorn me with scraps of paper, tags, bits of fabric, snippets of yarn, and the occasional gym sock.
longing
Each offering represents a dream, a desire, a longing.
occasional
Wishtrees have a long and honorable history, going back centuries. There are many in Ireland, where they are usually hawthorns or the occasional ash tree. But you can find wishtrees all over the world.
bestow
It’s an honor, all the hopes bestowed upon my tired old limbs.
nonetheless
As you've probably noticed, I’m more talkative than most trees. This is new for me. I’m still getting the hang of it.
Nonetheless, I’ve always known how to keep a secret.
discreet
You have to be discreet when you’re a wishtree.
speckle
She’s my best pal, a crow I’ve known since she was nothing but a pecking beak in a speckled egg.
pessimistic
I think Bongo is too pessimistic for such a young bird.
optimistic
Bongo thinks I’m too optimistic for such an old tree.
whim
As is the custom with crows, Bongo chose her name after her first flight. It may not be her only name, however. Crows change names on a whim. Bongo’s cousin, Gizmo, has had seventeen names.
maneuver
They’ll name themselves after aerobatic maneuvers: DeathSpiral or BarrelRoll.
mimic
Many crows opt for sounds they’re fond of making. (Crows are excellent mimics.)
botanist
Over the years, I’ve learned that botanists—those lucky souls who study the lives of plants all day—call some trees, such as hollies and willows, “dioecious,” which means they have separate male and female trees.
intervene
There’ve been so many times I’ve wanted to speak up, to intervene, to help people.
profusely
He woke up to Fly, who was apologizing profusely, squatting on his forehead.
breach
Clearly a breach of the Don’t Talk to People rule.
intricate
People speak with the help of lungs, throats, voice boxes, tongues, and lips, thanks to an intricate symphony of sound and breath and movement.
stifled
An eyebrow cocked, a giggle stifled, a tear brushed aside: These, too, are ways you express yourself.
burrow
Folks nest on my branches. Burrow between my roots. Lay eggs on my leaves.
hollow
Tree hollows—holes in a trunk or branch—are not uncommon, especially in trees like me who’ve been around awhile.
exceeding
One year I was home to a lovely and exceedingly polite porcupine family.
hoard
Long story. (I have lots of those, stored up the way a squirrel hoards acorns.)
paltry
It was a big wound, slow to heal, and my spring leafing that year was paltry, my fall color pale (and, frankly, embarrassing).
elements
Hollows offer protection from the elements.
bicker
Grass cools the earth, but it also bickers with me over water.
unprecedented
This is unprecedented. Never have I sheltered so many babies. It just doesn’t happen. Animals like space.
wary
She is perhaps ten years old or so, with wary eyes and a shy smile.
trudge
Even on the coldest nights, she trudged outside in her red boots and green jacket.
venture
As it grew warmer, Samar would venture out in her pajamas and robe and sit beneath me on an old blanket, spattered with moonlight.
apparent
Her silence was so complete, her gentleness so apparent, that the residents would crawl from their nests of thistledown and dandelion fluff to join her.
tolerate
Bongo keeps a stash of odds and ends in one of my smaller hollows (which the opossums kindly tolerate).
bribe
“You never know who I might need to bribe,” she likes to say.
But her gifts to Samar weren’t bribes. They were just Bongo’s way of saying, “I’m glad we’re friends.”
dominance
Animals compete for resources, just like humans. They eat one another. They fight for dominance.

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