WORD LISTS

"Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls, Chapters 1–9

Wed Sep 16 19:35:53 EDT 2015
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Billy saves enough money to buy two pups, Old Dan and Little Ann. Together they become one of the best hunting teams in the Ozarks—and devoted friends as well. But when the unthinkable happens, Billy must learn how to nurture hope in a time of tragedy.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–13, Chapters 14–20
squall
I saw that his right ear was split wide open. It was too much for him and he took off down the street, squalling like a scalded cat.
cur
A big ugly cur tried his luck.
coax
I kept coaxing. On his stomach, an inch at a time, he came to me and laid his head in my hand.
dormant
It’s strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man’s mind for so many years.
quench
Water from a rain puddle or a mountain stream would quench his thirst and cool his hot dry throat.
pang
Food found along the highway, or the offerings from a friendly hand would ease the pangs of hunger.
rugged
Our home was in a beautiful valley far back in the rugged Ozarks.
sparse
The country was new and sparsely settled.
sprawl
He was lying all sprawled out in the sunshine with all four paws bandaged and sticking straight up.
mull
“God helps those who help themselves.” I thought of the words. I mulled them over in my mind.
scamper
A big swamp rabbit hopped out on the trail, sat on his haunches, stared at me, and then scampered away.
quavering
In a quavering voice, he said, “Well, Son, it’s your money. You worked for it, and you worked hard. You got it honestly, and you want some dogs. We’re going to get those dogs. Be damned! Be damned!"
outskirts
At the outskirts of town, I hid my flour sack and provisions, keeping the gunny sack.
wince
I took one look at my bare feet and winced.
amends
Here was an opportunity to make amends for leaving home without telling anyone.
flail
Arms flailing the air, I zoomed out and up.
peak
I seemed to hang suspended in air at the peak of my climb.
muster
He looked friendly enough but I still couldn’t muster up enough courage to go in.
snicker
People began to stop and stare, some even snickered.
threadbare
I could see a patch there all right, and a few threadbare spots, but no whiteness was showing through.
outraged
I saw an outraged look come over the marshal’s face.
grit
I heard him mutter, “There’s not a one in that bunch with that kind of grit.”
unravel
I knew when the trail became tough, she would be the one to unravel it.
beady
Their beady little eyes bored into the darkness beyond the cave.
query
With a querying look on his face, he said, “I’m afraid I don’t understand. I thought you always wanted to go to town.”
hamper
With the hampering help of my sisters I made the little doghouse.
desperation
I tried every trick I knew. It was no use. I just couldn’t catch the wily old coons. In desperation I went to my grandfather.
woe
He smiled as he listened to my tale of woe.
harness
Papa was out by the barn harnessing his team.
lope
He dropped the harness, jumped over the rail fence, and in a long lope started for me.
persistence
Nine times out of ten, one pup would swim one way and the other one would go just the opposite way. I had a time with this part of their training, but my persistence had no bounds.
leverage
One of the favorite tricks of a smart old ringtail is the tree-barking trick. This he accomplished by running far up on the side of a tree and using his stout legs for leverage, springing twenty or thirty feet away before touching the ground.
limber
He just lay there in the sunshine, all stretched out and limber as a rag.
momentum
With one final grinding, creaking sigh, the big sycamore started down. It picked up momentum as the heavy weight of the overbalanced top dove for the ground.
full-fledged
Along about then I decided I was a full-fledged coon hunter.

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