Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a brain stimulating meme hosted every week by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net
My entry today caught my attention because, although I’m familiar with the word, I’ve never heard it used like this. I could totally relate to this passage from Dorothea Benton Frank’s novel Folly Beach:
They say you can raise one hundred boys for the energy it takes to raise one girl and I think truer words were never spoken. I loved my ballistic girl more than anyone in this world, except for my son, and I knew her attitude got in between her and happiness…
If you agree with this statement, raise your hand. (My arm is waving). Although, I’m not so sure it’s energy that my daughter requires; more like patience.
Now, to ballistic:
ballistic \bə-‘lis-tik\ adj.
Of or relating to ballistics or to a body in motion
Being or characterized by repeated bouncing, like ballistic stretching
Extremely and usually suddenly excited, upset, or angry; wild (like a teenager, I’m thinking)
Clearly, Frank is using the third meaning. A fun synonym for ballistic is apoplectic, which I also had to look up this week. Now that’s a tongue twister.
Clearly, a different meaning than “apoplectic”
Word Nerd Workout
Use ballistic or apoplectic in a sentence.
When I came home at 2 am, my ballistic father bombarded me with a lecture on responsible behavior.
That list has been very helpful to me, but my kids read fast. So I need more ideas! Help!
Fortunately, the Common Sense Mediaweekly email came to the rescue. It included a link to the site’s “Essential Book List“: 150 books for kids and teens chosen to encourage a lifelong love of reading. The folks at Common Sense Media consulted teachers, librarians, and book critics to find titles sure to appeal to a variety of readers.
The titles are grouped by age, 2-6, 7-12, and 13-18. Each age group also has a few categories. For example, the 2-6 age group has “Bedtime Books,” “Read Alouds,” and “Books for Early Readers.” The teen group includes “Coming of Age Books” and “English Class Classics.”
Since it’s the Common Sense Media site, an age recommendation accompanies each title. Which is a good thing, because the list includes some controversial novels for older readers, including Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
I was pleased to find some titles in this list that my kids haven’t devoured yet, such as Al Capone Does My Shirts and The Wednesday Wars.The Phantom Tollbooth appears on the list, reminding me again to get that book!
The site also includes tidbits to encourage life long reading habits at the bottom of each page of the Essential Book List. For example, it suggests visiting the library weekly and turning off electronic devices to set aside time for reading. I couldn’t agree more.
Soapbox interjection:
People often ask how my kids read so many books, and I think one big reason is that I limit the amount of time they spend on devices to one or two hours a day. This is a challenge and constant battle, especially with omniscient portable devices (read: iPods), but I know I must continue to fight.
Another reason is that I always try to find new, interesting books for them to read, and so I need resources like Common Sense Media, Goodreads, and book blogs to help me discover the good stuff. I also pull all the new books off of the display shelves at the library.
I hope that, even if your or your kids don’t have a voracious appetite for books, The Essential Book List will also help you find some great ideas for summer reading! I definitely found some YA to add to my TBR list! (including Looking for Alaska, King Dork, and Just Listen).
Where do you get ideas for new books to read? What is your favorite site for finding reading recommendations?
Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a fabulous meme for word nerds hosted each week by Kathy at BermudaOnion.net. Check out Kathy’s site and the links there to learn more great words.
Today I’m sharing another word from Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank. The main character is describing her feisty Aunt Daisy.
She stood before me like an obelisk fashioned of milky-pink marble pulled from the depths of the quarries decades upon decades ago. Her hands were firmly planted on her hips.
This obelisk marks Thomas Jefferson’s grave at Monticello. It lists the three accomplishments for which he was most proud: author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia.
obelisk \’äb-ə-lisk\ noun, from the Latin obeliscus and Greek obeliskos; an upright four-sided usually monolithic pillar that gradually tapers as it rises and terminates in a pyramid
Of course then I had to know what monolithic meant; I guessed from the “mono-” prefix that it had to do with “one.”
monolithic \män-əl-‘i-thik\ adj, cast as a single piece, formed of material without joints or seams
So I guess Aunt Daisy looked like a tall, sturdy pillar of stone.
Word Nerd Workout
Think of a character, or someone from your own life, that could be described as an obelisk and write a sentence about him or her.
My example,
Butler stood as an obelisk in the courtyard, refusing to let the intruders enter Fowl Manor.
(I’m still working my way through the AF series on audio book.)
Summer’s here. More time for relaxing, reading, and learning. Yes, even though school is out and vacation is on, you’ve got to keep challenging your brain.
Of course reading by itself will increase your vocabulary, but you can also take a more focused approach. Let me introduce a wonderful book.
A long time ago on this blog, I mentioned my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Giles, the lady who instilled a profound respect for grammar in my 13 year-old-self. She terrified me, but I learned a lot.
One of the things I clearly remember from middle school academics, besides diagramming sentences (does anybody do that any more?) was that we didn’t have spelling lists; we had vocabulary words. We used a paperback “text” called 1100 Words You Need to Know. Five new words each day, with a review on Friday.
What kind of words? Exactly the ones you come across in literature, periodicals, and, if you are of the right age, the PSATs and SATs. For example: voluble, eschew, and repudiate.
I kept 1100 Words through college, until the edges curled and the cover ripped. When my son entered middle school, I remembered the little gem of a resource and hoped I could find one. My ratty copy had somehow disappeared.
Luckily, it’s still in print! I ordered four copies from Amazon, one for each child.
I love the book because it’s so easy to work with. Each day, you read a short paragraph with five new words in it. You glean the meaning of each word based on context clues, then complete brief matching and fill in the blank activities. There is also an idiom introduced and explained each day, like “the writing on the wall.”
On day five, you complete a review. There are additional activities at the end of the book. Everything is short and quick, but necessary, because if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
I just love note cards… color coded of course!
At first, my son did the matching and fill in the blank activities for each day on our way up to soccer practice. But then I realized that he went through the exercises quickly and wasn’t necessarily retaining much. So, this summer, he will start making flash cards to use in the future.
I haven’t told him that part yet. But five flash cards a day? How bad can that be? Maybe I’ll just have him make cards for the ones he doesn’t already know. I hate busy work as much as any kid.
And when PSAT time rolls around, he’ll thank me. In fact, after the first day of words, he said, “This is kinda fun.” You see, he looks like his father, but inside, he’s a word nerd like me.
I also ask him to quiz me on the words each day, just so I can prove my word nerdy-ness to him, as well as review those tough ones I’ve forgotten. 🙂
How do you learn new words? Have you ever used a book like 1100 Words?
I hope you’re having a great start to your summer!
decimate \’de-sə-māt\ verb, from Latin decimus, tenth; to reduce drastically, especially in number; to cause great destruction or harm. For example,
German bombers decimated London during WWII.
Now, I realize a lot of you may know the meaning of decimate, but do you wonder how we got from the Latin root meaning “ten” to a word meaning “great destruction”?
According to Merriam-Webster, in ancient Rome, if a group of soldiers didn’t perform well, one tenth of their number would be executed to teach the rest a lesson. In fact, another definition of decimate is “To select by lot and kill every tenth man of.”
Pretty interesting, huh? I shared this tidbit with my seventh grader on the way to school, and later that day, his teacher saw me at a school event and said, “your son taught me something today!” She went on to explain the origins of decimate.
Have you ever read the final lines of a book and had the uncomfortable feeling that you missed something? Big?
That’s how I felt when I finished Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. Agents and other writers have recommended it, and it receives fabulous reviews on Goodreads, but I almost gave up on it.
The Premise
Code Name Verity tells the story of two young women, who would never have been friends under “normal” circumstances,” brought together by the horrific events of World War II. They both contribute to the war effort for Great Britain, one as a pilot and the other as a spy. Unfortunately, both end up stranded in occupied France while carrying out a secret mission.
The book opens from the point of view of one of the girls; she uses many different names in the book, but let’s just call her “Verity.” She’s in a Nazi prison, writing her confession. But her rambling narration often left me frustrated and confused. I told the book club girls I was giving up.
“No,” they all said. “It gets better by page 200.”
Two hundred? That’s pretty far in. But I plugged on.
At page 200, the point of view shifts to Maddie, and she’s much easier to relate to. As she tells her side of the story, Verity’s confession makes more sense. Plot twists and surprises come to light.
Recommendations
Code Name Verity is definitely worth reading. Most of the reviewers on Goodreads are fearful to say too much about the book, worrying about spoilers, but I think these tips are helpful and not too revealing.
It’s great for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, strong female leads, or airplanes and flying (I don’t really care about airplanes or flying, which was another reason why the first half dragged for me.)
Despite Verity’s wandering narrative, remember that she’s a very bright, strong-willed character. And that she specializes in CODE. She has important things to share, even when it doesn’t seem like she is.
The book is set during WWII, and involves Nazi interrogation, so expect to be repulsed and sad at times.
It’s a powerful story of the sacrifices made by many people during WWII, sacrifices that many of us today have never had to consider.
As I mentioned earlier, I feel like I missed some important pieces to Code Name Verity; in particular, I had a hard time relating to Verity. I plan on rereading the first part, just to get everything I can out of the book.
Have you read Code Name Verity? Did you enjoy it? How did having two narrators hurt or help the story?
Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a brain stimulating meme hosted every week by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net
