1-page, Section-by-Section Vocabulary Printables

High-value, widely useful word set off in a single-word sentence about Rosaleen praising God while danger gathers; the craft of that one word and its strong general payoff make it the section's strongest teach.

Rich, connotation-heavy word at the emotional turn where Lily defies T. Ray, and the appositive 'a daring something' glosses its boldness. Strong Tier 2 value, real difficulty, and a memorable excerpt.

A demanding word a target-grade student is unlikely to own, and Lily names her own overreach in comparing her life to Mary's, so the excerpt teaches the meaning while it tests it. Broadly useful with a clear context.

Real Tier 2 value and rarely known at this grade; the store owner mistakes Lily's shock for alarm, and that mismatch lets a reader infer 'dismayed alarm' from the moment. A transferable word in a clean excerpt.

Strong, transferable word carrying a pointed negative shade here, showy rather than sincere religion. Lily's line and Brother Gerald's hypocrisy let a reader feel the gap between genuine and performed devotion.

A violent verb used figuratively, the gunshot that 'gouged out our hearts', so it teaches both the literal scooping-out sense and a striking figurative move. Anchored in the section's central trauma, with real difficulty.

Useful, slightly literary word; 'conjure up an image' shows the call-to-mind sense plainly, apart from the magic sense a target-grade student may reach for first. Good general value in a strong excerpt.

Strong word in a tense moment as Rosaleen stays calm while the men close in. The un- prefix invites word-part work, and the contrast with the danger makes the 'untroubled' sense clear. Good Tier 2 value.

Useful word for Lily's broken memory of her mother's death, 'clear yet disjointed pieces'; the image of disconnected fragments hands a reader the meaning, and the word transfers well to writing about structure.

The most broadly useful word in the section, common in academic and everyday writing and worth owning. Its excerpt is a book epigraph rather than the story and comprehension here is light, but its high Tier 2 value earns the slot.

tremor: Strong sensory word in a vivid line, but lighter on comprehension than the ten chosen; just under the line.

makeshift: Useful and well shown in the card-table image, but low stakes for understanding the scene; narrowly cut.

preoccupied: Solid and comprehension-relevant, but more widely known and in a plainer excerpt than the words above it.

wrench: Nice figurative pang, but the section already teaches a stronger figurative verb in 'gouged'; edged out.

beseeching: Expressive and uncommon, but matters little to comprehension here; a close miss on general value.

iridescent: Striking descriptive word, but low comprehension weight and narrower usefulness than the chosen ten.

impersonating: Memorable figurative use, but too widely known at this grade to test well; just missed.

pulsating: Strong sensory image of the bee-filled room, but more ordinary in value than the words selected above it.

The emotional and thematic heart of this section, the Our Lady of Chains story. A strong, transferable Tier-2 word for rescue from bondage; the slaves' repeated prayer for rescue, consolation, and freedom carries the meaning while keeping its weight.

A valuable, slightly literary Tier-2 word students will meet again. The pivotal image of people touching the statue's chest to grab the solace in her heart makes comfort-in-sorrow concrete and felt, not merely defined.

A high-value Tier-2 word for anger at injustice. The text names righteous indignation and illustrates it with Jesus overturning the temple tables, giving a target-grade student both the word and a memorable model of its meaning.

A strong Tier-2 word with real growth value: the literal thin veneer of honey over everything makes the meaning concrete and sets up the common figurative sense of a surface that hides what lies beneath. Notable craft in the image.

A strong, transferable Tier-2 word for modest and unpretentious. The paired description of May as naive and unassuming, a grown-up and a child at once, makes the meaning clear and worth a target-grade student knowing precisely.

Teaches the figurative sense, to stiffen with irritation, that a target-grade student is least likely to know, since most know only the literal one. June still bristled at the visitors staying makes the resentment plain. A useful Tier-2 word.

A vivid, transferable Tier-2 word for the bizarre or far-fetched. Lily judging the idea too outlandish even for the Catholics gives a target-grade student a precise term for an everyday idea, in a clear, slightly wry context.

An uncommon, elevated word worth teaching for its raised-in-rank sense, here in scripture (exalted them of low degree). The unfamiliar register stretches a target-grade student; a valuable Tier-2 word despite the archaic flavor.

A rich, transferable Tier-2 word taught through striking craft: August's face corrugated with a thousand caramel wrinkles. The image fixes the ridged-and-furrowed meaning vividly, though the surrounding wrinkles also half-hand the sense.

A sensory Tier-2 word for rolling masses of smoke or fog. August disappearing in the fogged billows and reemerging like a dream gives a target-grade student a clear, memorable sense of the word, in a strong opening image.

fugitive: Central to the plot tension over Rosaleen, but well-known to most target-grade students, so little new to learn.

partial: A real teaching point, since partial to meaning fond of is a sense most students miss, but a narrow, dated usage that just missed.

serenade: A strong, memorable excerpt, June playing the dying into the next life, but a fairly familiar word, so edged out on difficulty.

cutthroat: A rich figurative Tier-2 word, but its excerpt is an incidental aside, weaker than the chosen passages.

exasperated: A valuable Tier-2 word for sharp frustration, but well-known and set in a plain line of dialogue.

ingenious: A high-value Tier-2 word, but most target-grade students know it and the roach-remedy line is incidental.

spellbound: A strong moment, listeners frozen by August's storytelling, but a fairly familiar word with limited to learn.

scorched: Vivid figurative craft, a scorched shock on the eyelids, but the word is well-known and the use idiosyncratic.

A high-value abstract verb tied to the novel's central concern with race; here the world has 'ascribed' importance to skin color. Uncommon enough that a target-grade student gains real ground, and it recurs across academic reading. The strongest teaching word in the section.

Strong Tier 2 word taught in both senses at once - the literal drifting-at-sea image and the emotional 'all adrift in the world.' The excerpt is memorable and the figurative reach makes it rich; clearly earns a quiz slot.

A charged word, common in academic reading, for something deserving contempt; Lily brands her father's act 'DESPICABLE' in a memorable, emotionally pointed excerpt. High value and a clear teaching moment.

Rich Tier 2 word with two senses worth knowing - the figurative 'convulsions of laughter' here, plus the literal medical sense. Strong, vivid excerpt; a productive word for a target-grade student.

Vivid figurative word for an unresolved, in-between state - 'all hung up in limbo' captures Lily's suspended waiting exactly. Recurs in academic and everyday use; a worthwhile, teachable abstraction.

An uncommon, rich word drawn from the chapter epigraph, where the hive is compared to a 'cloister' rather than a bordello. Genuinely hard for a target-grade student and rewarding to learn; the contrast makes the secluded, religious sense clear.

Useful Tier 2 word for a source of persistent distress; the line frames northern interference as the southern mind's worst 'affliction.' Clear excerpt, recurs in academic reading, worth a quiz slot.

High-value Tier 2 word; the contrast of a 'minuscule' creature inflicting great pain makes tininess land memorably. Common across academic reading and a clean teaching excerpt.

Strong Tier 2 adverb a target-grade student meets often in academic reading; 'swat incessantly' shows the ceaseless sense plainly. Solid, if not flashy, vocabulary growth.

Science vocabulary that recurs across academic reading; the Pulitzer-trees joke gives a memorable, low-stakes excerpt for teaching trees that shed their leaves each year.

horde: Strong, vivid word and a memorable excerpt, but the 'plague of locusts' imagery hands the meaning to the reader, lowering its urgency as a quiz word.

sneer: Strong Tier 2 word in a characterizing excerpt, but well enough known to a target-grade student that there is less to teach.

consignment: Harder, practical term, but narrower academic value and a low-stakes excerpt left it just below the line.

sidled: Expressive, uncommon verb, but narrow academic value and a minor moment kept it off the quiz.

flair: Nice Tier 2 word with a clean excerpt, but middling across the board; edged out by stronger choices.

inferno: Vivid figurative excerpt, but the word is fairly well known and unlikely to recur much in academic reading.

crevice: Concrete, clear excerpt tied to May's wall, but ordinary academic value left it below stronger words.

shiftless: Genuinely uncommon and hard, but unlikely to recur in academic reading and not central to comprehension here.

The strongest word of the set: a high-value Tier 2 noun for intense suffering, rich in connotation, in a memorable line — 'the blaze of love and anguish' — that captures May. Clears the gate easily and rewards teaching.

Central to the novel's pivotal scene, May found beneath the river. A strong Tier 2 word; though many students half-know it, the stark line that only her hands were 'not submerged' fixes the precise sense, and the comprehension stakes here are high.

A valuable Tier 2 word most target-grade students don't yet command, rich in connotation. The bee epigraph's wry line — a smarter queen would be 'hopelessly neurotic' — is a memorable, slightly humorous vehicle for anxious instability.

An uncommon, nuanced Tier 2 word worth real teaching; few target-grade students know it well. Rosaleen dropping 'all semblance of work' shows the sense of a mere outward show, though the excerpt is solid rather than vivid.

Teaches the figurative sense — frenzied, not literally ill — which a target-grade student may not know. A strong Tier 2 adjective with rich overtones; the night bird singing 'urgent and feverish' is an evocative excerpt.

A strong, useful Tier 2 verb for inventing a story or lie. Rosaleen's line — she can 'concoct lies at the drop of a hat' as readily as Lily — is a clear, lively excerpt that pins the meaning without handing it over.

A worthwhile Tier 2 word for hardworking and diligent that general frequency masks (the count is driven by 'industry'/'industrial'). Difficult enough to teach, with a clear excerpt: the honey house keeping Lily 'industrious.'

Teaches the idiom 'of its own accord' — happening on its own — where the literal word would mislead. A strong, fairly difficult Tier 2 expression in a good excerpt: the prayer that 'started up of its own accord' in Lily's head.

A useful Tier 2 word for a prized, special food. August calling Cokes-and-peanuts a 'delicacy' is a playful, memorable excerpt; it takes a slot over thinner alternatives for its strong teaching vehicle and academic reach.

A Tier 2 word the book teaches through repetition — it recurs across the bee chapters and opens this section's epigraph. 'Their foraging flights' gives a clear instance of ranging out to gather food, and it matters to the bee motif.

hilarity: Strong Tier 2 word with a vivid excerpt ('tears of hilarity'); essentially tied with the last quiz pick and just edged out.

mockery: Nuanced, valuable Tier 2 word, but the excerpt is abstract and shares the queen-bee epigraph with the chosen 'neurotic.'

skittish: Difficult, vivid word from the queen-bee epigraph; lost out on academic reach to the chosen Tier 2 words.

saunter: Expressive, fairly difficult verb for an easy, casual walk; a fine word the stronger Tier 2 picks edged out.

loping: Vivid verb with a strong, craft-bearing excerpt ('loping strides'); narrow academic reach kept it just below the line.

manna: Difficult, connotation-rich word defined in the text; its narrower academic value left it just outside the ten.

strenuous: Solid Tier 2 adjective from the chapter epigraph; comprehension stakes and excerpt sat a notch below the chosen words.

flail: Expressive verb in a strong excerpt and useful to the death scene; edged out on academic reach.

amnesiac: Distinctive word in a wry, memorable line, but narrow in academic use with low comprehension stakes.

A high-value word for close personal connection; here the closeness of bathing Our Lady in honey gives 'the intimacy of what we were doing' real emotional weight, and the abstract sense reaches well beyond this text into a student's own writing. Strong excerpt, clean usage.

A vivid word for intense, fed-up irritation; Rosaleen's urge to 'shake me till my teeth fell out' makes the feeling unmistakable. Broadly useful in academic and everyday writing; the strong excerpt nearly gives the meaning away, but the word itself easily earns its slot.

An uncommon, useful word meaning to hurry; the idiomatic 'I hasten to say' is recognizable, but the core sense of hurrying may be new to a target-grade student. The long, sharply drawn excerpt of T. Ray's predatory grin carries the moment even as it sits a step from the word.

A rich word for foggy, half-awake confusion; 'muddled with sleep and wanting' sits in one of the section's most lyrical passages, the imagined mother singing among the trees. High difficulty and strong connotation make it worth teaching over plainer synonyms.

A strong word for being dazed into a stupor; the oppressive August heat that leaves 'everything about me stunned and stupefied' makes the meaning visible and the excerpt has real craft. Higher difficulty and reach than its near-synonyms elsewhere in this field.

A core Tier 2 word for sorrowful gloom; the bee epigraph pairs it with 'mournful wail or lament,' and it recurs when the queenless hive looks melancholy, tying the word to the whole section's grief. Rich connotation worth teaching, though the epigraph nearly defines it.

A useful word for being stripped of spirit and hope; the queenless bees that 'stop work and go around completely demoralized' make the meaning plain and link it to the section's grief over loss. Strong Tier 2 value and a clean, memorable excerpt.

A versatile word with literal and figurative reach; the mother's 'picture frame of tarnished silver' gives the concrete sense of dulled, discolored metal plus a quiet connotation of something faded by time. Worth teaching for the metaphorical uses students will meet later.

A clear, useful word for being frozen in place; 'I stood, immobilized' captures Lily's paralysis as T. Ray looks her over. Solid Tier 2 value and a usage a target-grade student can carry into other reading and writing about fear or shock.

A high-value word meaning to give up a claim or right; worth teaching the standard sense, though the text uses it a bit nonstandardly ('forfeited me over') for handing her over, and the brief excerpt does less to show the meaning than its difficulty and academic reach deserve.

nauseating: Strong word with clear disgust, but a target-grade student likely knows it; low difficulty kept it just below the line.

crevices: Vivid excerpt at the wailing wall, but more concrete and a touch less academic than the selected words; a near miss.

jutting: Strong, physical excerpt of Mary's arm, but the sense is fairly transparent and concrete; edged out by richer words.

extravagant: Valuable word, but the bee-epigraph excerpt is thin and nearly defines it; lost to words with stronger usage.

embalm: Memorable, thematically apt excerpt, but a concrete, narrow word with limited reach beyond this passage.

dumbfounded: Teachable and well framed, but moderate across the board; outranked by words with richer connotation or harder difficulty.

bewildered: Useful word, but low difficulty and a very brief excerpt ('bewildered-looking') left it below stronger choices.

lacquer: Concrete and uncommon, but narrow and low in Tier 2 value; the hairspray context is clear but not worth a slot.