I have provided the list of vocabulary words from Chapter 11-13. The word lists include the definition and the use of the word in the context of the novel.

Please take 5 of these words from the list and write at least one full sentence using each word. The assignment should result in a minimum of 5 sentences, each using a word from the provided vocabulary lists.

The use of vocabulary is a method for literary immersion in the time period. It is a good idea to keep a list similar to this for your notes.

Remember, no one is going to read these sentences but me, and I’m all about having fun with an assignment so be fun, be creative, but above all– be accurate.

Nickel Boys Vocab for Chapters 11-13

1. small shop selling groceries, especially in a Hispanic area The way New Yorkers complained about summer heat, on the subway, in the bodega, made him snicker ever since he got here.
2. a large entrance or reception room or area This time whenever he left the vestibuledownstairs, the stench was a thicket—he wanted a machete to hack through it.
3. one who stays for only a short time Even if he scavenged furniture like a transient, he put down roots.
4. not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper He’d seen her curse out this muscle-bound turkey who whispered something untowardas she passed on the street, she got up in the dude’s face, but a rat made her squeal like a little girl.
5. express one’s view openly and without fear or hesitation He opinedthat maybe it was a dog, but she wasn’t going back today and he was glad to have her.
6. freedom to act or judge on one’s own A typical sentence fell between six months and two years, but the administration had the power to confer a legal discharge before then at its discretion.
7. determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity Still, the law was corrupt and capriciousin various measure and sometimes a boy strolled out through what passed for divine intervention.
8. assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing You could die. Of “natural causes” even, if abettedby unhealthy conditions, malnutrition, and the pitiless constellation of negligence.
9. direct one’s course or way His story wendingits way through the years.
10. a person’s manner of walking Freddie Rich identified candidates by their gaitand posture, administration files strengthened the argument, and their treatment by the other boys provided final confirmation.
11. offensively malodorous When he couldn’t take another step he hid under a lonesome gray house and squatted in the fetidwater of the crawl space.
12. an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding As it happened, the Apalachee hounds were deployed elsewhere, attending to the escape of three Piedmont convicts, and Freddie Rich didn’t report Clayton’s disappearance for twenty-four hours, scared as a trapped rat that his predationswould be uncovered.
13. a change to a lower, less respected state Had Clayton ever been alone? In the house on that dead-end street in Tampa, his brothers and sisters were ever on top of him, all of them crammed into the three rooms of the rickety shotgun. Then Nickel with its communal debasements.
14. resistant to guidance or discipline But the students came from all over the state, Pensacola to the Keys, and most families had far to travel if they wanted to see their waywardsons.
15. a signed written agreement between two or more parties Most afternoons they played Monopoly, their game a conspiracy of house rules, obscure covenants, and revenge.
16. fall away or decline Then he was up for hours, in a spell, agitated by rickety thoughts and weakened by an ebbingof the spirit.
17. contented to a fault with oneself or one’s actions He was like one of those Negroes Dr. King spoke of in his letter from jail, so complacentand sleepy after years of oppression that they had adjusted to it and learned to sleep in it as their only bed.
18. be gusty, as of wind A wind easing after blusteringfor as long as you could remember.
19. troubled persistently, especially with petty annoyances She was young, maybe twenty-five years old, with a round, open face. Harriedyet graceful as she juggled Burt’s baby sister, who squatted in her lap hooting at the bugs.
20. impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason Mr. Marconi had kicked in another hundred after meeting with him, which was out of character, yes, but Mr. Andrews had been adamantand persuasive.