The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon, Vocabulary List Chapters 1-5

: of first importance : MAIN, PRINCIPAL

It all started the moment I broke the cardinal rule of the Franklin household: Leave well enough alone.

: great evil or wickedness : great size

The enormity of our recent stupidity washed over me.

: to pronounce words or parts of words clearly

“No, a me-di-a-tor,” Styx repeated, enunciating the syllables.

: to increase in extent, volume, or scope : EXPAND

Her voice had escalated right through shouting mode into a high, quiet dogs-only range.

: tall and thin with usually an awkward quality

His lanky arms fell to his sides, harmless.

: to work with opposing sides in an argument in order to bring about an agreement

In an hour, I’ll come mediate your dispute with Cormier.

: willing to help : helpful in a friendly way

She giggled obligingly and banged on his arms with her fat fists.

: to have a lot of saliva produced in your mouth because you see or smell food that you want to eat

I didn’t even know what was in the bag, but I began salivating.

: very thin in a way that is not attractive or healthy

He was a whole head taller than Bobby Gene, but he was scrawny, with long, knobby limbs like a praying mantis.

: to move quickly

We scurried out to Mom’s station wagon with our tails between our legs.

: a hickory (Carya ovata) of eastern North America with sweet edible nuts and a gray shaggy outer bark that peels off in long strips

He was sitting on a stump at the base of a ragged old shagbark hickory.

: to call into being : AROUSE

Maybe we summoned him, like a superhero responding to a beacon in the night.

: worn so much that the thread shows : SHABBY

The couch was a threadbare blue stripey thing, with cushions flattened from long use

: a sudden wish or desire : a sudden change of mind

I would do whatever it took to become Cory Cormier’s right-hand man, doling out fireworks at my whim.

: to move suddenly and quickly

“Franklin boys.” Mom whisked a finger in front of us. “Car.”