Vocabulary for
The Princess and the Goblin
with Sniffy the Hamster, resident wordsmith

subterranean(2)

Sniffy Says: "Subterranean? Hmmmmmm. Let me go down my underground tunnel to get my dictionary. Now where is it? Here? Nope. Here? Nope. Rats! Can't find it. Let me think about this. Sub——ter——ranean. Hmmmm. Sub——terra, ahhhhh that's it. 'Sub' is a prefix—prefixes are at the beginning of words—and 'sub' means 'under' or 'below.' Now 'terra' means 'ground' or 'earth.' So what do you think 'subterranean' means? Riiiiight! Something underground. What do you think a subterranean hamster does? That's right. I go underground, I dig holes. I have lots of subterranean tunnels that zig and zag all over the backyard. You could say that I am a subterranean. Now all I need is a submarine."

tiers(44)

Sniffy Says: "Tears? I don't want to talk about tears because whenever I talk about tears I start crying and then I feel bad and then I cry more and then I feel worse and then I just start bawling . . ."
Mr. Draeger Says: "Sniffy, it's 'tiers', not 'tears.' T—I—E—R—S, not T—E—A—R—S."
Sniffy Says: "Oh. Never mind."
Mr. Draeger Says: "Sniffy! Not never mind. You have to tell them what tiers are."
Sniffy Says: "Oh, well yes, of course. Tiers, tiers and tiers. Think about steps. You know how steps are one above the other? Tiers are like that. It's layers or rows of things one above the other—all stacked up. Have you ever seen tiers of hamsters? Me either!"

tinderbox(47)

Sniffy Says: "That's an easy one. Tinder is something that catches fire easily like a small piece of wood. So I'll just open my tinderbox—it's a small box in which I keep tinder and matches (they used to keep flint and steel to strike a spark)—anyway, I'll open my tinderbox take out this very dry piece of wood—the tinder—strike my match and light it. There! See the nice flame? Uh ohhhhh. I smell something. I feel something. Whoops! Apparently the fur on my behind makes good tinder because I'm on fire!" Sniffy quickly stuffs his tail and rump into a bowl of water. "Ahhhhhhh. Much better. I hope someone doesn't put me in a tinderbox."

lurked(64)

Sniffy Says: "There are some weird people who live in this house. When my owner, Seth, has his cousins, Caleb and Jesse over, they sometimes play this game called SPY. They made it up. They lurk around the house trying to sneak up on Mr. Draeger. They slink from place to place, hiding behind couches and chairs or remain hidden in closets and showers—waiting. If no one finds them then when Mr. Draeger least expects it they ambush him which scares him terribly. I've seen him flip right out of his chair. Then the little lurkers prowl back to Seth's bedroom to plan another attack."

©2005-2012 Glen Draeger (all rights reserved)
Millstone Education: World Literature / http://www.millstoneeducation.com/worldLit