Vocabulary on the first page of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken: pleated, eminence, wold, herring-bone, crenellated, hubbub, goffering, vigil. As a girl, I had no idea what most of these words meant and yet it still became one of my favorite books. Kids can

Figure out words from context. I don’t think we give them enough credit for this and deprive them of the pleasure of absorbing great words via great story.

And if they can’t figure it out but they love the story, they’ll read through it. And that’s fine. They’ll get it next time. Or not. I am still not sure about goffering!