Chapter 16 of Black April is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of Black April is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow. Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread. The trees were full of sighs. The open window blinds creaked dismally. A puff of smoke came down the chimney.
Chapter 16 of Black April is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
plural of “blind” — people who have severe visual impairments, considered as a group
From this reading “The open window blinds creaked dismally.”
past form of “creak” — make a high-pitched, screeching noise
From this reading “The open window blinds creaked dismally.”
in a cheerless manner
From this reading “The open window blinds creaked dismally.”
plural of “flood” — the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land
From this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
a statement made about the future
From this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
past form of “gush” — gush forth in a sudden stream or jet
From this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
smoke and exhale strongly
From this reading “A puff of smoke came down the chimney.”
abounding in or exposed to the wind or breezes
From this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “The open window blinds creaked dismally.”
In this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading “A puff of smoke came down the chimney.”
In this reading “Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.”
In this reading “When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.”
In this reading “A puff of smoke came down the chimney.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
plural of “blind” — people who have severe visual impairments, considered as a group
From this reading The open window blinds creaked dismally.
of surpassing excellence
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading A puff of smoke came down the chimney.
a vertical flue that provides a path through which smoke from a fire is carried away through the wall or roof of a building
From this reading A puff of smoke came down the chimney.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
past form of “creak” — make a high-pitched, screeching noise
From this reading The open window blinds creaked dismally.
demanding attention
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
in a cheerless manner
From this reading The open window blinds creaked dismally.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
fearful expectation or anticipation
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
inflected form of “fly” — travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
plural of “flood” — the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
a statement made about the future
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading The trees were full of sighs.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
past form of “gush” — gush forth in a sudden stream or jet
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
To move from a closed position.
From this reading The open window blinds creaked dismally.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
above and across; more than
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
smoke and exhale strongly
From this reading A puff of smoke came down the chimney.
red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
plural of “sigh” — an utterance made by exhaling audibly
From this reading The trees were full of sighs.
a cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas
From this reading A puff of smoke came down the chimney.
the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
plural of “tree” — a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading The trees were full of sighs.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading Water birds flew over the rice-fields, crying out in dread.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The trees were full of sighs.
at the time that
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading The open window blinds creaked dismally.
abounding in or exposed to the wind or breezes
From this reading When the sun went down, a great red ball, floods of brilliant light gushed up around it, foretelling a cold night and a windy day to-morrow.
Chapter 16 of Black April by Julia Peterkin holds 415 sentences, grouped into 83 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 16 holds 415 sentences of Black April, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of Black April by Julia Peterkin exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 415 sentences, grouped into 83 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 16 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Black April by Julia Peterkin on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7944 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72611 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72611, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1589 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Black April section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of Black April to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Black April, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
