On the Far Side of the Mountain: I Go Backwards in Order to Go Forwards–Zella Makes Sense

by Jean Craighead George
In this sequel to My Side of the Mountain, Sam Gribley's sister Alice joins her brother in the Catskill Mountains. But when Alice disappears and Sam's beloved falcon is taken away, he must fight to get them back.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: A Storm Breaks–A Trade Comes My Way, I Go Backwards in Order to Go Forwards–Zella Makes Sense, I Learn to Think Like a Pig–I Get News of Alice, The Dawn Breaks over Me–A Bird Talks to Me

Here are links to our lists for the My Side of the Mountain trilogy by Jean Craighead George: My Side of the Mountain, On the Far Side of the Mountain, Frightful's Mountain

And here is a link to Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. trough
    a long narrow shallow receptacle
    I knew I had to burn and chip out the inside of the tree to make a trough, like the pioneers made water pipes.
  2. venison
    meat from a deer used as food
    The venison is much better when smoked in a building where the fire can be controlled.
  3. cog
    tooth on the rim of gear wheel
    So I made a cog wheel or gear out of a disc of oak by putting pegs around the edge.
  4. bate
    flap the wings wildly or frantically; used of falcons
    We made so much noise cheering that Frightful bated
  5. pinion
    wing of a bird
    I had to rescue her to keep her from breaking her pinions.
  6. forge
    create by hammering
    “Now I can bend and shape pieces of iron I find around the ruins of the Gribley house and barn. Eventually I’ll forge them into shovels, ladles, and even nails.”
  7. ajar
    slightly open
    She’s too protective of our hard-won supplies to leave the lock ajar.
  8. shambles
    a condition of great disorder
    She makes a complete shambles of the cellar when she gets in.
  9. erode
    remove soil or rock
    The wildflowers can’t push up, and when they don’t grow, the soil erodes and is carried into the streams by the rain.
  10. mull
    reflect deeply on a subject
    As I mull all this, Jessie climbs up on my shoulder and eats the venison.
  11. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    Hey, Sam Gribley, I admonish. Didn’t you pack up a few belongings, tell your father you were going to leave, and take off for the adventure of your life?
  12. obscure
    not famous or acclaimed
    The water gushes forward, the wheel turns, and he joins me, whistling some obscure tune.
  13. contorted
    twisted, especially as in pain or struggle
    He picks up a contorted sapling.
  14. flutter
    flap the wings rapidly or fly with flapping movements
    An owl hoots; a bird sleeping in a laurel bush awakes and flutters its wings.
  15. pry
    be nosey
    It’s not that I want to pry, but maybe Alice is not going off to find her own home.
  16. triumph
    a successful ending of a struggle or contest
    Then I remember the triumphs of making a fire, catching a fish, and sleeping on a bed of pine boughs all alone in the wilderness.
  17. envious
    painfully desirous of another's advantages
    I’m a bit envious of Alice.
  18. pester
    annoy persistently
    Frightful doesn’t have such a word in her vocabulary, but then her ancestors were never pestered by flies as were Slats’s.
  19. fallow
    left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season
    “I can’t help you very much,” she goes on, “but I can tell you this, she and the pig were walking across my fallow field, toward your mountain. I thought they were going home.”
  20. veer
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    Out of sight of Mrs. Strawberry, I veer toward Mr. Reilly’s house, leaping mullens and thistles growing in the fallow field.
  21. objective
    the goal intended to be attained
    She and I use long sticks or reeds to indicate our long-range objective, short ones to point out the immediate route.
  22. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    As I climb over the fence into Bando’s pasture, a song sparrow clicks out his alarm note from the raspberry thicket.
  23. intent
    giving or marked by complete attention to
    I assume I am his enemy until I see a crow sneaking toward his nest intent upon eating the eggs.
  24. contemplate
    think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes
    He’s in front of his cabin in the shade of the big slippery elm tree, contemplating a twisted limb.
  25. premature
    too soon or too hasty
    His prematurely white hair is cut so short that it looks like a skullcap.
  26. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    “A pig?” he asks incredulously.
  27. whimsical
    indulging in or influenced by the imagination
    “So, at last she’s done it,” Zella says with a whimsical smile.
  28. spectacular
    sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect
    But why the Helderbergs?” he muses. “They’re not as spectacular as the Catskills or Adirondacks.”
  29. aggressive
    characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight
    “They’re the most aggressive of all the birds of prey,” I say.
  30. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    Once Alice told me,” Zella goes on, “that her dream was to go on a long hike, clamber beautiful waterfalls, with the water splashing around her, and sleep beside them at night.”
  31. preoccupied
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    As I speak of Frightful, I realize that I’ve been so preoccupied with Alice’s adventure that I haven’t thought about her for hours and hours.
  32. quadrangle
    a rectangular area surrounded on all sides by buildings
    He takes out the Delhi quadrangle map, the one with our homes on it.
  33. siphon
    convey, draw off, or empty by or as if by a tube
    She’s going to get herself in trouble, bite a chicken thief, siphon milk from a farmer’s milk can—remember how she put that tube into my cup of hot chocolate and siphoned all my drink into her cup on the floor?
  34. tolerant
    showing or characterized by broad-mindedness
    “I didn’t mind—but strangers are not so tolerant.”
  35. knack
    a special way of doing something
    Alice has a knack for getting into scrapes.
Created on Tue Jul 21 20:10:50 EDT 2015 (updated Tue Sep 11 10:18:55 EDT 2018)

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