Messenger: Chapters 13-17

by Lois Lowry
In the third book of The Giver Quartet, award-winning author Lois Lowry tells the story of Matty, who risks his life to save his village. Along the way, Matty receives guidance from Leader (Jonas from The Giver) and reunites with Kira (from Gathering Blue).

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-4, Chapters 5-8, Chapters 9-12, Chapters 13-17, Chapters 18-21

Explore other lists of The Giver Quartet here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stumble
    an unsteady, uneven gait
    Matty emerged from Forest with a stumble, blinking at the sudden sunshine, for he had been in the dim thickness of trees for many days now and felt that he had almost forgotten light.
  2. stroll
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    In the past he had always—what would the word be?—strolled from Forest, sometimes whistling.
  3. inhospitable
    lacking cordiality and generosity toward guests or strangers
    When he looked back toward the trees, in the direction he had come, it seemed inhospitable, unwelcoming, locked down.
  4. proclamation
    a formal public statement
    Village would close in three weeks from the time of the proclamation.
  5. steadily
    at a continuous rate or pace
    If they moved steadily and without interruption through Forest (though he knew it would be slower with the girl, who had to lean on her stick) they would arrive in time.
  6. decisive
    characterized by resoluteness and firmness
    There was so little time; and he needed, Matty knew, to present it to her in a decisive and convincing way.
  7. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    “I embroider this scene again and again,” Kira said, “and sometimes—not always—my hands begin to move in ways I don’t understand. The threads seem to take on a power of their own.”
  8. shimmer
    shine with a weak or fitful light
    He peered intently as her right hand picked up the needle threaded with green. She inserted it into the fabric at an unfinished place near the edge of Forest. Suddenly both of her hands began to vibrate slightly. They shimmered.
  9. exquisite
    delicately beautiful
    He realized he wanted to search the scene for a glimpse of Jean. But now the details were gone. He could still see the colored stitches, but it was a simple—exquisitely beautiful, but simple—landscape again.
  10. vulnerable
    capable of being wounded or hurt
    He was almost relieved that she had not allowed him to mend her leg, for it would have weakened him badly, cost them perhaps several days as he rested from it, and sent them out less prepared and more vulnerable.
  11. stride
    walk with long steps
    He could see, too, that she was accustomed to her stick and twisted leg. A lifetime of walking in that way had made it, as she had pointed out, part of her. It was who she was. To become a fast-striding Kira with two straight legs would have been to become a different person.
  12. vigor
    active strength of body or mind
    He was accustomed to this, the way his body temporarily lost its vigor and needed to restore itself after he had looked beyond.
  13. wince
    make a face indicating disgust or dislike
    Leader winced. “It was such a short time ago that he was so patient and soft-spoken. Listen to him now.”
  14. shifting
    changing position or direction
    But while he had watched Matty, Kira, and the puppy enter Forest, he had been able to see, too, that Forest was shifting, moving, thickening, and preparing to destroy them.
  15. apparent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    Kira waited patiently behind him as he investigated several apparent entrances from the clearing where they had slept.
  16. prune
    cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
    He pushed back some bushes with his hand, stared for a moment at the ground he had revealed, then took his knife from his pocket and pruned back the branches.
  17. barrier
    a structure or object that impedes free movement
    She raised her stick and used it to force up a thick vine that had reached from one tree to another on the other side of the path, making a barrier at the height of their shoulders. Together they ducked and went under the vine. But immediately they could see that there were others ahead, barring their approach.
  18. sap
    a watery fluid that circulates in a plant
    An acidic sap dripped from the cut vines and burned where it landed on his arm.
  19. penetrate
    pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance
    The trees were so thick above them that the downpour barely penetrated, but the foliage dripped and was cold on their shoulders.
  20. welt
    a raised mark on the skin
    Inflamed welts and oozing blisters had made a pattern on his skin.
  21. lesion
    an injury to living tissue
    “It’s from the sap,” he told her, and rubbed the salve onto the lesions.
  22. eradicate
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    For a brief moment, he thought that he might try to use his gift, to call forth the vibrating power and eradicate the stinging poisonous rash on his arms.
  23. hamper
    prevent the progress or free movement of
    It would take too much out of him—it would, in Leader’s words, spend his gift—and it would hamper their progress.
  24. singe
    burn superficially or lightly
    She found herself able to laugh, not aware of the incredible pain that Matty was feeling in his singed and blistered arms.
  25. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    He gingerly pulled back his ruined sleeve, and showed her. Kira gasped. His arms no longer looked like human limbs.
  26. stagnant
    not circulating or flowing
    When they came, finally, to the pond where he ordinarily refilled his water container and sometimes caught some fish, he found it stagnant.
  27. filth
    any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant
    Once clear and cool, the water was now dark brown, clogged with dead insects, and it smelled of kinds of filth he could only guess at.
  28. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    Inch by inch they moved through the swamp, looking for thickets of growth on which to place their feet, testing the suction when they were forced into the thick mud.
  29. laceration
    a torn ragged wound
    They were raw, dripping with blood from the reopened cuts she had previously suffered, and from new lacerations caused by the sharp swamp reeds.
  30. balm
    preparation applied externally as a remedy or for soothing
    The encrusted mud he had applied as balm had fallen away.
  31. tend
    have care of or look after
    He remembered the days of Village in the past, when a person who had difficulty walking would be helped cheerfully by someone stronger. When a person with an injured arm would be tended and assisted till he healed.
  32. onslaught
    an offensive against an enemy
    But then the next onslaught would come, and the next, and he would be too weakened to resist it.
  33. tendril
    slender structure by which some plants attach to an object
    Even now, looking listlessly down, he saw a pale green tendril emerge from the lower portion of a thorny bush and slide silently toward them.
  34. lethal
    of an instrument of certain death
    It moved like a young viper: purposeful, silent, and lethal.
  35. sinister
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    When the sinister, curling stem—in appearance not unlike the peavines that grew in early summer in their garden—reached his ankle, it began to curl tightly around his flesh.
Created on Tue Jun 20 13:52:17 EDT 2017 (updated Tue May 31 12:46:43 EDT 2022)

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