We Are Okay: Chapters 1-3

by Nina LaCour
Marin moved across the country for college to try to escape her past. But when her best friend comes to visit, Marin must finally confront the memories she left behind. Learn key vocabulary from this novel, winner of the 2018 Printz Award.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-13, Chapters 14-30
25 words 84 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. clinical
    relating to or based on direct observation of patients
    "If I were spending a month alone," Hannah said yesterday, "I would start a meditation practice. It's clinically proven to lower blood pressure and boost brain activity. It even helps your immune system."
  2. feral
    wild and menacing
    I stepped in—a stunned and feral stranger—and now I'm someone she knows, and I need to stay that way.
  3. epigraph
    a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing
    I open to the epigraph, a quote by Wendell Berry: "In the circle of the human we are weary with striving, and are without rest."
  4. grove
    a small growth of trees without underbrush
    But I don't trust my mind to stay in that redwood grove, and right now, outside and covered in snow, are trees I've never wrapped my arms around.
  5. contour
    any spatial attributes, especially as defined by outline
    Outside is the moon, the contours of trees, the buildings of the campus, the lights that dot the path.
  6. convey
    serve as a means for expressing something
    A smile that conveys as much welcome as regret.
  7. serenity
    the absence of mental stress or anxiety
    I find images of pyrite (for protection), hematite (for grounding), jade (for serenity).
  8. scrawl
    poor handwriting
    I had sticky notes and faint pencil scrawls on so many of the pages.
  9. salamander
    terrestrial amphibian that resembles a lizard
    I search for a redwood tree that resembles my memories and end up watching a mini-documentary on redwood ecosystems, in which I learn that during the summertime California redwoods gather most of their water from the fog, and that they provide homes to clouded salamanders, who have no lungs and breathe through their skin.
  10. truffle
    creamy chocolate candy
    But the shopping part is easy. Microwave popcorn with extra butter flavor. Thin stick pretzels. Milk chocolate truffles. Instant hot chocolate.
  11. conversationalist
    someone skilled at speaking with others
    This topic doesn't make me a gifted conversationalist, but at least it makes me adequate.
  12. deciduous
    shedding foliage at the end of the growing season
    And then she reads to me about honeybees, about deciduous trees, about evolution.
  13. ambiguous
    open to two or more interpretations
    "Everything in lit is just too...ambiguous, I guess."
  14. unfathomable
    impossible to come to understand
    Unfathomable, all the minutes Mabel and I will need to fill.
  15. exuberant
    joyously unrestrained
    She puts her phone to her ear, but even from across the room I can hear when they answer, both Ana's voice and Javier's, exuberant and relieved.
  16. nostalgic
    unhappy about being away and longing for familiar things
    We were nostalgic for a time that wasn't yet over.
  17. heathen
    a person who does not acknowledge your god
    "And careful—don't let the sisters know we're heathens."
  18. conspire
    act in agreement and in secret towards a deceitful purpose
    "The staff is conspiring against her. An elaborate trick."
  19. facade
    the front of a building
    "I keep thinking about ghosts," I said as we walked alongside the pastel houses with flat facades and square windows.
  20. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    He picked up one of the to-go cups that we'd set on the coffee table, held it with disdain.
  21. ardent
    characterized by intense emotion
    I rolled my eyes, but Mabel was ardent in her respect for elders.
  22. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    "Save a sliver for the fellas!" Gramps implored us, but for four old guys, his friends were the pickiest eaters I'd ever known.
  23. traipse
    walk or tramp about
    Gramps shook his head and laughed, and Mabel and I were soon stuffed and happy, traipsing back out as Jones, the first of Gramps's buddies, arrived, holding his lucky card deck in one hand and his cane in the other.
  24. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    The counselor leaned back in her office chair, stoic.
  25. comprise
    be made of
    The car ride home was a one-man comedy act comprised of every nun joke Gramps could remember.
Created on Wed May 02 10:01:57 EDT 2018 (updated Wed May 02 10:16:06 EDT 2018)

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