Endangered: Chapters 1–5

by Eliot Schrefer
Fourteen-year-old Sophie rescues a young chimp named Otto while visiting a wildlife sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But when the president is assassinated, Sophie must figure out how to protect Otto in a country at war.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–13, Chapters 14–19, Chapters 20–27
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. random
    lacking any definite plan or order or purpose
    Some of the Kinshasa police were for real and some were random guys in stolen uniforms, looking for bribes.
  2. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    Grey parrots crammed so tightly into roadside cages that the dead stood as tall as the living; a maimed dog howling in a crowded market, flies swarming the exposed bone of her leg; a peddler with half-dead kittens tied to his waist.
  3. dedicate
    give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause
    But it had always been my mom’s philosophy that the way we treat animals goes hand in hand with the way we treat people, and so she’d dedicated her life to stopping men like this one, bush meat traders hoping for a sale.
  4. fluent
    expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
    I spoke French and English with my parents, but was still fluent in the language of my childhood friends.
  5. wince
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    The little ape sat down tiredly in the dirt and lowered his arms, wincing as his sore muscles relaxed.
  6. toddle
    walk unsteadily
    The bonobo glanced at his master before working up the energy to stand and toddle over to me.
  7. fragile
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    I lifted him easily and he hugged himself to me, his fragile arms as light as a necklace.
  8. sanctuary
    a shelter from danger or hardship
    “My mom runs the bonobo sanctuary up the road,” I said.
  9. tunic
    loose fitting cloak or blouse extending to the hips or knees
    Looking at the man, with his crippled foot and greasy ragged tunic tied closed with woven palm fronds, it wasn’t hard to believe he was close to starvation.
  10. scrawny
    being very thin
    Supporting the scrawny bonobo bum with one hand, I pulled the cash out of my pocket and handed it to the man.
  11. confiscate
    take temporary possession of a security by legal authority
    There have always been laws against killing or selling bonobos in Congo, but the government had trouble enforcing them before because there was nowhere to place confiscated infants.
  12. collaboration
    act of working jointly
    The sanctuary was a collaboration between the government and the international donors my mother had chatted up.
  13. dehydrate
    lose water or moisture
    He’s extremely dehydrated, and we’ll need to get fluids into him as soon as possible if he’s to have a hope of surviving.
  14. saline
    an isotonic solution of sodium chloride and distilled water
    He hung the bag on the side of a cabinet and flicked the tubing going to the needle, trying to make the saline flow.
  15. mangy
    affected with a skin disease causing itching and hair loss
    I lifted the bonobo from the table, gently cut his mangy rope away, and brought him to the sink.
  16. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    I had the bottle in hand and was trying to coax the bonobo to drink when my mom came in from the outside, wiping her hands on a rag.
  17. quarantine
    isolation to prevent the spread of infectious disease
    He can’t roam free in the nursery until he’s out of quarantine, and we have so many young bonobos right now that I can’t spare one of the mamas to take care of him.
  18. exuberant
    joyously unrestrained
    Once he’d finished his monologue about his construction projects, he closed with an exuberant “I miss you so much!
  19. rambunctious
    noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
    It had probably been beautiful once, but now it was covered in smashed bananas, and there were always rambunctious bonobos running around in front of it, occasionally humping the painted-on kids.
  20. torso
    the body excluding the head and neck and limbs
    I’d hoped Otto would perk up around other bonobos, but he didn’t seem to have attention for anything but my torso.
  21. goad
    stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick
    The other nursery bonobos swarmed Mama Evangeline as she heated up bottles for the morning feeding, until one of them discovered a dung beetle and they surrounded it instead, shrieking from the far side of the yard as they goaded one another to touch it.
  22. agile
    moving quickly and lightly
    My legs weren’t nearly as agile as a bonobo's, but Otto didn’t know what he was missing and was blissed out, closing his eyes in giddy pleasure and wheezing noisily.
  23. grimace
    contort the face to indicate a certain mental state
    Everything still wasn’t in tip-top shape in his stomach, apparently, because he grimaced if my toes pressed too hard on his abdomen.
  24. drone
    make a monotonous low dull sound
    We lay there together, sweating in the sun, listening to the birds make their rapid calls over the drone of the insects, to the singing coming from the farmers from the nearby village.
  25. fiend
    a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm
    I’m a total fiend for Scrabble, so I pulled it off the shelf.
  26. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    Otto loved the noise, smiling and making the raspy noise I was coming to recognize as laughter.
  27. outrage
    a feeling of righteous anger
    No one was speaking when I came outside, but I recognized a look of outrage on my mom’s face, and the familiar stance of Patrice trying to calm her down.
  28. formidable
    inspiring fear or dread
    She stopped being a person and became something like weather, lifting her body to all its formidable height and, with one blow, knocking the man to the ground.
  29. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    I expected to see him angry or upset, but his expression was wistful.
  30. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    There was only an ominous silence from inside her office.
  31. tranquilize
    cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to
    We have to tranquilize the adult bonobos to travel, and seeing the dart guns can be upsetting to the infants.
  32. reprimand
    an act or expression of criticism and censure
    My mom presided watchfully over the whole process, barking out reprimands whenever the men banged the cages.
  33. sedate
    cause to be calm or quiet
    She was out front with the sedated bonobos, where Patrice had told me Otto couldn’t go.
  34. surrogate
    providing nurture though not related by blood or legal ties
    “It’s really that I can’t leave Otto, Mom. I know the surrogate mothers are great, but he’s bonded to me and it would kill him if I abandoned him.”
  35. paranoia
    a mental disorder characterized by delusions of persecution
    But Patrice wasn’t the type for paranoia, which made me all the more concerned.
Created on Wed Dec 31 20:12:37 EST 2014 (updated Wed Sep 05 14:55:45 EDT 2018)

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