Holler of the Fireflies: Chapters 1–19

by David Barclay Moore
Twelve-year-old Javari Harris travels from Brooklyn, New York to West Virginia's Appalachian Ridge Christian College, where he learns a lot more than he had expected at the STEM camp.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–19, Chapters 20–39, Chapters 40–61
35 words 80 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    He smiled at me and then glared at crazy Bald Dude.
  2. befall
    happen or be the case in the course of events or by chance
    So, listen up: If any harm befalls this here boy, the local authorities will find you and you’ll be in a world a’ hurt!
  3. decent
    socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous
    “No decent human being would do that. I’m disappointed my own son don’t know no better.”
  4. instigate
    provoke or stir up
    He asked, “Did your mama instigate the riot?”
    I laughed. “Poppa, no! She didn’t start nothing!”
  5. self-conscious
    excessively aware of your appearance or behavior
    “You ain’t still self-conscious of your eye, is you?” he asked.
  6. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    “What’s all the ruckus back there?” the bus driver asked over a speaker, and then I felt the bus slow down and turn off the highway.
  7. wholesome
    characteristic of physical or moral well-being
    “Javari, Uncle Billy’s General Stores ain’t illegal. New York City just don’t want the competition we bring. It’s a great family-run discount department store chain, wholesome values...founded decades ago right here in Appalachia.”
  8. afresh
    again, but in a new or different way
    “They gotcha agin!” old Fred shouted.
    “Yeah,” Wendell said. “Yes, they did.”
    “Fred and me woke up this morning and it was splattered afresh!” Miss Dorothy shouted.
  9. lurch
    move suddenly or as if unable to control one's movements
    I lurched back around and saw Wendell’s face was red.
  10. scrutinize
    look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
    Wendell turned to scrutinize the woods, and this time I saw it happen.
  11. savory
    pleasing to the sense of taste
    “Our sit-down meals are real savory,” Rich added.
  12. calisthenics
    light exercises designed to promote general fitness
    “Calisthenics,” he answered.
    “Me and my daddy sometimes do that in the park,” I lied. My father hated working out and so did I.
  13. rustle
    make a dry crackling sound
    As soon as I got close, I heard something rustle.
  14. hostile
    characterized by enmity or ill will
    This dude looked at me hostile. “Where’d you come from?” he snapped.
  15. strut
    walk in a proud, confident way
    Then, three of the baseball players strutted back onto the diamond, just wearing regular clothes.
  16. stuffy
    lacking fresh air
    “Who in this stuffy room is ready to blow the roof off?”
  17. rhetorical
    emphasizing style at the expense of thought
    “Um. That was not rhetorical,” Ethan said. “And this is not Mindreading 101. I require a show of hands.”
  18. racket
    a loud and disturbing noise
    Back in Bushwick, I had my own bedroom. I didn’t have to fight to fall asleep because of some little boy “sawing logs,” like Poppa George would say. Veer’s racket was driving me nuts.
  19. conniption
    a display of bad temper
    “Doc Hunter don’t want us getting you kids in conniptions over nothing, but, just so you know, be extra careful around campus, okay?”
  20. cicada
    stout-bodied insect with large membranous wings
    The crickets were way louder out here. Not at all like the cicadas you heard sometimes back home.
  21. beefy
    muscular and heavily built
    He mashed his two beefy fists together and stared down at my Mets pj’s.
  22. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    They smiled and waved and kinda slinked toward two stools beside Hunter.
  23. maestro
    an artist of consummate skill
    Hunter chatted about the new VR game they’d designed, Flexus: Meet the Maestro.
  24. inspiration
    arousal of the mind to unusual activity or creativity
    I study histories of Black artists and engineers for inspiration too.
  25. fractal
    a geometric pattern that is repeated at every scale
    Tuyet, Becca and me had picked the name Fractal Dactyls for our group. Turned out, me and Tuyet both liked fractals.
  26. avatar
    an electronic image representing a computer user
    Each crew got a run-through of Flexus and were shown how to set up our virtual avatars on our separate video monitors.
  27. lofty
    of imposing height; especially standing out above others
    But I didn’t bring you way up here just for this lofty vista.
  28. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    “That was a warbler,” she went on. “A Connecticut warbler, I reckon.”
  29. prance
    move or step in a lively, spirited, or showy way
    “Focus!” Mr. Wang shouted at us before he pranced over to Blue Braces.
  30. integer
    any natural number or its negative, or zero
    My tablet read: What is crucial to reverse a string of code?
    A) Change the state of the string object

    B) Know your coding language

    C) Reverse all of the string’s integers

    D) All of the above
  31. ignorant
    uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
    That girl sure was ignorant, I thought. Becca’s string of code needed reversing.
  32. righteousness
    the quality of adhering to moral principles
    “RIGHTEOUSNESS GUARDS HIM WHOSE WAY IS BLAMELESS.” PROV. 13:6.
  33. shun
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    “You spray-painted it: P-O-L-I-T-I-S-H-U-N-S.”
    "I know how I spelled it. I added the ‘SHUN’ part to warn folks away from them.”
  34. funky
    stylish and modern in an unconventional way
    “I think that’s cool, your funky eye,” Cricket said.
  35. stealth
    the act of moving in a quiet or secretive way to avoid being noticed
    Oh, another quintessential fact about me is I sometimes run barefoot for stealth.
Created on Sat Nov 25 08:47:31 EST 2023 (updated Tue Dec 05 16:28:29 EST 2023)

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