Holler of the Fireflies: Chapters 20–39

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 4 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ornery
    having a difficult and contrary disposition
    Tuyet shook her head and whispered at Becca, “And you are one ornery yellow-haired scarecrow.”
  2. fabricate
    put together out of artificial or natural components
    “Automatic machines that seem like real people, real things, but they’re not. They’re artificial. We fabricate them.”
  3. forge
    make something, usually for a specific function
    “Many other automata, or robots, were forged in Mesopotamia during this golden age of Islamic culture. Much of what we know today about engineering is actually based on work from back then.”
  4. drone
    an aircraft without a pilot and operated by remote control
    “Today, drones are trendy,” Ethan went on. “But modern drones are lazy. We won’t build those this summer.”
  5. cog
    tooth on the rim of gear wheel
    I prefer kinetic clockwork gears and cogs and pulleys. I prefer those to lazy battery-operated electronic motors.
  6. relevant
    having a bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
    “It’s relevant,” I said. “Do you know how many people in our country can’t get clean water? I googled it. Millions drink polluted water: places in Nevada, Illinois, Cali... Remember Flint?”
  7. plumb
    completely
    “He’s always bored,” Becca said to Tuyet. "Or just plumb lazy.”
  8. shaft
    a long rod or pole, especially the body of a weapon
    This shaft looked like a crooked rod that you could twist around with your hands or with something else, like a rubber band.
  9. flaunt
    display proudly
    But it was the same avatars from before. One all gold. And the other, flaunting that red suit of armor.
  10. grungy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    It sure was a grungy spot.
  11. casement
    a window framework that is hinged on one side
    “Shut that casement!” he yelled, talking about the little window.
  12. shenanigan
    reckless or malicious behavior that causes annoyance
    “Them sorta shenanigans happen all the time round here,” Cricket said.
  13. barge
    push one's way
    A few minutes later, Rich barged into our room to check on us.
  14. lynch
    kill without legal sanction
    “I’m just saying...I heard that’s what they be doing down here. Lynch Black folks?”
  15. ideal
    a principle or value that one hopes to attain or conform to
    It’s the flag they used during the Civil War, the one the slave states chose to represent their ideals.
  16. voucher
    a negotiable certificate that can be redeemed as needed
    Uncle Billy’s had sent travel vouchers to cover my bus fare, but Ma didn’t get none of those.
  17. irk
    irritate or vex
    Tuyet sighed. “These boys irk us in real life and in Flexus.”
  18. slur
    a negative or offensive remark about someone
    “She just called Lester out his name,” I said. “A slur.”
  19. loom
    appear very large or occupy a commanding position
    He loomed over me. I was reminded of those tall trees in that fractal video.
  20. conceited
    having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
    “Conceited too,” I added.
    “Yep,” Tuyet admitted. “That girl’s stuck-up higher than a streetlamp.”
  21. simulation
    representing the real world by a computer program
    But some computers, like the ones we have here, can do things in simulation that we can’t do in real life. Or rather, do things that’d be harder in real life.
  22. regale
    occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
    “Warblers, songbirds use their syrinxes—or their voice boxes—to regale! And ain’t we lucky?”
  23. intuitive
    spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency
    “We want you all to create your own unique birdcalls! It’s intuitive, the program. Use your arrow keys to control pitch and tone.”
  24. perturbed
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    “So, Becca, you’re not really sorry for what you said, you didn’t get in trouble, and you only feel bad that we got perturbed over it?”
  25. renaissance
    a revival of learning and culture
    “Ms. West, who owned this, was an old African American writer who lived in the Harlem Renaissance. Wrote lots of good books.”
  26. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    How did he know about her?
    I gave him a skeptical look.
  27. lenient
    inclined to be permissive or indulgent
    “And next time, ask me before you go prancing around after curfew,” Rich said. “Me and Leslie been lenient with you kids’ hours till now. Don’t take advantage a’ me being a cool bro.”
  28. keel
    one of the main longitudinal beams of the hull of a vessel
    We’d cut shapes out of foam core and glued them together into bows, keels and rudders.
  29. bodega
    small shop selling groceries, especially in a Hispanic area
    The munchies in the store reminded me of the junk food you found in bodegas in Brooklyn.
  30. vulgar
    conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
    Yeh, well, there ain’t nothing vulgar about the Southern Cross. She’s a symbol of the true South, our pride in Dixie.
  31. buzzard
    a vulture common in South America and the southern U.S.
    You pick the wrong kinds of berries and they’re poison. They’ll make buzzard bait out of you.
  32. sulky
    sullen or moody
    He sat there on the river, sulky.
  33. plaque
    a tablet that commemorates a person or achievement
    The plaque said that this spot honored 109 dead people who perished here drilling and digging the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel.
  34. redundant
    repeating the same sense in different words
    “You repeated this Nightjar symbol again down here,” I told her. “But you already translated it into code.”
    “I see. It’s redundant,” she agreed, deleting it. “Unnecessary.”
  35. runoff
    the occurrence of surplus liquid exceeding capacity
    Cutting down trees causes runoff water to rush across the ground, unchecked. That runoff and mining helps pollute Horsewhip’s drinking water.
Created on Sat Nov 25 08:48:22 EST 2023 (updated Sat Nov 25 14:29:51 EST 2023)

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