Impossible Creatures: List 1

by Katherine Rundell
Two kids — Mal and Christopher — unite to save the magical islands of the Archipelago, full of mythical creatures. On the way, each learns who they are and their destiny in life.

This list covers vocabulary from "The Beginning"—"The Guardian's Secret."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 376 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inexplicable
    incapable of being explained or accounted for
    The animals drove him into an inexplicable anxiety. “Get away!” he would say, and he would chase off the cats, the birds, the occasional mouse or rat on the underground.
  2. liable
    likely to be or do something
    People were difficult — she felt herself grow spiky around them, liable to say the wrong thing and blush right up to her forehead — but the sky made perfect sense to her.
  3. centaur
    a mythical being that is half man and half horse
    There were ruinously expensive candies called voulay drops, made by centaurs in the mountains of Antiok.
  4. covet
    wish, long, or crave for
    She had first spotted it six months ago and coveted it instantly, but hadn’t had nearly enough gold.
  5. distaste
    a feeling of intense dislike
    The question was a mistake. The Sailsman’s eyes hooded in distaste, like shutters coming down.
    “Are you calling me a liar?”
  6. griffin
    mythical creature with an eagle's head and a lion's body
    Griffins had always been delicate; they’d always been rare, for thousands of years. But for the last five years, they had been disappearing; slowly at first, and then fast, in a great and terrible rush.
  7. augury
    an event indicating important things to come
    Some said it was a fluke — a tragedy, yes, but connected to nothing else. Others said it was a sign of something dark; an evil augury, the beginning of worse.
  8. infinitesimal
    immeasurably small
    He had not gone far when the ground began, infinitesimally at first but then quite unmistakably, to shake under his feet.
  9. bramble
    any of various rough thorny shrubs or vines
    The river was deep and swift running, flanked on the far side by brambles, and lavellans — poison shrew-like creatures, whose bite was deadly — were found in the water.
  10. talon
    a sharp hooked claw especially on a bird of prey
    “Leonor!” Mal screamed, and darted toward her. Gelifen screamed too, a high animal shriek, and flew at the man, talons outstretched.
  11. phosphorescence
    the emission of light without heat
    She saw, underwater, sudden darting flecks of phosphorescence.
  12. incredulity
    doubt about the truth of something
    Wild incredulity rose in him — had he been drugged? He pinched viciously at his skin to wake himself, but his nail drew blood and he felt the pain course down his arm.
  13. flail
    thrash about
    The water was churning and white, and something with wings and a tail was flailing. Shrill peeps of terror came from it.
  14. quell
    suppress or crush completely
    “But — there was a unicorn. Aren’t you going to —” He was quelled with a look from Frank that almost frightened him. “Sit,” said the old man.
  15. bestiary
    a medieval book with descriptions of real and fabled animals
    Frank handed him the book. “Here. Take this. This is the Guardian’s Bestiary. My great-great-grandfather began it; each generation adds to it. It’s an account of some of the wild creatures of the Archipelago. Read it.”
Created on Thu May 29 21:12:40 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Sep 30 20:09:03 EDT 2025)

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