Firegirl: Chapters 1–6

by Tony Abbot
Seventh-grader Tom Bender has a life-changing experience when Jessica, a transferring student joins his class. Despite Jessica's arresting appearance, having been badly burned in a car fire, Tom begins a tentative friendship with her.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–20
10 words 210 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. paneling
    flat sheets in a wall or door
    He jumped down the stairs to a room with a TV and paneling. There were dark wooden shelves on the walls piled with stacks of his comic books.
  2. trance
    a state resembling deep sleep
    I nearly fell into a trance at the table that day.
  3. marauder
    someone who attacks in search of loot
    Masked marauders — I always liked the word marauders, which I got from one of Jeff’s comics, and of course they had to have masks on, really creepy masks with horns — would try to steal Courtney for some reason involving lots of money.
  4. plummet
    drop sharply
    Or I would be at recess, flapping cool air into my blazer and talking with the guys about the science quiz, when I’d suddenly look up — I was the only one who knew to do this at just that moment — to see Courtney plummeting through the air.
  5. size up
    look at closely in order to form an opinion about
    I stood there, sizing up my choices.
  6. flimsy
    lacking solidity or strength
    It was like I was standing in the middle of a flimsy, little rope bridge.
  7. political
    of or relating to the profession of governing
    “Funny, Rich, but no,” Mrs. Tracy said. “I’m talking about having an election in class. Just like the real political elections coming up in a few weeks, in which I hope your parents will vote, I’d like to have a little mini-election right here. An election for classroom president.”
  8. nominate
    propose as a candidate for some honor
    “Everyone will have a chance to nominate someone they think would be best to lead the class in several activities we’ll do this year.”
  9. hideous
    so extremely ugly as to be terrifying
    Would it be like a horror movie? A hideous creature? Or maybe it wouldn’t be that bad?
  10. assure
    give somebody confidence of the truth of something
    But there was no screaming. It seemed like all the sound went out of the room for a long time while this girl stood there in front of us waiting. She stood stooped over in a brown dress. She had thick gray tights covering her legs.
Created on Sat Jan 31 21:15:47 EST 2026 (updated Tue Feb 10 13:46:02 EST 2026)

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