Frightful's Mountain: The Kids are Heard–A Pal Finds a Pal

by Jean Craighead George
In the third book of the My Side of the Mountain trilogy, Frightful is on her own in the wilderness, trying to survive without Sam.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Foreword–Frightful Peregrinates, Frightful Finds the Enemy–There are Eggs and Trouble, The Kids are Heard–A Pal Finds a Pal, Frightful and Oksi Run the Show–Afterword

Here are links to our lists for the My Side of the Mountain trilogy by Jean Craighead George: My Side of the Mountain, On the Far Side of the Mountain, Frightful's Mountain

And here is a link to Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    Each day as she felt the chicks develop, Frightful heard less of the commotion.
  2. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    “There’s that nest everyone’s so riled up about,” he said to Dan Martin, a Mohawk Indian whose balance and fearlessness on high girders made him one of the most valuable bridge workers.
  3. ravaged
    having been robbed and destroyed by force and violence
    He kept an eye on the nest as he carried lumber to the men who were building a form around the ravaged piling.
  4. relentless
    never-ceasing
    Relentlessly, the bridge work went on.
  5. incubate
    keep (eggs) warm until ready to hatch
    “I think we ought to move the eggs,” Jon finally said. “She’s been incubating long enough to be so deeply attached to them that she’ll follow them anywhere.
  6. serene
    not agitated
    “Only that serene falcon Susan named Destiny would put up with this.”
  7. determined
    characterized by great firmness of purpose
    Molly stepped forward, trembling but determined.
  8. confess
    admit to a wrongdoing
    Parents confessed to strangers and each other that they never had the least interest in falcons until their children told them about the peregrines of the Delhi Bridge.
  9. detour
    a roundabout road or route
    Cars coming off the detour slowed and stopped.
  10. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    “It seems,” he said with a wistful smile, “that despite everything, the peregrines of Delhi are going to have chicks.”
  11. fend
    withstand the force of something
    Quickly he scaled the tree to the artificial scrape and, fending off Frightful with one arm, he gently lay the eggs in the box.
  12. morsel
    a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
    He pulled off a morsel to feed Frightful.
  13. bivouac
    a site where people can pitch a tent
    He did not stop at his bivouac.
  14. rivulet
    a small stream
    He saw only rain bending the branches of the hemlocks and running in rivulets down their trunks.
  15. deftly
    in an agile manner
    He found Frightful’s old hood and deftly put it over Oksi’s head.
  16. eddy
    a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind
    She gave up and dropped into a calm eddy of air behind a bank of willows.
  17. subside
    wear off or die down
    She waited in the willow tree until her fear subsided.
  18. taut
    pulled or drawn tight
    Frightful felt the jesses go taut as Sam gripped them between his thumb and forefinger.
  19. skim
    move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of
    Catching herself on her acrobatic wings, Frightful skimmed up through and over the trees.
  20. eyas
    an unfledged or nestling hawk
    Frightful was over Sam’s mountain, hovering above the one tree, searching for her eyas.
  21. affix
    attach to
    Sam Gribley took off the burlap bag on which he had affixed Alice’s whole tanned chicken skin.
  22. imprint
    establish or impress firmly in the mind
    She didn’t see my face, so she won’t imprint on me.
  23. overwhelm
    overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
    Suddenly Frightful’s need to return to her eyas overwhelmed her fears.
  24. taper
    the property of a shape that narrows toward a point
    She spread her long, tapered wings and flew toward Oksi, rat in her talons.
  25. incognito
    with your identity concealed
    “Seems he goes incognito,” he recalled. “He told me he was Leon Longbridge, and he told Joe Cassini he was a government official.
  26. cur
    an inferior dog or one of mixed breed
    “The dog’s adorable—a yellow cur with long ears; big, sad eyes—and the best rabbit chaser I’ve ever seen.”
  27. wan
    become pale and sickly
    Around noon, when the air had wanned, Frightful gave the little eyas the last bites of the rat.
  28. succumb
    be fatally overwhelmed
    The day they succumbed to starvation, he flew down the Schoharie gorge and up over the mountains of Delhi.
  29. distress
    psychological suffering
    He cried in distress.
  30. feral
    wild and menacing
    Mole caught a feral chicken, and Sam cooked it on a small and smokeless fire.
  31. expletive
    profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
    “Desdemondia,” said Sam, using Bando’s respectable expletive.
  32. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    Mole put his tail between his legs and slunk out from under the lodge, into the bushes.
  33. circuitous
    deviating from a straight course
    Sam took a circuitous route through the woods to the county road.
  34. douse
    cover with liquid; pour liquid onto
    “That’s the best part of skunk spray. After a short while, you can’t smell yourself—or anyone else who’s been doused in it.”
  35. bureaucratic
    of or relating to unnecessary procedures and red tape
    Too much red tape. The eyases would be grandparents by the time we got through all the bureaucratic loops.
Created on Mon Aug 03 20:29:58 EDT 2015 (updated Tue Sep 11 10:38:33 EDT 2018)

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