Firekeeper's Daughter: Chapters 26–44

by Angeline Boulley
After witnessing a murder, an Ojibwe teenager agrees to work undercover for the FBI.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–13, Chapters 14–25, Chapters 26–44, Chapters 45–52, Chapters 53–57
15 words 58 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. affidavit
    written declaration made under oath
    Affidavits from Theodora Sarah Firekeeper-Birch, Josette Elaine Firekeeper, and Norman Marshall Firekeeper—who has written his nickname, Monk, in parentheses because no one has used his given name since the priest baptized him.
  2. taxonomy
    a classification of organisms based on similarities
    Plus, why is order a bad thing? Like taxonomy—categorizing living and extinct organisms by an eight-level classification system: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.
  3. smarmy
    unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating
    Ryan is a smarmy jerk...
  4. standoffish
    lacking cordiality; unfriendly
    Is that why Jamie acted strange on Monday and has been so standoffish this week?
  5. reticence
    the trait of being uncommunicative
    But I don't know what I can say without revealing too much. My reticence is a lie by omission.
  6. nonchalance
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    "Eh," he says, trying for nonchalance.
  7. consensus
    agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole
    The room falls silent with a consensus of nodding heads and pursed lips.
  8. toque
    a small round hat
    But my mom and my nokomis always left gifts for the Little People. A copper thimble. Tiny knitted toques.
  9. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
    Was that when it all started...with a precocious student's inquiry?
  10. throes
    violent pangs of suffering
    Travis looked horrible. He was deep in the throes of addiction.
  11. cadence
    a recurrent rhythmical series
    Love is the first Grandfather teaching we receive as babies—even before birth, as new spirits traveling while our bodies are forming to the cadence of our mother's heartbeat.
  12. enamored
    marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
    I could be a bird asking Creator for love, only to be so enamored of my new mate that I fly into a clean window and break my neck.
  13. epiphany
    a usually sudden insight, perception, or understanding of something
    She looks at me in astonishment, until an epiphany flickers in her eyes.
  14. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
    Although I'm not passionate about math the way I am about science, I am functionally fluent in its numbers, letters, notations, symbols, and jargon.
  15. hyperventilate
    breathe excessively hard and fast
    "Um... when you hyperventilate, your body expels carbon dioxide too quickly," I say. "Recycling your breath restores the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide."
Created on Wed Jun 09 12:42:35 EDT 2021 (updated Wed Jul 30 10:50:09 EDT 2025)

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