I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005: Chapters 1–7

by Lauren Tarshis
In this third book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Barry Tucker creates a superhero, whose courageous power he wishes for when he is swept away by a flood in New Orleans.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–16
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. current
    a steady flow of a fluid or gas
    He’d fallen off the roof of his house and been swept away in the floodwater. The raging current had tossed and twisted him, almost tearing him to pieces.
  2. jagged
    having an irregularly notched or toothed margin
    In the dirty gray light, Barry saw jagged hunks of wood, shattered glass, a twisted bicycle, a refrigerator, a stuffed penguin, a mattress covered with a pink blanket.
  3. splinter
    divide or break into slivers or fragments
    The splintered wood looked like teeth in a wide-open mouth.
  4. anxious
    eagerly desirous
    “Okay,” Barry said, clearing his throat and standing up like an announcer facing an anxious crowd. “This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Akivo!”
  5. admit
    declare to be true or accept the reality of
    He’d worked hard on the drawing. Of course he’d never admit it to Jay, but it was almost like Akivo was his brother.
  6. practically
    almost; nearly
    His booming laugh practically shook the ground.
  7. brace
    prepare for something unpleasant or difficult
    Barry turned and put his hands over his face, bracing for the feeling of teeth ripping at his neck.
  8. pudgy
    short and plump
    Suddenly he looked like the old Abe, the pudgy guy in the Saints jersey who tried to show Barry and Jay how to shoot layups.
  9. jazz
    genre of American music that developed in the 20th century
    Barry’s dad was a little famous in the Lower Nine: His band, Roddy Tucker and the Blasters, played in jazz clubs around New Orleans.
  10. mandatory
    required by rule
    “There’s a mandatory evacuation. First time in New Orleans history.”
    “What’s that?” Jay asked.
    “It means if you can leave, you’ve got to leave,” Dad said.
  11. blare
    make a loud noise
    There were better neighborhoods in New Orleans, and sometimes Mom and Dad talked about moving to a block where police cars weren’t always blaring their sirens, where Mom would feel safe walking after it got dark.
  12. quarter
    a district of a city having some distinguishing character
    She also had a little business baking cookies for restaurants in the French Quarter, the fancy neighborhood across the canal.
  13. channel
    a deep and relatively narrow body of water
    The Mississippi River wormed through the middle of the city. And so many canals and channels jutted this way and that, Barry couldn’t keep track of them all.
  14. jut
    extend out or project in space
    And so many canals and channels jutted this way and that, Barry couldn’t keep track of them all.
  15. concrete
    a strong hard building material made with gravel and cement
    Of course there were levees—big walls of dirt and concrete that protected the city from all that water.
  16. levee
    an embankment built to prevent a river from overflowing
    But some people said that the levees weren’t strong enough for a really big storm.
  17. shingle
    building material used as siding or roofing
    “Barely lost a roof shingle,” he liked to say as he patted the wall like you’d pat the back of a loyal friend.
  18. fascinate
    cause to be interested or curious
    Those Betsy stories had fascinated Barry when he was little. But they’d always seemed like ghost stories and fairy tales, stories that could never come true.
  19. fib
    tell a relatively insignificant lie
    “Are you worried?” Barry asked, brushing some flour from Mom’s sleeve. She’d been baking all morning.
    “Not at all,” she said, but Barry could see she was fibbing. Mom always baked when she got nervous.
  20. drain
    make weak
    Good thing he wasn’t a superhero. One look at a crying Cleo and all his powers would be drained away.
  21. motto
    a favorite saying of a sect or political group
    But one day, Mom always said. One day. She said those words so often they had become the Tucker family motto.
  22. peer
    look searchingly
    He peered into the backseat.
  23. drawl
    a slow speech pattern with prolonged vowels
    “Hey there, Barry! Hello there, princess!” he boomed, his words stretched out by his thick drawl.
  24. generator
    engine that converts mechanical energy into electricity
    I have my generator and about a million hot dogs.
  25. interstate
    one of a system of highways linking major cities in the U.S.
    They sped toward Interstate 10, but the closer
 they got, the heavier the traffic became.
  26. exhaust
    gases ejected from an engine as waste products
    The hot and sticky air stunk of car exhaust.
  27. distract
    draw someone's attention away from something
    Cleo fussed, and Barry tried to distract her with one of his stories.
  28. rummage
    search haphazardly
    Dad rummaged in the glove compartment and found a wad of napkins.
  29. evacuate
    move out of an unsafe location into safety
    Mom managed to talk to their doctor, who had evacuated to Baton Rouge.
  30. relieved
    made easier to bear
    Looking at those crowds on television, Barry was relieved when Mom and Dad decided they were better off at home.
  31. streak
    a narrow marking of a different color from the background
    The sky turned gray with streaks of silver.
  32. gutter
    a channel along a roof that carries away rainwater
    “Whoops, a gutter came loose.”
  33. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    The plane rattled so badly Barry was sure one of the wings would fall off.
    And in all that commotion, Dad had just sat there, reading his book.
  34. crane
    stretch, so as to see better
    “Quite a ride,” he’d said, never taking his eyes from the book, never once looking outside at the lightning or craning his neck to see the scared expressions on the stewardesses’ faces.
  35. flicker
    shine unsteadily
    The room was dark except for the flickering light of a candle on the corner table.
Created on Thu Oct 12 15:09:59 EDT 2023 (updated Mon Oct 16 14:17:16 EDT 2023)

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