I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011: Chapters 1–7

by Lauren Tarshis
In this twelfth book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Dexter James is riding with a storm-chasing scientist, when a flash of lightning inside a cloud reveals an enormous, rotating wind that's headed straight for his Missouri hometown.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–15
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. huddle
    crouch or curl up
    People rushed to their basements and huddled in bathtubs as their houses collapsed on top of them.
  2. limb
    any of the main branches from the trunk or a bough of a tree
    The ferocious winds roared and sent tree limbs and rocks smashing against the SUV.
  3. practically
    for almost all actual purposes but not completely
    There were about 50,000 people living in Joplin, and it seemed that at least half of them were practically part of Dex’s family.
  4. stride
    walk with long steps
    “Good morning, Dex!” he said, striding over.
  5. raw
    not treated with heat to prepare it for eating
    “Did he ever have to eat a raw lizard?” asked Mike Sturm, who had replaced Dex as Dylan’s best friend.
  6. dawn
    become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
    He didn’t want to think about Jeremy. Because it had suddenly dawned on Dex that his brother—his best friend in the world—might not make it home in one piece.
  7. admit
    declare to be true or accept the reality of
    Dex couldn’t admit this to the guys; they’d think he was a little coward.
  8. blubber
    cry or whine with snuffling
    He said a quick good-bye, afraid he was going to start blubbering in front of the twins.
  9. slobber
    let saliva dribble from the mouth
    Dex sat there in shock until Zeke revived him with an attack of slobbering licks.
  10. gush
    praise enthusiastically
    “I love your show,” Dex gushed.
  11. pulverize
    destroy completely
    Powerful tornadoes are like mile-wide chain saws, with winds that can get up to 300 miles per hour, strong enough to pulverize buildings, turn a neighborhood into a pile of wood chips, or pick up a tractor trailer and hurl it a hundred yards.
  12. serious
    concerned with work or important matters rather than play
    “Deb, Norm is a serious scientist,” Dad said.
  13. grueling
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    He had just finished SEAL training in California, the most brutal military training in the world. It was six months of pure misery, Jeremy said, endless days of grueling runs, freezing ocean swims, and impossible obstacle courses.
  14. trident
    a spear with three prongs
    Dex also showed them Jeremy’s SEAL trident pin, which Jeremy let him bring to school for the day.
  15. prong
    a pointed projection
    The pin was a golden eagle clutching an anchor, a gun, and a three-pronged spear.
  16. insist
    beg persistently and urgently
    Of course Dad insisted on a personal tour of Dr. Gage’s SUV, which had been specially equipped
 for storm chasing.
  17. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    There were the extra-strong metal plates bolted to the sides to protect from flying rocks and debris.
  18. tinker
    try to fix or mend in an unskilled manner
    “It used to be a paintball gun,” Dr. Gage said. “I tinkered with it, added a wider barrel. So now it’s my official sound-pod launcher.”
  19. drift
    be in motion due to some air or water current
    A small balloon inflated in the sky, like a mini parachute. But instead of drifting down, the balloon shot up farther into the sky.
  20. transmit
    broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television
    “And the sounds are transmitted back to my lab. So far I’ve collected sounds from fifteen different storms.”
  21. radar
    measuring instrument using pulses of microwave radiation
    Dex studied the screen in front of him, which showed a weather radar map.
  22. splotch
    an irregularly shaped spot or patch
    Splotches of different colors pulsed on the screen like jellyfish.
  23. squat
    having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground
    “That used to be my great-grandfather’s diner,” Dex said as they passed a squat brick building that was now a gift shop.
  24. royalty
    royal persons collectively
    “You’re Joplin royalty,” Dr. Gage said.
    Dex had to laugh as he imagined a king eating Mom’s Saturday night chili, or a princess lounging on the couch covered with Zeke’s fur.
  25. steeple
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    In Joplin, the tallest rooftops were mostly the church steeples, and the best parties were backyard barbecues.
  26. hazy
    filled or abounding with fog or mist
    Dex scanned the sky, which was clear blue except for some hazy clouds.
  27. squash
    compress with force, out of natural shape or condition
    Dex was relieved Dr. Gage didn’t reveal how they’d met yesterday—with Dex almost getting squashed by Dr. Gage’s SUV.
  28. enhanced
    increased or intensified in value or beauty or quality
    Dex knew that EF-5 tornadoes are the strongest tornadoes, according to a system called the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which scientists use to rate the strength of tornadoes.
  29. funnel
    a conical shape with a wider and a narrower opening
    An EF-1 is the weakest—a breeze funnel or little rope tornado that can knock over a chicken coop but not much else. The EF-5s are the killers, the violent twisters that wipe out whole towns.
  30. rotation
    the act of turning as if on an axis
    “You can see clues—high wind speeds, a storm that has what we call rotation, or spinning clouds. But tornadoes form deep inside the clouds, hidden from satellites and radar. We don’t know a tornado is coming until someone actually sees it with their own eyes.”
  31. term
    a word or expression used for some particular thing
    “But the most dangerous tornadoes are the ones you can’t see. They hide behind walls of rain and clouds and nobody can see them coming.”
    “Those are called rain-wrapped tornadoes, right?” Dex asked.
    Dex was showing off; he’d learned that term on Dr. Gage’s show.
  32. hail
    precipitate as small ice particles
    It started to hail, huge stones that pounded down.
  33. shingle
    building material used as siding or roofing
    Stuff started flying through the air—leaves, branches, and roof shingles.
  34. pummel
    strike, usually with the fist
    I got pummeled pretty badly. A tractor came flying out of the sky, and crashed down about ten feet from me. The tree I had been standing under was ripped out of the ground. My arm got sliced by a hunk of steel pipe that hit me at one hundred fifty miles per hour.
  35. obsessed
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    You’d think that after that, I’d stay as far away from tornadoes as I could. But I decided to learn everything about them. I became obsessed. The more we know about tornadoes, the better we will be able to predict when and where they'll hit.
Created on Tue Oct 24 18:08:21 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Oct 26 18:15:37 EDT 2023)

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