Two Degrees: "Up and Over"–"Hurricane Zombie"

by Alan Gratz
Four young people find themselves struggling to survive against the devastating effects of climate change. Akira is caught inside a California wildfire; Owen and George battle and save a struggling polar bear in the Canadian tundra; and Natalie survives Miami's "Big One" hurricane.

This list covers vocabulary from "Up and Over"–"Hurricane Zombie."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6
15 words 23 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. sequoia
    a large redwood tree native to the US West Coast
    The blackened, burned trees eventually gave way to live ponderosa pines, and then to untouched bearclover and white alder, and at last she and Dodger were back among the monarchs again. The giant sequoias. Right where they’d started that morning.
  2. reluctantly
    with a certain degree of unwillingness
    Dodger followed her lead, but reluctantly. Akira frowned. Why was he fighting her so much?
  3. din
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    And then suddenly — WHOOSH — they were out of the scalding heat, out of the roaring, crackling din of the inferno. They were free!
  4. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    All the wind went out of Akira. She gasped for air, writhing and clawing at the dry dirt and pine needles.
  5. narwhal
    an Arctic cetacean, the male of which has a long ivory tusk
    What happened when all the new animals in the north killed off the arctic foxes and belugas and narwhals and polar bears that already lived there?
  6. microbe
    a minute life form, especially one that causes disease
    It was that warmer temperatures all around the world were melting the permafrost in the Arctic, and tiny microbes were feasting on the newly unfrozen plant material in the ground. It was the microbes that created methane — the farts — and methane was a greenhouse gas that trapped heat inside the atmosphere, making the earth hotter.
  7. methane
    a colorless, odorless gas used as a fuel
    It was the microbes that created methane — the farts — and methane was a greenhouse gas that trapped heat inside the atmosphere, making the earth hotter.
  8. pantomime
    act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements
    Owen turned to George with big eyes and pantomimed chewing and clawing, and George immediately understood.
  9. keen
    very good
    He tapped his nose, reminding Owen of the polar bear’s keen sense of smell.
  10. tenuous
    weak or unstable
    The tracks washing away had exposed how tenuous life was up here in the north. Not just for the polar bears, but for the people, too.
  11. aurora
    bands of light caused by charged solar particles
    It was dark now, and the winter sky was alive with the twisting, dancing, ghostly green lights of the aurora borealis. The northern lights.
  12. mangrove
    a tree that grows in salty, tropical water near the coast
    Everywhere she looked, the city and ocean and swamp were all one. A few taller buildings stood up out of the floodwaters like castles with moats, and the tops of palm trees and electric poles sprouted from the water like mangroves.
  13. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    A Latino family stepped tentatively out onto the balcony of another apartment building.
  14. kayak
    a light, narrow boat propelled with a double-bladed paddle
    As Natalie stumbled blearily to the bathroom, she noticed a television, a case full of books, walls covered with posters of anime characters, and a bright orange kayak in the corner.
  15. peninsula
    a large mass of land projecting into a body of water
    In her dreams, Natalie saw a giant, swirling white storm as though she were looking down on it from space. It swallowed up the entire peninsula, and when it was gone, South Florida had been entirely erased from the map.
Created on Wed Jul 09 13:19:50 EDT 2025 (updated Wed Aug 13 13:27:37 EDT 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.