WORD LISTS

"I Survived the Galveston Hurricane, 1900" by Lauren Tarshis, Chapters 1–7

Tue Oct 24 18:43:23 EDT 2023
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
In this twenty-first book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Charlie Miller, briefly swallowed by a wall of water at the beach, does not quite believe the weather office's statement that it's impossible for more powerful winds and waves to reach their island city in Texas.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–19
churning
He screamed for his parents and his little sister as the churning waters swept him away.
sputter
Charlie sputtered and gasped as he struggled to keep his head above the waves.
gust
But then came the monstrous waves.
Ba-room!
The wind that blasted with shrieking gusts.
Whoo-eeeeeesh!
gush
Rain gushed down.
gulf
But most shocking was when the usually peaceful Gulf of Mexico suddenly rose up higher, higher, higher—and swallowed the city.
frantic
Charlie looked frantically around him. Where were Mama and Papa and his little sister, Lulu?
flutter
Meraki threw a card into the air, and suddenly it was a yellow bird, fluttering around the theater.
torment
Gordon had started tormenting Charlie last spring, and it went on until the last day of school.
dread
But lately the sight of gray clouds filled Charlie with dread.
distract
The passengers huddled below, terrified. And what did Meraki do? He put on a magic show, of course, distracting the audience with his dazzling tricks.
slight
He whipped his hand out of his pocket and put it up near Lulu’s ear. Flicking his hand slightly, he made the coin drop into his fingertips.
peer
Charlie peered out the window.
bay
There was water all around them—the Gulf to the south and Galveston Bay to the north.
carriage
The street was busy—clogged with all kinds of wagons and carriages and buggies.
stew
Last night at dinner, Papa had looked up from his stew and said, “You know what I just heard? There are more millionaires in Galveston than in almost any other small city in the world.”
port
They had their port, with big ships coming from all over the world.
teeter
And then she teetered. “Whoooa!” She plopped into the water with a loud splash.
puny
Charlie looked at the puny little waves now. It would be fun to have huge waves to ride on.
lurch
Sarah gave the tub a big heave. It lurched forward, and off Charlie went.
blubber
“Stop blubbering,” Gordon taunted. “You’re so weak!”
relief
To his amazement—and relief—all his teeth were still attached.
swollen
His bottom lip felt nasty. It was split and swollen.
hobble
Just then, he noticed an old man in a worn green hat hobbling toward them on the sidewalk.
tolerate
A boy was trailing behind them, and the man was scolding him.
“I won’t tolerate this!”
kerosene
“They have electricity in every room,” she’d told Charlie and Papa later.
At Charlie’s house, they still used kerosene lanterns.
privy
“They have a toilet...that flushes!”
Even Papa was impressed with that. Charlie’s family still used their privy, a little shack a few feet outside the back door of their house. Inside was a hole in the ground, with a wooden seat on top.
gruff
On that night outside the restaurant, Mrs. Potts had smiled and waved, and Mr. Potts had said a gruff hello.
pelt
Gordon glared at Charlie. Shoved him on the way out of recess. Pelted him with spitballs.
maggot
Something hit him in the stomach—a dead rat. A big, rotting rodent crawling with maggots.
sneer
He looked out the window, and a hideous green cloud was swirling in the sky. All of a sudden, it twisted into a giant face. A giant, sneering face...a face Charlie recognized.
reflection
Even in the dim light of the moon, Charlie could see his swollen lip in the reflection.
vial
Luckily I always carried a few small props with me—cards, some coins, and a small vial of red liquid called magic blood.
shard
The vial was made of the thinnest glass. It was meant to be easily broken during a trick, and the shards would disappear into dust.
rasp
I used a low, rasping voice.
gruesome
The magic blood sprayed onto the man’s face, the wall, and the ceiling. It was a gruesome show.

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