63 pages 2 hours read

Ivy Ruckman

Night of the Twisters

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1984

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Chapters 5-7

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary: “Eight O’Clock”

Dan and Arthur turn on the TV when they get back to Dan’s house. When Dan goes into the kitchen for a snack during a commercial, he sees the window curtains blowing straight back into the room. His mom, who is sewing a dress for Dan’s grandmother in the kitchen, asks him to close the window. He grabs some crackers and heads back to the living room in time to hear the TV announcement warning of severe weather. Dan’s mom rushes into the room and expresses her relief when she hears that the funnel clouds aren’t in the immediate area, although they are close. She still seems worried as she looks out the window, commenting on how dark the sky is. Dan asks if they need to go into the basement and she says not yet. Arthur tries to reassure them that tornadoes move from southwest to northeast, which means it should steer clear of them, but Dan still feels uneasy. He knows he and his mom are wishing his dad was home.

Dan and Arthur keep watching TV, but Dan is distracted. He has experienced several tornado warnings in his life, but they’d never amounted to more than a barn roof being damaged.