I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944: Chapters 1–9

by Lauren Tarshis
In this eighteenth book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Paul Colbert is on a cliff in Normandy, France, helping the resistance blow up Nazi cannons, when the Allied battleships begin firing on Omaha Beach.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–19
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bellow
    make a loud noise, as of an animal
    The engine screamed and moaned. It sounded like a giant beast bellowing in pain.
  2. eclair
    an oblong cream puff
    Paul’s mouth watered as he remembered biting into a chocolate éclair, with the sweet, velvety cream that slid down his throat.
  3. velvety
    smooth and soft to sight or hearing or touch or taste
    Paul’s mouth watered as he remembered biting into a chocolate éclair, with the sweet, velvety cream that slid down his throat.
  4. crepe
    a small, thin pancake
    Or a crepe filled with strawberry jam that made his fingers sticky all day.
  5. dingy
    gloomy or depressing
    Right now he was heading to the dingy little market down by the river.
  6. desperate
    showing extreme urgency or intensity because of great need
    That’s where desperate people from Le Roc went to sell things—their wedding rings, their prized books, their last pair of shoes.
  7. practically
    almost; nearly
    Practically every young man in Europe was either fighting in the war or was a prisoner of the Germans.
  8. scarce
    deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
    But Paul’s soccer ball was leather, which was scarce. Someone could cut it up and turn it into a pair of shoes or gloves.
  9. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    Paul flinched as he imagined his ball getting butchered.
  10. fanatic
    a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm
    They were both soccer fanatics.
  11. dribble
    propel a ball by repeated taps or kicks
    They’d dribbled it through the wheat fields and orchards and down every cobblestoned street of their town. They’d practiced penalty kicks on the beach as the waves crashed, diving into the sand to stop the ball from rolling into the ocean.
  12. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    “I’m not taking that,” the man behind the table said gruffly.
  13. scrunch
    wrinkle, crease, or crumple a smooth surface
    Paul scrunched up his face, trying to think of what to say to Boris next.
  14. traitor
    someone who betrays his country by committing treason
    He remembered how the Nazis closed down the school after that. They said Mr. Leon was a traitor, a criminal, and a spy.
  15. resistance
    a secret group organized to overthrow a government
    It was like a small army, but not with soldiers. Its members were regular people—writers, shopkeepers, farmers, doctors...and teachers. They stole Nazi secrets for the Allies. They blew up Nazi trains loaded with weapons and tanks. It still shocked Paul that Mr. Leon had been in the resistance.
  16. steady
    marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable
    “Please...it’s my mother’s birthday,” he said, struggling to keep his voice steady.
  17. peer
    look searchingly
    But the bird ignored the crumbs. It peered up at Paul. It had very shiny eyes, gold with a dot of black in the middle.
  18. snag
    catch or cause to catch on something sharp that is sticking out
    He was attached to the tree by the strings of a parachute, which must have snagged on one of the upper branches.
  19. base
    installation from which a military force begins operations
    This soldier must have flown here from one of the air bases in England. That’s where the Allies had most of their soldiers and bases now.
  20. channel
    a deep and relatively narrow body of water
    All that separated France from England was a narrow slice of ocean, called the English Channel.
  21. barbed
    having or covered with protective points, spines, or thorns
    Instead, he thought of Papa behind barbed wire.
  22. bulge
    swell or protrude outwards
    He wasn’t tall, but muscles bulged under his uniform.
  23. harness
    an arrangement of straps for holding something to the body
    “My name’s Victor,” the soldier said, eyeing Paul as he sliced through one of the shoulder straps of his parachute harness.
  24. paratrooper
    a soldier who is trained to jump from airplanes
    This man hadn’t parachuted down because his plane had crashed. He’d jumped out. There were soldiers trained to do that, Paul knew. They were called paratroopers.
  25. perch
    sit, as on a branch
    There was that friendly pigeon again, perched on the branch right above Victor.
  26. snarl
    make an angry, sharp, or abrupt noise
    With a burst of speed, the snarling beast came charging toward them.
  27. rustling
    a light noise, like leaves blowing in the wind
    There was a rustling in the leaves above him.
  28. relief
    the condition of being comfortable or alleviated of distress
    They stared at each other in relief, but they knew that Stroop would be back.
  29. scale
    reach the highest point of
    They ran through the feathery stalks and scaled a stone wall.
  30. foul
    offensively malodorous
    A foul smell of dead mice and centuries of rot rose up.
  31. stumble
    encounter by chance
    We may have stumbled into some kind of resistance hideout.
  32. raid
    search without warning, usually by surprise
    But he also knew Pierre’s old rifle wouldn’t do much good if the Nazis raided this place.
  33. flutter
    flap the wings rapidly or fly with flapping movements
    Victor and the men disappeared down the winding hall, with Ellie fluttering behind.
  34. frantic
    excessively agitated; distraught with violent emotion
    She’d be frantic with worry.
  35. flushed
    reddened as if with blood from emotion or exertion
    Paul thought of all those mornings when Maman left on her bicycle before dawn. When she got home late, her face flushed, peering out the curtains as she fixed supper.
Created on Tue Oct 24 18:31:50 EDT 2023 (updated Mon Oct 30 09:13:23 EDT 2023)

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