Residents of Moore, Oklahoma, vividly recall May 20, 2013. Just before 3:00 p.m., a monster E-5 tornado swept through the Oklahoma City suburb. When Plaza Towers Elementary School took a direct hit, teachers and students scrambled for safety. One student who, along with classmates and a teacher, survived in a school restroom recounts the sounds. Aronin then deviates to provide information on tornadoes: how they form, why Moore has more than its share, and why the Great Plains area is known as Tornado Alley. Returning to Moore, she identifies individual heroic acts and the myriad volunteers who rescued and cared for displaced humans and animals. The book's format and eye-catching color photographs are inviting and will appeal to elementary students, and its quick turnaround coming a hallmark of the Code Red series impressive. Though much of this information is readily available online, this offering is vetted by a meteorologist.

This book opens with an account of the devastating effects of the 2013 Oklahoma tornado on an elementary school (potentially unsettling for student readers). The brief, accessible text is supported by a few eyewitness testimonies and lots of captioned color photos. Appended bullet-point profiles of four people who "showed great courage and compassion" seem like filler. Reading list. Bib., glos., ind.