The Lunar Cataclysm
The specific astronomical body that crashes into the moon, knocking it closer to Earth's orbit.
What is an asteroid? (or meteor)
She is the 16-year-old protagonist who records the entire apocalypse through her daily diary entries.
Who is Miranda?
Miranda initially thinks her mother is acting this way when she pulls the kids out of school to buy hundreds of dollars of groceries.
What is crazy? (or paranoid/overreacting)
The elderly next-door neighbor who is treated like family and helps the Evanses plan their early winter preparations.
Who is Mrs. Nesbitt?
This utility is the very first comfort to become highly sporadic, leaving the family in the dark for long stretches of time.
What is electricity? (or power)
Because of the moon’s shifted gravity, these terrifying natural disasters immediately wipe out the world's coastlines.
What are tsunamis? (or tidal waves)
Miranda’s older brother who braves the initial travel chaos to return home from his college in Ithaca, New York.
Who is Matt?
To carry as much food as possible, Miranda, Jonny, and their mother each grab one of these items at the grocery store.
What is a shopping cart?
Miranda’s deeply religious friend who begins fasting and giving away her food because she believes the asteroid is God's punishment.
Who is Megan?
When the local high school shuts down early for the summer, Miranda is forced to do this type of schooling at home.
What is homeschooling?
Miranda notes that the moon looks terrifyingly different after the impact because it has done this physical action toward Earth.
What is tilted? (or moved closer/grown larger)
Miranda's younger brother whose main obsession before (and shortly after) the crisis is playing baseball.
Who is Jonny?
The family buys an immense number of these specific types of food items because they won't spoil when the electricity inevitably fails.
What are canned goods?
The boy on the swim team with whom Miranda shares a brief, comforting romance at Miller’s Pond.
Who is Dan?
When the town library closes down, the librarian allows Matt and Miranda to take as many of these as they can carry.
What are books?
This is the primary reason the global temperature drops drastically and the sky turns gray by Chapter 8.
What is volcanic ash? (from widespread volcanic eruptions)
Before the moon incident upends society, Miranda’s mother, Laura, works as this type of professional.
What is an author? (or writer)
Alongside food, the family buys massive quantities of this specific liquid container to ensure they have drinking supplies if the pipes fail.
What is bottled water?
Miranda's friend who decides to leave Pennsylvania entirely to head south with a much older man named George.
Who is Sammi?
To save Jonny from the bleak reality at home and ensure he gets fresh food, his mother sends him away to this summer program.
What is baseball camp?
When the President addresses the nation after the impact, this is the specific day he asks all citizens to observe.
What is a National Day of Prayer?
This is the name of the Evans family cat, who becomes a major source of anxiety when he accidentally slips outside.
Who is Horton?
The total dollar amount Miranda's mother spends on their massive, car-filling grocery haul—a cost that completely drains her checking account.
What is over $2,000? (Accept roughly $2,100–$2,200)
The famous Olympic-bound figure skater whom Miranda holds a massive crush on and regularly tracks in the news.
Who is Brandon Erlich?
In Chapter 8, the family is forced to switch their heating source from the oil furnace to this classic appliance located in the sunroom.
What is the wood-burning stove?