Storm Runners

In Roland Smith’s 2011 adventure novel, Storm Runners, three middle-grade students struggle to survive and find shelter during a hurricane after their school bus crashes. While a team of rescuers drives toward the disaster in search of the missing kids, the three students use all their skills and brainpower simply to stay alive.

Award-winning author Smith spent decades working as a zookeeper and world-traveling animal rescuer. He has turned his experiences into award-winning novels and non-fiction books for young readers, including more than 50 titles in several series. Storm Runners is the first of a three-book saga about young adventurer Chase Masters and his storm-chasing dad, John Masters. The ebook version of the 2011 first edition of Storm Runners forms the basis for this study guide.

Plot Summary

Thirteen-year-old Chase Masters finally decides to repair his kid sister’s treehouse—she and their mom died a year earlier in a car wreck—but he leaves his dad’s tools outside. In the morning, it rains, and when Chase’s dad, John, goes outside to retrieve his tools, he is struck by lightning. Shortly after he recovers, the economy collapses, and his work as a home builder suffers. He sells his properties, turns over the business to his brother, loads up a semi-truck and a travel trailer, and takes Chase on a trip across America in search of storms.