Quake!: Disaster in San Francisco, 1906

by Gail Langer Karwoski, Robert Papp (Illustrator)

Overview

A boy and his dog navigate dangerous rubble, prejudices, and survival in this riveting fictional account of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

It's before daybreak in San Francisco on April 18, 1906. Mourning the loss of his mother, thirteen-year-old Jacob Kaufman slips out of the cramped boarding house where he lives with his immigrant father and little sister Rosie. Why couldn't Papa just let him keep the stray dog—the one thing that has made him happy in months? But he forgets all his frustrations when the ground beneath his feet begins to rumble.

Buildings collapse, and the street splits wide open as Jacob runs for safety from a devastating earthquake. With just his dog, he embarks on a perilous search for shelter, food and water, and missing loved ones while grappling with his Jewish traditions and fighting prejudices against a new Chinese friend.

In Gail Langer Karwoski's stirring fictional account of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, young readers will relive the drama of the actual event and its devastating aftermath. An author's note carefully separates fact from fiction, giving young readers a glimpse into one of the worst earthquakes in modern history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561453696
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	03/07/2006
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	598,619
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gail Langer Karwoski received a BA from the University of Massachusetts and an MA from the University of Minnesota. She taught third- and fourth-grade students for many years. Karwoski has published several picture books and historical novels for middle readers. She lives in Georgia.

Robert Papp, a fine artist who trained at the DuCret School of Art, has produced hundreds of award-winning illustrations for books from romance novels to young adult books. He lives in Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lisa, who is also an artist.

Editorial Reviews

"Karwoski's novel conveys very capably the fear, disorientation, and shock of living through a major disaster and coping with the aftermath. . . Quake! combines disaster and family longing for a sturdily constructed and affecting look at the past." —School Library Journal

"Karwoski's research is apparent in the many vivid details of life after the earthquake, but readers will be less concerned with social issues than with the developing stories of the sympathetic characters." —Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 4-6-Karwoski's novel conveys very capably the fear, disorientation, and shock of living through a major disaster and coping with the aftermath. On occasion the novel's tone seems more like that of historical novels of a few decades ago, but the protagonist is appealingly unvarnished, alternately sweet and angry, open-eyed both to the destruction at large and the smaller scale unhappiness at home since his mother's death. Jacob's latest argument with his father, over a stray dog he wants to keep, results in him leaving home early the morning of the quake and being separated from his family when disaster strikes. Jacob has the unsettling experience of finding a friend's grandmother dead in the city's ruins, but also-thanks to the dog's heightened senses-the opportunity to save the life of San, a Chinese boy who becomes his fast friend. Jacob, already personally familiar with anti-Semitism, sees through San's eyes how badly the Chinese immigrants are treated. On the other hand, the boys also take part in the community created by the tent cities, in which people who might otherwise never have met begin to live and work together. The hoped-for happy ending materializes, but not before Jacob entertains the strong possibility that he may have to live with San's family if his own cannot be found or-worse-is dead. He also learns that he should not let disagreements stand between him and his loved ones. Quake! combines disaster and family longing for a sturdily constructed and affecting look at the past.-Coop Renner, Fairmeadows Elementary, Duncanville, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal