The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 Book Review

 








The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yep, Laurence. The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Harper Collins, 2006. ISBN: 9780060275259


2.  PLOT SUMMARY

 It’s April 18th, 1906 and the earth dragon (earthquakes) has been asleep for over 38 years. It begins with normal activities like Mr. and Mrs. Travis is going to the opera and their son Henry and the house servant’s son, Chin, reading penny dreadfuls in his bedroom. That night when everyone was asleep a devastating earthquake rocked all of San Francisco. Henry and his family struggle to escape their home but fare well with items pulled out into their yard. The whole street has damage to their homes but they all congregate and assist those needing help. Meanwhile in Chinatown, Ah Sing and Chin’s apartment building collapses with them stuck inside. Chin escapes and finds help to remove his father. They are worried about the Travis family so they embark on a treacherous journey to the other side of the city. Fires begin breaking out all over town and firefighters are working hard to get ahead of them. With aftershocks prevalent, maneuvering the city proves quite challenging. Ah Sing and Chin make their way to a ferry to Oakland and begin to sell fish to make money. The Travis family deserts their home and head for refuge by the bay. The 3 fires converge in The Great Fire which destroys everything in its path. Narrowing in on the last bit of land the Travises are on, Naval boats rescue the remaining families stranded. The Travises reunite with Ah Sing and Chin while watching their city burn to the ground. When all is said and done, they all begin to cry at the loss of possessions and life knowing it will never be the same again. The Travises decide they will rebuild, while Ah Sing and Chin will have to live in the new Chinatown. The boys find a penny dreadful but decided they don’t need to read it since they know real life heroes now., 

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This story is a gripping tale of how one is never prepared for a disaster. The characters are developed nicely and are about the same age as the age group reading the book. One family is wealthy and lives in a townhome in San Francisco. Ah Sing and his son Chin live in a small apartment in Chinatown. The plot is broken down by time intervals and the location in San Francisco. The town is described accurately according to the time period. It’s vividly represented and integral to how the earthquake damaged the city and how the fires began and spread. The overall theme is timeless in that disasters don’t discriminate between the wealthy and the poor. The style of the book is unique in that Laurence Yep used time stamps with the location as a kind of diary entry to act out the scenes from around the city. He also personifies the earthquake as a dragon and the fires. The description of everything creates quite the imaginative scene. This book is an excellent read for grades 3rd and up. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist (March 1, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 13))

Gr. 3-5. On the evening of April 17, 1906, neither eight-year-old Henry nor his friend Ching is aware that the earth beneath their San Francisco homes is shifting. Devotees of "penny dreadfuls,"both boys long for excitement, not their fathers ordinary routine lives. When the earthquake shakes the city and a firestorm breaks out, Henry and his parents scramble in the chaos and battle the fire, but must ultimately evacuate their home. Ching and his father survive the collapse of their Chinatown tenement, and flee to the ferry through the debris and turmoil. In the midst of catastrophe, the boys realize that their fathers are real-life heroes. Henry and Ching's stories are told in alternating chapters with a few interruptions for the insertion of earthquake information. Told in the present tense, the narration provides a "you are there"sense of immediacy and will appeal to readers who enjoy action-packed survival stories.

5. CONNECTIONS

Related websites:

“The San Francisco Earthquake, 1906.” http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com, 1997, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sfeq.htm.

“Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco - 1906 Earthquake and Fire.” www.sfmuseum.org, 2020, www.sfmuseum.org/1906/06.html


Related books:

Mack, Gerstle. 1906. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1987 ISBN: 9780877011767

Hansen, Gladys C, and Emmet Condon. Denial of Disaster. San Francisco, Cameron And Co, 1989. ISBN: 9780918684332


Activities:

Create a structure to withstand an earthquake

Students can create their own Penny Dreadful book

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