Chinatown, San Francisco, In 1906.A big Earthquake of 8.2. in the Richter Scale shook the city. In this book, we see a girl's testimony of what the earthquake was for her. We see the confusion, the shelves flying away and grandma and grandpa running up and down to gather everything they need. I think it's really interesting to see how we react and what we reach for in emergencies like this. When I was in sixth grade, I remember we had a an earthquake while we were in school. We were doing a group activity sitting on the floor and when the quake started, we all looked at the substitute teacher running out of the class in fear with her wedding planning binder (she was new in the city and it was her first quake). In page 13, there's the first aftershock. Two of the people in the illustrations break the fourth wall and I can feel them looking at me scared like waiting for me to jump in and help
."The earth shook again,. We stopped, and watched in fear as buildings crumbled around us"
I went back to this page several times throughout the book.
Like the girl in the book, my mom and my aunt experienced the 1976 earthquake in Guatemala and had to live in tents in the street for a couple of months.
It's beautiful to see how a sense of community awakens after a natural disaster. Strangers helping each other sometimes with food, and sometimes just lending an ear or a shoulder to who needs it the most. ( )

The earthquake takes readers through the author's mother's experience of living through the San Francisco earthquake/fire in 1906. Milly shows us through beautiful illustrations and simple yet to the point writing the emotions and sights her mother experienced. A great story to share with young children in social studies class. ( )

1906 San Franscisco Earthquake from a survivor's viewpoint

In "Earthquake" readers will learn what it feels like to live through a natural disaster...through the confusion, the dirt, and the fear. Author Millie Lee based this story on her mother's own experiences during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Told in the first person, the narrator describes the actions her family took to travel from Chinatown to the safety of Golden Gate Park. The narrator had to dress in extra clothing and her grandmother frantically packed holy objects along with food and bedding. Illustrations by Yangsook Choi are dark and brooding at first and then lighten up when the family leaves behind the smoke and rubble the earthquake caused. Students will learn about one of California's greatest natural disasters by reading this engaging picture book. ( )

This is a fictional story based on true events of the author's mother experienced. The illustrations are dark and detailed, done in oil paints. The content of this story is about a little Chinese American girl who was living in Chinatown when one of the greatest earthquakes ravaged San Fransisco in 1906. The family was forced to pake up their belongings and leave their home. They had to take refuge in Golden Gate Park. The reading level for this book is from first to third grade. Some curricular connections could be earthquakes, San Fransisco, and historical fiction.