THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES: THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yep, Laurence. 2006. THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES: THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.  ISBN: 978-0-06-000846-8

PLOT SUMMARY

This book tells the story of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  The story is told from two perspectives. The first is from the Travis family. Mr. and Mrs. Travis along with their son Henry are with the family dog in their house when the earthquake strikes.  The second perspective is from the Travises' "houseboy" Ah Sing and his son, Chin.  Ah Sing and Chin had returned to their tenement building in Chinatown when the quake strikes.  The book tells about how these two different families worry about each other as they separately struggle to survive the devastating quake and the resulting fires.  The children, Henry and Chin, learn that the real heroes are not found in the books they read, but in their own families as they flee to safety and are eventually reunited with each other.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Earth Dragon Awakes tells the story of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  Laurence Yep uses the two boys in the story, Henry and Chin, to tell this fictional tale based on historical events.  The Earth Dragon Awakes is told in chronological order, beginning the night before the quake, and continuing for the next 11 days.  Yep alternates perspectives from the affluent Travis family to Ah Sing and his son, Chin, who live in Chinatown.  By doing this, the reader gets a glimpse into the differences between the Chinese and American cultures present in San Francisco. 

Chin and Henry share a love of cheap books, “penny dreadfuls” as their parents call them.   Both yearn for more excitement than the ordinary lives their fathers live.  As both of their families struggle to survive the earthquake and fires in different ways, the boys realize their fathers are real life heroes.  Strong themes of family, friendship, survival, and community are all present in The Earth Dragon Awakes. 

Yep uses short chapters that are each titled with the time, date, and place that the part of the story is taking place. By doing this, young readers are able to easily see the progression of time and setting of each chapter.  History, culture, and fiction are all blended together throughout the whole book creating a very realistic story.  Yep includes a preface that explains that the characters are fictional, but the events included in the story are real.  At the end of the story Yep includes an afterword which includes facts about the earthquake and actual photographs of the aftermath.  Below each picture is a caption describing how the scene in the picture relates to the story told by Yep.  These features remind the reader that the devastation and struggle the earthquake caused are very real events from history.  

AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

"Some chapters present facts about such things as how the earthquake begins and how and where the fires start. These factual chapters flow seamlessly with the rest of the novel and provide much needed background information."  Library Media Connection, January, 2007

”Alternating the story of two fictional families with short segments of factual information, Yep creates a frightening sense of immediacy in this docudrama about San Francisco’s destruction in the 1906 earthquake and ensuing firestorm." Horn Book Magazine, July/August 2006

"Its "natural disaster" subject is both timely and topical, and Yep weaves snippets of information on plate tectonics and more very neatly around his prose. A solid supplemental choice." School Library Journal, 2006

CONNECTIONS

-Interview with and short biography on Laurence Yep  - http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/yep/#interviews

-Map of modern day San Francisco -Click Here

-Panoramic view of San Francisco on fire - http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/great/1906/1906_15.html

-Pair this book with a nonfiction book to engage them in their learning

-Discuss other disasters and how they've changed a city/state/country.  Discuss if there were any heroes that emerged during the disaster.

Other earthquake books:

Fiction:

-Earthquake Terror. By Peg Kehret. ISBN:  0-14-038343-3

- Earthquake in the Early Morning. By Mary Pope Osborne.  Illustrated by Sal Murdocca.  ISBN: 0-679-99070-4

-I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906.  By Lauren Tarshis. Illustrated by Scott Dawson. ISBN: 0-545-20699-5

Nonfiction:

-1906 San Francisco Earthquake. By Tim Cooke. ISBN: 0-8368-4494-7

- Earthquakes. By Anna Prokos. ISBN: 0-8368-9151-1

-Earthquake! By Cynthia Pratt Nicolson.  ISBN: 1-55074-968-4