Since I've been reading a lot of grown-up books on the 1906 earthquake over this past year, I decided to pick up this middle grade book on the subject so that my son could learn my about it. I read it first. Karwoski uses the backdrop of the earthquake to educate readers about the historical event and more--the protagonist, Jacob, is Jewish and mourning the loss of his mother a few months before, and wrestles with guilt over eating non-kosher food after the quake; he saves a Chinese boy and learns about the terrible ways that other people treat the Chinese; and the solution to the story isn't all neat and tidy, as he's left wondering in limbo for an extended period of time as he worries about if his family survived.

I had two quibbles with the story. The first is that the dog he brings home the night before is the most active character in the whole book; the mutt should have been named Plot Point. He's the one who saves Jacob from being buried in the quake, he's the one who saves San, he reunites the family. The dog initiates every major event. The other issue is the sanitized way that looting was handled. In two cases, business owners encouraged people to loot their stores because the army was going to dynamite them, anyway. I'm sure there were some cases like that, but really? I think it would have been okay for Jacob to salvage some food under the circumstances, "permission" or not.

In all, though, a good action-filled historical fiction book for kids, and one I'll pass along to my son. ( )

I enjoyed this historic piece about a boy that had to indure a tradgedy and all the things he encountered and how he delt with it. I wonder what it was like to live back then without cell phones? ( )

(4.3)