Review: THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES by Laurence Yep

1. BIOGRAPHY

Yep, Lawrence. 2006. The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 06060275243

2. PLOT SUMMARY

On the evening April 17, 1906 the inhabitants of San Francisco, California are going about their normal business, never imagining that the earth under their feet was stirring. Eight-year-old Henry Travis and nine-year old Chin, (the son of the Travis family’s houseboy), are mainly concerned with helping Henry’s parents get ready to go to the opera on time. Once the Travis' have left, the boys have plans to read more of the exciting “penny dreadfuls” of which neither one of their parents approve. Both Henry and Chin agree their own fathers are not nearly as exciting as Marshal Earp with his blazing six-shooters.

They have cause to revise their opinions of their fathers when the earthquake strikes the next morning. As is often the case, this natural disaster has brought out the best in people and turned ordinary men, (Henry and Chin's own fathers), into heroes. In the aftermath of the earthquake, Mr. Travis tirelessly works to organize a bucket brigade to put out the fires which follow the earthquake, and Ah Sing, Chin’s father, risks his own life to save Chin from a stampeding bull. The boys and their respective families are lucky to survive the earthquakes, and the fires. Now they must make their way to safety at the ferry, where the two families are reunited and begin to rebuild their lives and homes.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Earth Dragon Awakes is told from the perspective of two young boys, one from an affluent neighborhood, and one from Chinatown. It relates the story of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 in chronological order, beginning with the evening of April 17, (the night before the quake), and continuing through the next 11 days. The author alternates settings in the story from Chinatown to Sacramento Street, which gives the reader a glimpse into the different cultures residing in San Francisco, and how the quake affects them. Short informational chapters of about the earthquake and fires are seamlessly woven in between the fictional chapters, creating a sense of realism. In the afterword of the book the author has included factual information and photos from the devastating earthquake and the fires which followed. By telling the story through the eyes of Henry and Chin, Lawrence Yep has made it appealing to third through seventh graders for whom it is intended.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

KIRKUS Reviews: “Eight-year-old Henry Travis and nine-year-old Chin, son of the family houseboy, experience the events of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that destroyed both the Travis's wealthy home and the Chin's tenement apartment. Yep intersperses the fiction of Henry and Chin's experiences with short chapters of facts about the earthquake and subsequent fire.”

BOOKLIST reviews: “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

*This book should encourage a discussion about heroic actions of normal people during natural disasters. Students should volunteer to name natural disasters in their life time and how people worked to help each other.

*This book would work well as a supplement to tie together the history of the San Francisco Earthquake with a unit on earthquakes. Students could study plate tectonics and learn about the land forms which are made by earthquakes. Students could do some research to find out where most earthquakes occur and chart these locations on a world map.

*Other books about earthquakes:

Osborne, Mary Pope. Earthquake in the Early Morning. ISBN 0-679-89070-X

Kehret, Peg. Earthquake Terror. ISBN 9780140383430

Walker, Sally M. Earthquakes. ISBN 978-0-8225-6735-6

Storad, Conrad J. Earth’s Crust. ISBN 0-8225-5944-7

Branley, Franklyn Mansfield. Earthquakes. ISBN 0-690-04663-4

Townsend, John. Earthquakes and volcanoes: a survival guide. ISBN 1-41091927-7