It’s 1906, and strict immigration laws have divided Han Liu’s family. His mother and sister are in China, while he and his father live in San Francisco, California. Han resists his father’s attempts to teach him traditional Chinese values. Han is an American, after all, and he’d rather read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer than study Chinese proverbs. But when a massive earthquake and fire destroy Chinatown and separate Han from his father, those proverbs are all he has left. Can Han use the wisdom of his family to survive the earthquake and fire, reunite with his father, and rebuild their life?
It’s the storytellers that preserve a nation’s history. But what happens when some stories are silenced? The I Am America series features fictional stories based on important historical events about people whose voices have been excluded, lost, or forgotten over time.
About the Author
Judy Dodge Cummings has written more than 20 books for children and teenagers. One of her books, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Rain: Real Tales of Temperamental Elements, highlights the true story of five of the United States’ deadliest natural disasters. One of the disasters featured in this book is the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.