Magnitude

Resilient tweens must work together to survive in this race-against-the-clock fictionalization of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After losing ownership of the family gold mine, 12-year-old Cora Henshaw's father travels from San Francisco to Los Angeles for work, leaving Cora to take care of her mother and younger brothers. Desperate for money, Cora steals food and picks pockets to feed her family, and visits the docks at dawn to scan passenger ships for her father's return. She's on her daily trip to the docks--accompanied by Chi, a girl from Chinatown she's just met--when an earthquake hits and the street cracks open beneath them. Callouts at the start of each chapter detail a minute-by-minute timeline of events, against which Nielsen (The Free State of Jax) hair-raisingly chronicles Cora and Chi's struggle to escape the underground cave-in while contending with ruthless looters and corrupt officials. Though plot points lean heavily on convenience and some characterizations feel one-dimensional, high-tension conflict ensures reader investment across a thrilling adventure narrated via Cora's sincere first-person POV. An author's note concludes. Most characters are white; Chi reads as having Chinese ancestry. Ages 8--12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)

Three friends demonstrate exceptional fortitude under harrowing circumstances. This fast-paced novel about a real-life historic disaster opens in 1903 as first-person narrator Cora Henshaw, age 9, enjoys a family beach outing near San Francisco. It's a prophetic day: They feel tremors--and Cora meets Oliver Brennan, who becomes her best friend. Three years later, a devastating earthquake strikes very early in the morning of April 18, 1906. Cora befriends Chi, a young Chinese American girl, when both plummet into a chasm. Through heroic efforts, the pair emerge largely unscathed, having forged a loyal alliance. Eventually, they connect with Oliver, whom Cora hasn't seen in some time. Successive chapters signal hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute events as neighborhoods crumble, fires rage, and standing structures are dynamited to quell emergent blazes. Desperation reigns, and citizens are displaced. Nielsen sustains tension throughout as the intrepid trio scour decimated neighborhoods for loved ones. They confront San Francisco's malevolent anti-Chinese bigotry, corrupt municipal officials, and two menacing Italian American teens. Backstories trace the breakdown of the close friendship between Cora's and Oliver's families (who are cued white) and Cora's moral dilemma about gold coins she "finds" among the ruins. Unfortunately, though the author's portrayals of Chi and the plight of Chinese people in San Francisco are warm and sympathetic, they lack depth and nuance. A solid book that brings cataclysmic events into stark relief. (author's note)(Historical fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.