Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 [Paperback]

Deborah Hopkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2008 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

“I believe I can just see you on the streets of that bright city.”

Gran’s gone now, but her words live on with Nicholas Dray, almost twelve, as he makes his way from the hot cotton fields to that Queen of Cities: San Francisco. Nick’s on his own for the first time, with nowhere to turn. Then he meets jaunty, talkative Pat Patterson, owner of the most beautiful store–and the friendliest golden dog–in all the city. And for the first time in months, Nick feels safe. Safe in San Francisco.

But the year is 1906, the month is April, and early one morning the walls begin to shake. The floor begins to buckle. And the earth opens up. A devastating earthquake and then raging firestorms ravage the city, and Nick is right in the middle of it all. But for a young boy who’s got few ties and nothing to lose, what’s the right choice: escape to safety or stay–at deadly risk–to help others?

From acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson comes a suspenseful and carefully researched novel of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire and of one boy’s heroic fight to survive it.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–The terror of the 1906 disaster is brought powerfully alive in this fast-paced tale. When 12-year-old Nick Dray's grandmother dies, he is placed in an orphanage. He runs away, leaving Texas for the bright lights of San Francisco. Once there, he talks his way into a job at a stationery store, which he guards while the owner is away on business. One morning, the boy is startled awake by the earthquake and decides he will try to save the man's most prized possessions, including his dog, Shake. Nick also helps his neighbors escape their badly damaged rooming house and leads them to the safety of Golden Gate Park. Readers will feel as if they're in the middle of the nonstop action. Descriptions of the rubble, fire, and chaos are vivid and detailed. The geography and history of the city are woven smoothly into the story, placing all of the action into context. Nick is a thoroughly developed protagonist, as are the supporting characters. There are also some thoughtful insights into the nature of catastrophes, such as Disaster like this, it's the poor who suffer the most.–Kristen Oravec, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Joining the spate of titles published in commemoration of the great earthquake's centenary, this engrossing tale takes Nicholas, a young Texas orphan newly arrived in San Francisco, on a heroic rescue mission through the largely uncontrolled fires that turned out to be more destructive than the quake itself. Falling in narrative and historical detail somewhere between Laurence Yep's Earth Dragon Awakes and William Lavender'sAftershocks (both 2006), this smoke-filled odyssey gives readers vivid glimpses of the disaster's scope, and, in Nicholas' encounters with his neighbors and other residents, wider insight into the range of human response to sudden catastrophe of any sort. Nicholas is an appealingly uncertain, unself-conscious protagonist, and his upward change of fortunes at the end seems well deserved. An afterword and a bibliography are appended. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440421292
• ISBN-13: 978-0440421290
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deborah Hopkinson is the award-winning of picture books, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers. She has won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text twice, for A Band of Angels and Apples to Oregon. Her book, Sky Boys, How They Built the Empire State Building, was a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor awardee. Her recent works include Michelle, First Family, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, an ALA Notable, Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole, which won a 2009 Oregon Book Award, and Stagecoach Sal, named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009. She serves as Vice President for Advancement at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars *FORTITUDE & GRIT ADD UP TO A RIVETING STORY . . . *, September 26, 2006

By 

mcHaiku "nmi" (Brown County INDIANA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 (Hardcover)

It is hard to imagine a story about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake being anything but riveting. Deborah Hopkinson's thorough research led her to build her novel around Nicholas Dray, a true life runaway from the county farm, befriended by a merchant a few days before the 1906 earthquake and devastating firestorm.

The author's story closely follows archived history and is

exciting for all ages to read. Class units will take students on many useful tangents, with teaching tools available via www.randomhouse.com/teachers. It may generate some discussion about emergency preparedness also.

Earthquakes are of universal interest and "Into the Firestorm" cannot be categorized as 'just' a boys' book - - even though teachers & librarians, frustrated at jump-starting "reluctant readers" will rejoice to recommend it to students. Hopkinson keeps the level of excitement high, and Nick's reactions believable. Deserted by his father, his emotional needs centered on his grandmother, and later in San Francisco on his Chinese-American friend Tommy, his employer/mentor Mr. Pat AND the dog who also was part of the true story of those ghastly fires.

Hopkinson deftly adds cotton-picking in Texas, and a fascination with the art of writing; reviewer mcHAIKU appreciates the quality these add to this story of a time when "stick-to-itiveness" was okay, and fortitude & grit added up to honest-to-goodness values. And for all readers, a five star reward.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting historical read!, March 23, 2007

By 

Karen Yingling "K. Yingling, Librarian" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 (Hardcover)

Deborah Hopkinson's Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 (and the title really does help-- I won't have teacher questioning whether or not it is historical!) was great. Several good things going for it-- the title, the cover, and the first couple of lines:

"Hey, kid. Get back here and empty your pockets."

Nicholas Dray whirled to see a burly policeman pointing a black club right at him. He froze in astonishment. This should not be happening.

Yes! This will make a child pick up the book! There is some discussion of how Nick got to San Francisco, having run away from the cotton fields after his grandmother died, but it's done in flashbacks that are interspersed with the excitement of San Francisco. Have several students in mind for this and can't wait to get a copy! This author also did Shutting Out the Sky:Life in the Tenements of New York which I liked. I'll have to check for others!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for SFO Earthquake Devotees ( and adventure lovers), September 13, 2009

By 

LME "The Discerning Viewer" (Central CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 (Paperback)

This was a very good book overall but falls a little short of the mark of greatness. I could almost give it 4 1/2 stars because the integration of historical fact was so well done. The character of little Annie was given dialog and thought patterns that were simply too old for her eight years. It wasn't obnoxious, but not true to the age and sex of the child, even for a mature one. The character of her mother was not sketched, although her physical appearance was. She had enough of a presence in the book that her persona should have been put forth. I really enjoyed the quirkiness and good-natured humor of Mr. Pat

All that said, it was a good read, and my 11 year old daughter loved it. The historical backdrop was very well done and cleverly used, although one was a little hard-put to feel the emotional trauma that a 12-13 year old boy must have gone through in this situation.