The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

Bibliography

Yep, Laurence. 2006. THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES: THE SAN FRANCISO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN0060275251

Summary

Set in San Francisco on the eve of April 17, 1906, Laurence Yep describes the events that will take place during the San Francisco earthquake. Henry, the son of a wealthy banker, and Chin, son of a Chinese immigrant who works for Henry’s father, describe the events that occur in alternating chapters.

Chin, a young Chinese immigrant has come to America with his father to earn money to send back to their family in China. His father, Ah Sing works for the Travis family. While his father is working in the home, Chin spends time with Henry. Henry has been teaching Chin to read with a hidden stash of “penny dreadfuls” that their parents disapprove of. Both boys dream of being a lawman like Marshal Earp instead of their boring fathers. But when the earthquake shakes and destroys San Francisco, the boys both see their fathers in a whole new light.

Critical Analysis

Yep does a beautiful job describing the events that occurred during the San Francisco earthquake in this historical fiction. While telling the story of two boys and their struggle to escape the earthquake and Great Fires, Yep provides numerous facts about the destruction that occurred.

Many cultural markers can be found throughout the story. Yep creatively describes the earthquake and the destruction of the fires using imagery. Yep begins the story, “It is early evening in San Francisco. No one knows about the danger below. Underneath their feet, the earth begins to stir.” When Chin and his father meet up with Ah Quon the butcher, he tells them that he has prayed that the Earth Dragon would remain quiet. Later in the story, Yep describes the Ham and Egg fire. “It rears up like a giant monster. A tongue of flame licks its fiery mouth…The Ham and Egg fire stretches one arm east and the other south. It will join its brothers.” When they arrived at the bay, a ferry set out with many passengers. Yep describes the fire, “It slithers across San Francisco like a dragon with red spines.”

Yep describes the differences between Chinatown and his village in China. “They are all so much taller, look so plain compared to the ones at home, and there are no tiled roofs or carved windows. But the Chinese have added signs and decorations to them. The American buildings look like they are wearing Chinese disguises.” Yep also includes that even though there are about ten thousand Chinese living in Chinatown, he is not able to understand many of them because they all have different dialects. Another marker explains the racism that was going on during this time. Yep describes how the Chinese were not allowed to camp on the same grounds as the Americans.

The reader is also provided other historical markers throughout the text. The reader is able to gather that during this period horses were used to pull wagons. The fire wagon was mentions several times. A fireman tried to get the attention of people by shouting through a megaphone.

Interwoven through the story were facts about earthquakes. Yep explains how the surface of the earth is like a pie crust floating on a hot core. He also provides footnotes about mechanics (blue-collar workers) and how “never had so many people left an American city in peacetime-until Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.” Yep also provided an authors note at the end of the story about the actual events that occurred, a list of references, and photographs of the destruction.

Reviews

School Library Journal review: “Yep looks at the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 from two points of view. Chin is a young Chinese immigrant whose father is a houseboy for a prominent banker and his family. He has become friendly with young Henry Travis, the banker's son, through their interest in low-brow but exciting penny dreadfuls. The stories depict heroic people doing heroic things and, while both boys appreciate their fathers, they certainly do not regard them as heroes. Not, that is, until the Earth Dragon roars into consciousness one spring morning, tearing the city asunder and making heroes out of otherwise ordinary men. Yep's research is exhaustive. He covers all the most significant repercussions of the event, its aftershocks, and days of devastating fires, and peppers the story with interesting true-to-life anecdotes.”

Booklist review: “On the evening of April 17, 1906, neither eight-year-old Henry nor his friend Ching is aware that the earth beneath their San Francisco homes is shifting. Devotees of "penny dreadfuls," both boys long for excitement, not their fathers' ordinary routine lives. When the earthquake shakes the city and a firestorm breaks out, Henry and his parents scramble in the chaos and battle the fire, but must ultimately evacuate their home. Ching and his father survive the collapse of their Chinatown tenement, and flee to the ferry through the debris and turmoil. In the midst of catastrophe, the boys realize that their fathers are real-life heroes. Henry and Ching's stories are told in alternating chapters with a few interruptions for the insertion of earthquake information.”

Connections

Other books written by Laurence Yep include:

Yep, Laurence. 1975. DRAGONWINGS. ISBN 0060267380

Yep, Laurence. 1993. DRAGON’S GATE. ISBN 0-06-022971-3

Yep, Laurence. 1997. THE DRAGON PRINCE. ISBN 0064435180