Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906

So fast paced, it's hard to put down. Nick is a former sharecropper and orphan who runs away to San Francisco. He manages to find a brief employment, taking care of a golden retriever when the earthquake and subsequent firestorm hit. Notable for the friendships that he builds in a very short time (Tommy, a grocery store boy in Chinatown, Annie, a little girl who's mom runs a boarding house and Mr. Pat, who owns a stationer's store and used to be on the stage), and based on a true story. There were moments that really upset me (Annie is a very large personality and doesn't hesitate to be a complete jerk in order to get her way), and Nick carries too much of the world on his shoulders, but on the whole, it's great historical fiction.

I taught this book in fifth grade lit circles. The students really loved the suspense and guessing what would happen. It even inspired one of the students to do research about better ways the fire could have been put out, which was so inspiring.