by Moe Zilla

Created on: January 26, 2009

San Francisco shook with a tremendous earthquake in 1906. An eight-year-old girl remembered the earthquake, and later described it to her daughter. That daughter was Milly Lee, who grew up to be a California librarian. And when Milly retired, she tried her hand at writing a children's book. She preserved her mother's memory in "Earthquake," published 95 years after the original event!

It was a significant event in the history of Chinese Americans, and Lee dedicates the book to the memory of her parents. Gorgeous illustrations in the book show the city of San Francisco under a peaceful nighttime sky. When the earthquake strikes "We were not hurt, just stunned," she writes. The illustrations show the furniture crashing and falling - but by the fifth picture, the family is coming together and packing their possessions. There's a fiery sky in the background as they load their possessions into a cart. But even then, more relatives are there to help - and the young brothers pitch in to clear a path for a cart. And soon the entire community has gathered in
Porstmouth Square.

Lee's next children's book won an award from the National Council for Social Studies, since it described the prejudice faced by Chinese immigrants as they waited at Angel Island. So it's refreshing in "Earthquake" to see a helpful policeman pointing the community to safety. Their biggest danger is nature itself, and as they carry their possessions past the fire-stained skies, "The earth shook again. We stopped, and watched in fear as buildings crumbled all around us."

It's interesting that the book was published in August of 2001, since the next month a new generation of Americans faced another tragedy. It's cathartic to see the community of Chinatown united by the disaster. "All around us, frightened people struggled with loads too dear to leave behind," Lee writes. It's hot and smoky, and their cart is heavy, but the family travels through it together, eventually seeing the smoking city from a safe distance on a hill. "In Golden Gate Park, there was food, water, and tents for shelter," Lee writes, and the family rests there and eats.

The book ends without minimizing the tragedy at all - and that's ultimately what gives it its biggest impact. Instead it ends with the open-ended observation that they had escaped it - and they were together.

"We were safe for now, while the city still burned and the earth still shook."

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