Just turned twelve, Lily is the oldest of the three children in her Chinese American family living in San Francisco when the 1906 earthquake hits; her family has survived the quake, but as the city starts to burn Lily and her younger brother are separated from the others and must get to the safety of Oakland across the bay and hope that the rest of their family and friends are there waiting for them--but between the fire and the anti-Chinese violence it is not certain that any of them will survive. Includes nonfiction backmatter, a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts.

Veeda Bybee grew up collecting passport stamps and dreaming of castles in far off places. A daughter of Asian immigrants, she has been writing and drawing pictures since she was seven years old. A former journalist, she has an MFA in Creative Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Nevada with her family where she reads, writes and bakes.