I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906

“He’d feel scared, and very alone. He’d miss Papa so bad, his whole body would hurt.”

Throughout the novel, Leo battles with intense feelings of loneliness. The story takes place only a few months after his Papa has passed away, and readers find Leo facing the streets of SanFrancisco on his own. Though he tries to be independent and even scoffs at Morris’s friendship at first, deep down he is afraid of being alone.

“But that gold had been Papa’s prized possession. Leo couldn’t just give it up.”

When Leo finds himself facing off against the neighborhood bullies, Fletch and Wilkie, he has to choose between letting them have his gold or fighting for it, and this puts his safety in jeopardy. Ultimately, he decides to fight to retrieve the gold, and while he doesn’t win it, the moment foreshadows the bravery that Leo will display later in the book when his other treasure is in danger: his friend Morris.

“[Morris] spent every spare second at the public library. He always had some new fact to share with Leo.”

Young Morris is always reading and learning new facts, which he then tells to Leo. At first, Leo finds this annoying and wishes Morris would stop talking. After the earthquake, however, Morris’s nose for books turns out to be handy, as he knows much more about how to survive in the situation than Leo or Wilkie knows.

“Of course, Leo knew that Morris was nothing like Grandpop. But the story worked like a charm.”

Toward the beginning of the book, Lauren Tarshis employs irony when Leo tells Morris a story about Grandpop. At the time, it’s hard to imagine the talkative, bookish kid is anything like the brave and cool-headed Grandpop. However, later, Morris proves to be very similar to him, both courageous and sensible.

“Leo sat down on the flea-bitten horse blanket that he used as a bed.”

One of the important historical contexts of the novel is the poor conditions of many orphaned children in the early 1900s. The book takes place at a time when child labor and harsh working conditions were common. By describing the boarding house that Leo and Morris live in, and the way in which these children had to take on adult responsibilities, Tarshis addresses not only the events of the 1906 earthquake but other aspects of American society in the period.

“Leo knew it was a crazy idea, for sure. But no crazier than scaring away a hungry grizzly with a cut-off snake rattle.”

Each time Leo finds himself coming up with a seemingly hare-brained act of courage, he thinks back to his Grandpop’s adventures. Every time he is worried an idea won’t work, he remembers stories about the wild ideas his Grandpop had and how they usually got him out of trouble.

“They didn’t even have an old horse blanket to share. They had covered themselves with newspapers […] This place was worse than his little room at the boarding house.”

Fletch and Wilkie live in even worse conditions than Leo and Morris. This scene is important because it helps readers understand Fletch’s and Wilkie’s relationship, which at first appears to parallel Leo and Morris’s. As the story progresses, this is shown to be untrue. When Wilkie chooses this lifestyle—clearly a very low standard of living—over the offer to play football in Seattle, he shows the extent of his commitment to his friend Fletch.

“In the faint predawn light, Leo saw the chilling stare on Fletch’s face. It was the look of a rattlesnake ready to strike.”

Characters in Leo’s life often take on characteristics of those in Grandpop’s stories of survival. Here, Leo faces off with Fletch, who reminds him of the rattlesnake Grandpop barely survived when he came out West as a teenager.

“It sounded like a hundred freight trains were rushing through the house, their whistles screaming.”

Tarshis utilizes a simile to describe the sound of the earthquake. As a majority of readers have likely never experienced an earthquake before, this is a clever way of relating the earthquake’s sound back to something more familiar: a freight train.

“His mind swirled with worry. He imagined himself wandering the ruined streets, scrounging for food like a rat.”

After the earthquake, Leo is horrified to see San Francisco has completely crumpled. He is filled with fear of being alone as he faces the aftermath of the earthquake. At this point in the book, he doesn’t yet realize that he and Morris are a team, and he isn’t alone at all.

“Maybe Morris wasn’t very big. Maybe he didn’t know when to shut up. But he was smart and tough. And he was the truest friend Leo had ever had.”

Leo begins to see Morris through a new lens as the two of them face the earthquake together. Even though he didn’t initially want to let Morris into his life, Leo begins to realize that their friendship is invaluable. Moreover, Morris has proven time and again that he is willing to sacrifice his own safety for Leo’s. Morris even saves his life.

“[Wilkie’s] expression suddenly changed to fury. […] His eyes bulged. He grunted and growled like the rabid dogs that roamed the alleys.”

When Wilkie discovers Fletch’s betrayal, he becomes consumed with rage. Leo frequently compares Wilkie’s anger to a monster, or to the dogs, or even to the fire that consumed San Francisco. The rages diminish as the novel progresses and his character is slowly humanized.

“But once again, his quick thinking and calm head had saved him.”

This quote refers to Grandpop’s quick thinking; however, it is also applicable to the characters in the present (such as Leo and Morris). Each time one of them is faced with a dangerous situation, they come out of it safely because they don’t panic. It is a useful character trait, and the book’s characters model it in action for young readers.

“And from the look in Wilkie’s eyes, he understood there was no stopping Wilkie. They were in this together.”

By this point in the book, Leo and Morris have already joined forces. The trio is complete when Wilkie, who had earlier sided with Fletch, risks his own life to help Leo save Morris. This demonstrates a huge change of character for Wilkie, and reinforces the idea that he is loyal to his friends.

“Leo rummaged through the sack. It was filled with money-bills and coins, watches and wallets.”

The white flour sack, which is a symbol of Fletch’s greed, is the reason Fletch abandoned Wilkie. In choosing his own gain over the life of his friend, Fletch proves that greed can lead a person to commit horrible acts of betrayal. The sack is also representative of the life Wilkie was a part of before the earthquake, and by giving it to Leo to look for his nugget, he is officially showing Fletch where his loyalty now lies.

“He found his gold nugget. It felt warm, as though it had been in Papa’s hand just moments before.”

At last, Leo is reunited with his gold nugget. Readers are reminded that the value is more sentimental than literal when Tarshis mentions the gold being warm, like it had just been in Papa’s hand. Unlike Fletch, who wanted the gold for monetary gain, Leo has a special attachment to it because it makes him feel closer with his Papa and Grandpop.

“But somehow Morris could always get people to pay attention, whether they wanted to or not.”

Tarshis’s irony in chapter four (See: Quote #5) comes full circle when Morris time and again demonstrates that he has a lot in common with Grandpop. He consistently puts himself in harm’s way to save others, and like Grandpop, his quick and calm thinking is what saves him. Here, he quickly and calmly reasons with Wilkie, and convinces him to spare Fletch so they can all get out of the burning building unharmed.

“None of them looked back at Fletch. But they could hear his rasping cries echoing behind them.”

Fletch’s greed leaves him isolated in the end. Even though the three boys save him from the building, none of them trust him; he is left to fend for himself. His rasping voice, which was earned through a vicious dog bite, is a key character trait readers associate with not only Fletch as a character, but specifically with his cruelty.

“Leo could see that Wilkie’s face had changed. The blazing look was gone. A peaceful look had come over him.”

By the end of the book, Wilkie’s character development arc has come to completion. He no longer has outbursts of rage. He has been softened by the kindness shown to him, and he sets out to show that same kindness to others in return. He starts by giving the flour sack to a woman in need.

“Walking between Wilkie and Morris, his shoulders brushing theirs, he knew in his heart that he wasn’t alone.”

Leo, who has struggled with loneliness for the entirety of the book, finally feels that he has found his new family in Morris and Wilkie. Even though the trio doesn’t look like the family Leo might have imagined, it is the family he needs, and he knows they will always be there for him.

“Their city was gone. Thousands were dead. But they had escaped. Alive.”

The refugees who flee San Francisco and leave for Sacramento are a diverse group ranging in class, race, age, and gender. The one thing that all of them have in common is that they are mourning for everything lost in the earthquake. Even though the situation is dire, Tarshis leaves the readers with a bit of hope: They made it out alive, and new beginnings are on the horizon.

“But smoke and ash still filled the sky. Every breath reminded Leo of what happened.”

Smoke and ash, the aftermath of the fire, continue the fire motif even at the end of the book. As Leo, Morris, and Wilkie look around them at the burned city, they begin to see this not as an ending, but an opportunity to seek out a new life.

“They were some team, the three of them. Leo had the idea they always would be, no matter where life took them.”

Even though the three boys initially planned to stay together in Sacramento, Leo decides to sell his gold nugget so they can afford to start the lives they’ve always dreamed of. In the end, Wilkie leaves for Seattle while Leo and Morris head off to New York City. Leo understands that the two of them may not see Wilkie again, but the ties between them are stronger than any distance, and he will always be part of their family.