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Chasing Secrets
Author:
Choldenko, Gennifer
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 8-12
Language: English
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LC: PZ7.C446
Grade: 3-7
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ISBN-13: 9780385742535
LCCN: 2014040329
Imprint: Wendy Lamb Books
Publisher: Random House Inc
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Pub Date: 08/04/2015
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $16.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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278 pages : illustration ; 22 cm
H 8.56",
W 5.81",
D 0.96",
0.8875 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Fresh Reads for Kids TIPS Selections
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Children
Brodart's TOP Juvenile Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Children's Core Collection, 23rd ed.
Children's Core Collection, 24th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 13th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 14th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 15th ed.
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Awards:
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Booklist Starred Reviews
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
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Starred Reviews:
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Booklist
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TIPS Subjects:
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Friendship
Family Life
Asian-American & Pacific Islander
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BISAC Subjects: |
JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / United States / 20th Century
JUVENILE FICTION / Health & Daily Living / Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries
JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Prejudice & Racism
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LC Subjects:
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Chinese Americans, Fiction
Chinese, Juvenile fiction
Fathers and daughters, Juvenile fiction
Friendship, Fiction
Friendship, Juvenile fiction
Plague, Fiction
Plague, Juvenile fiction
Quarantine, Fiction
Quarantine, Juvenile fiction
San Francisco (Calif.), History, 20th century, Fiction
San Francisco (Calif.), Juvenile fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Chinese Americans, Fiction
Communicable diseases, Fiction
Father-daughter relationship, Fiction
Friendship, Fiction
Plague, Fiction
San Francisco (Calif.), History, 20th century, Fiction
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
3.7
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Points: 7.0
Lexile Level:
540
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Juvenile Titles | 07/01/2015 |
| Lizzie's secret love of science does not bode well for a 13-year-old in 1900 San Francisco. Energized by the house calls she often makes with her physician father, Lizzie seeks the truth about the plague said to be sweeping the city as she befriends a Chinese cook's son. 288pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Booklist | 06/01/2015 |
| Grades 5-8. Dead rats, hushed rumors of plague, and cryptic talk of a monkey are at the forefront of 13-year-old Lizzie's mind as she schemes to rescue the family cook, Jing, from quarantine in San Francisco's Chinatown during the year 1900. In her newest novel, Newbery Honor Book author Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts, 2004) delves into the controversial circumstances surrounding this outbreak of bubonic plague, as well as the more pedestrian challenges of growing up as a girl in early twentieth-century America. Bright and tenacious Lizzie has ambitions to become a doctor like her father, but such dreams give her little in common with other girls her age and also put her at odds with Aunt Hortense, who is determined to make a lady of her. The plot is enriched by winning characters, meaningful friendships, a taut atmosphere, and secrets multiplying as fast as the story's rats. Readers will sympathize as Lizzie fights for Jing and confronts challenges brought by adolescence, gender inequality, and racial prejudice. An author's note and chronology provide additional historical information. This engrossing mystery perfectly balances heart and intrigue, proving once again Choldenko's talent for packaging history within a story that kids are bound to love. Smith, Julia. 288p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2015. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 08/01/2015 |
| 9 to 12. Good historical fiction is hard to find, but it's probably even harder to write. Newbery Honor winner Gennifer Choldenko's ability to research obscure yet intriguing topics is uncanny, and as she did with the popular Al Capone trilogy, she turns a tough topic into a high-interest read with Chasing Secrets. Thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy is stuck in a snooty girls' school in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, but she feels free and competent when she accompanies her physician father on house calls, affording her the opportunity to show her knowledge and independence. But soon everything she knows--or thinks she knows--is challenged: The bubonic plague has led to part of the city being quarantined; many are threatening to burn Chinatown to the ground; and her family's beloved Chinese cook is missing. Even worse, no one believes her fears. Her father and her powerful uncle, a newspaperman, deny the outbreak, and her older brother, Billy, is too distracted to help. Lizzie befriends the cook's son, Noah, and together they hatch surreptitious, daring plans to connect the dots of the medical mystery plaguing their city and their families. Lizzie unabashedly takes on the problems of the world, reminiscent of Sophia in Avi's Sophia's War. Choldenko's research is exhaustive, weaving little-known details into the narrative, as well as into the author's note, chronology and endnotes. Themes of friendship, race relations and deception--with diseased rats thrown in for good measure and accuracy--mesh together to create a compelling work of historical fiction. Sharon Verbeten. 288. BOOKPAGE, c2015. |
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| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 10/01/2015 |
| R. Gr. 4-6. It's San Francisco at the dawn of the twentieth century, but this time the plot centers not around fire but plague. Thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy is encouraged by her physician father to follow her dream to become a doctor, and he gives Lizzie run of his library and takes her with him on his rounds. Therefore, when rumors of plague begins to circulate and Jing, the family cook, goes missing, Lizzie is drawn to the double mystery of the disease itself and the fate of the family's Chinese servant. It's not easy for an adolescent girl to wrangle information from tight-lipped, disapproving adults, but with the help of a schoolmate, a quietly smitten admirer, and even her recalcitrant older brother, she manages to locate Jing and unearth some very ugly truths about the white San Francisco community: many residents have conflated their fear of disease with their hatred of Chinese immigrants, and they are using the plague as an excuse to burn down Chinatown. Choldenko is a fine storyteller, and this should prove to be a historical fiction crowd-pleaser on several levels-the ever-popular theme of infectious disease, the intrigue of forbidden friendship, some hijinks at a cotillion (replete with details of ballgowns), and even a touch of tragedy. Endnotes (with their own source citations), and a timeline of events supply historical context. EB. 288p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2015. |
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| Horn Book | 09/01/2015 |
| Intermediate, Middle School. Newbery Honor-winning author Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts) extends her historical San Francisco-set fiction with this light mystery. Thirteen-year-old Lizzie is a smart, scientifically-minded girl, which in 1900 makes her out of place in her silly finishing school, and she delights in following in her doctor father's footsteps. Applying the scientific method to rumors of the bubonic plague in Chinatown, she finds herself facing the power of the media and racist political schemes as she attempts to rescue her Chinese housekeeper from quarantine. Choldenko's appealing and convincing main characters and detail-rich setting keep the story afloat, though there is little actual mystery in the end--rather the disturbing smoke-and-mirrors of adults in power. As the mystery fades, Lizzie grows up. Some anachronistically progressive views may wear readers' trust a little thin but may also tempt them to learn more about a fascinating place and time. nina lindsay. 280pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2015. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 05/01/2016 |
| 2. Thirteen-year-old Lizzie is a smart, scientifically-minded girl, out of place in a San Francisco finishing school in 1900. Applying the scientific method to rumors of the bubonic plague in Chinatown, Lizzie faces the power of the media and racist political schemes as she attempts to rescue her Chinese housekeeper from quarantine. Appealing, convincing characters and a detail-rich setting keep the light mystery afloat. nl. 280pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2016. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 05/01/2015 |
| Infected rats and San Francisco's dark past at the turn of the 20th century come to light in Newbery Honoree Choldenko's (Al Capone Does My Shirts, 2004, etc.) look into an outbreak of bubonic plague. Even though 13-year-old Lizzie Kennedy attends the prim and proper Miss Barstow's School for Young Women, courtesy of well-to-do Aunt Hortense and Uncle Karl, she'd rather accompany Papa on his medical house calls. She longs to follow in her father's footsteps, unheard of for a girl and unlike her grouchy older brother, Billy. To ease her school loneliness, Lizzie relies on Jing, her family's beloved cook, who never fails to make her smile. As rumors about the plague infecting San Francisco abound, only Chinatown is put under quarantine. When Jing fails to return home, Lizzie fears he may be stuck in Chinatown. She's desperate to find him, not only for herself, but for Jing's 12-year-old son, Noah, who is hiding out in Jing's upstairs room. Lizzie and Noah's secret friendship grows with genuine tenderness and illuminates the differences and injustices that exist within gender, class, and race. Historical details, such as Joseph Kinyoun's pathogen experiment and immunization politics, feel meticulously researched (and familiar to the point of contemporaneity) but never take away from the story's heart. A solid story of friendship, mystery, and one girl's perseverance, in which a health scare and its rumors mirror today's epidemics. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-14). 288pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2015. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 05/18/2015 |
| Ages 9-12. "Aunt Hortense says I try hard to be peculiar. But she's wrong; I come by it quite naturally," says Lizzie Kennedy, 13, who reluctantly attends a fussy finishing school in turn-of-the-20th-century San Francisco when she'd rather be making house calls with her father, a kindly doctor. (She and Jacqueline Kelly's Calpurnia Tate could've been BFFs if they had lived nearby.) When Lizzie overhears talk about a bubonic plague outbreak, her father and her uncle, a wealthy newspaper publisher, dismiss it as rumor. Within days, however, Chinatown is quarantined, trapping the Kennedys' beloved cook, Jing, and marooning his son, Noah, who he had secretly hidden in the Kennedy's servants' quarters. Ignoring the social mores that would prohibit Lizzie from befriending a boy her age, a servant's child, or a Chinese person, she finds Noah much better company than her snooty classmates. A powerful subplot involving Lizzie's older brother, Billy, shows that the controversy over immunization has long roots. Choldenko, who won a Newbery Honor for Al Capone Does My Shirts, delivers another engaging historical novel about a little-known event. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown.(Aug.). 288p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2015. |
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| School Library Journal | 06/01/2015 |
| Gr 5-8--Thirteen-year-old Lizzie is the daughter of Dr. Jules Kennedy, who practices medicine in turn of the 20th century San Francisco. The family resides in a house on Uncle Karl and Aunt Hortense's Nob Hill estate. There's Lizzie and her brother, Billy; Jing, the cook; Maggy, the maid; and--unbeknownst to all but Lizzie--Jing's son, Noah. Since Lizzie's mother died, Aunt Hortense has assumed a maternal role in Lizzie's upbringing, which includes making her attend Miss Barstow's School for Young Women. Unfortunately, the school offers little to nurture Lizzie's interest in science and medicine. While accompanying her father on house calls, Lizzie soon hears rumors of a plague. Then Jing goes missing. She suspects he might be under quarantine in Chinatown. But why is Chinatown the only area of the city under quarantine? And why aren't any medical staff or supplies being sent to the Chinatown residents? Despite the evidence, city officials and the medical community--including Lizzie's father--are denying the plague's existence. As the title suggests, various characters, along with the state and city government, harbor secrets. An author's note, time line, and bibliography document the historical facts and issues of the period. VERDICT Choldenko's latest novel features a fast-paced plot that will appeal to lovers of both mystery and historical fiction. A first purchase. Sharon M. Lawler, formerly of Randolph Elementary, Universal City, TX. 288p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2015. |
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9780385742535,dl.it[0].title
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