Chasing Secrets

By Gennifer Choldenko

A young girl uncovers a hidden plague in 1900 San Francisco, challenging societal norms to save lives.

3.8/5 Goodreads · 2,478 ratings

288 pages· 53,449 words· Est. 6 hour read

$8.99Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

In 1900 San Francisco, Lizzie Kennedy, a science-loving girl trapped in a snobby school, discovers a hidden plague threatening the city. As her father and the authorities deny its existence, Lizzie teams up with Noah, the cook's son, to unravel the truth. Amidst quarantines and racial tensions, they must defy societal rules to protect their loved ones. Can they uncover the secrets before it's too late?

From the publisher

Newbery Honor-winning author Gennifer Choldenko deftly combines humor, tragedy, fascinating historical detail, and a medical mystery in this exuberant new novel. San Francisco, 1900. The Gilded Age. A fantastic time to be alive for lots of people . . . but not thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy, stuck at Miss Barstow’s snobby school for girls. Lizzie’s secret passion is science, an unsuitable subject for finishing-school girls. Lizzie lives to go on house calls with her physician father. On those visits to his patients, she discovers a hidden dark side of the city–a side that’s full of secrets, rats, and rumors of the plague. The newspapers, her powerful uncle, and her beloved papa all deny that the plague has reached San Francisco. So why is the heart of the city under quarantine? Why are angry mobs trying to burn Chinatown to the ground? Why is Noah, the Chinese cook’s son, suddenly making Lizzie question everything she has known to be true? Ignoring the rules of race and class, Lizzie and Noah must put the pieces together in a heart-stopping race to save the people they love. Winner of a Los Angeles Public Library FOCAL (Friends of Children and Literature) AwardNominated for: Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice AwardsTennessee Volunteer State Book Award (Middle School division)Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Readers AwardCalifornia Library Association’s Beatty Award, Eureka List

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