“This book drew me in so completely I did not want to put it down.” “Lizzie and Noah’s secret friendship grows with genuine tenderness … a solid story of friendship, mystery, and one girl’s perseverance.” “Choldenko delivers another engaging historical novel about a little-known event.” “Choldenko's latest novel features a fast-paced plot that will appeal to lovers of both mystery and historical fiction. Karin Snelson, children's editor, Shelf Awareness, starred review “Not only will this novel hold a proud spot on the deadly disease shelf with Jim Murphy's An American Plague and Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793, it's a vivid picture of 20th-century San Francisco and a stirring story of a lonely, funny girl trying to be her 'best true self.”

In wonderfully frank closed-door conversations, Noah opens Lizzie's eyes to racial injustice … and a side of her longtime friend Jing she never even considered. 'Choldenko masterfully builds the suspense of Lizzie's attempts to rescue Jing, and the story intensifies when Lizzie discovers Jing's charming 12-year-old son, Noah, hiding in their own house. “The plot is enriched by winning characters, meaningful friendships, a taut atmosphere, and secrets multiplying as fast as the story's rats.” Make use of the Writing Timeline videos in your classroom. Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award Nominee Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Nominee 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.įOCAL Award (enriches a child’s appreciation for and understanding of California) The newspapers, her powerful uncle, and her beloved papa all deny that the plague has reached San Francisco. 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. Lizzie lives to go on house calls with her physician father. Lizzie’s secret passion is science, an unsuitable subject for finishing-school girls.

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.

Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko