Magnitude
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Mar 3, 2026
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iceberg and The Free State of Jax comes the harrowing story of the fight for survival during the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the desperate race to find survivors.
San Francisco, 1906.
When Cora leaves her house in the early morning hours of April 18th, she expects trouble to find her, like it somehow always does. But as she makes her way to the San Francisco docks to look for her father, the earth begins to shake and suddenly, Cora realizes that she's not just in trouble--she's in danger.
Soon after, the last thing Cora remembers seeing is a tall building swaying overhead, before everything goes dark.
When Cora wakes up, she's trapped underground with Chi, whom she met by accident on the way to the docks. They're running short on air and time, when miraculously, Cora's friend Oliver pulls them from the rubble. Once she's above ground again, Cora is shocked to find herself in a city that has been decimated by a massive earthquake.
Together, Cora, Chi, and Oliver begin a desperate search for their families, all the while trying to evade terrifying fires that are tearing through the wreckage and a gang of thieves who are pursuing Cora and a valuable secret she holds.
From beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a thrilling, suspenseful story about courage, friendship, and the strength it takes to survive one of the most terrible natural disasters this country has ever seen.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Resilient tweens must work together to survive in this race-against-the-clock fictionalization of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After losing ownership of the family gold mine, 12-year-old Cora Henshaw's father travels from San Francisco to Los Angeles for work, leaving Cora to take care of her mother and younger brothers. Desperate for money, Cora steals food and picks pockets to feed her family, and visits the docks at dawn to scan passenger ships for her father's return. She's on her daily trip to the docks—accompanied by Chi, a girl from Chinatown she's just met—when an earthquake hits and the street cracks open beneath them. Callouts at the start of each chapter detail a minute-by-minute timeline of events, against which Nielsen (The Free State of Jax) hair-raisingly chronicles Cora and Chi's struggle to escape the underground cave-in while contending with ruthless looters and corrupt officials. Though plot points lean heavily on convenience and some characterizations feel one-dimensional, high-tension conflict ensures reader investment across a thrilling adventure narrated via Cora's sincere first-person POV. An author's note concludes. Most characters are white; Chi reads as having Chinese ancestry. Ages 8–12.
