I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 by Lauren Tarshis is one of many books in the I Survived series, a best-selling historical youth fiction series. I Survived books feature fictional child protagonists who survive critical moments in history that typically (but not always) involve a natural disaster. This book centers on the story of Leo, an orphaned paperboy trying to survive on his own in San Francisco. His world is turned upside down when the city is struck by an earthquake that leaves the city in shambles.

This guide references the 2012 Scholastic paperback edition.

Plot Summary

In San Francisco, 11-year-old Leo is trying to make a life for himself alone in the wake of his Papa’s death. Whenever he is afraid or lonely, he pats his pocket, where he keeps a gold nugget his Grandpop passed down to him. The gold is a memento from his Grandpop’s trek across America in the time of the gold rush. Stories about Grandpop’s resilience as a young teen make Leo feel brave again and keep him feeling close to the family he’s lost.

One day, the neighborhood bullies, Fletch and Wilkie, who recently escaped from a work camp, trap Leo in an alley and steal his gold. Leo is surprised that they even know about it, but then he remembers someone who must have told them: Morris. Morris is a younger kid who lives in the same boarding house as Leo and is always following him around and trying to befriend him. Leo bitterly remembers telling Morris about the gold, something he did to cheer him up one day after Morris’s uncle left him alone to go gambling. When Leo confronts Morris, Morris tries to make it up to Leo by telling him they can try to trick the bullies into giving the gold back.

That night, Leo can’t sleep; all he can think about is what Morris said. He starts to remember a story about his Grandpop, who tricked a grizzly bear into thinking he was a rattlesnake by waving around a rattle cut from a snake that had once almost bit him. Leo decides to dress up as the town ghost and scare the boys into giving his gold nugget back.

The trick nearly works when Morris comes stumbling in, breaking the illusion. A fight breaks out between all four of them, but it doesn’t get very far before a huge rumble shakes the entire building and the chimney starts to cave in. It’s an earthquake. Leo can’t move from all the shaking, and he is finally pulled to safety by Morris. Fletch escapes out the window, leaving Wilkie buried beneath the fallen chimney. Even though they were just fighting with him, Leo and Morris team up to pull Wilkie out from under the rubble.

When Wilkie realizes that Fletch, who is supposed to be his friend, has abandoned him, he grows furious and begins throwing bricks in anger. While the two of them were in Seattle, Wilkie was offered the chance to play football on a team at a fancy high school by a coach who saw him. Wilkie turned down the offer because he would never abandon Fletch, and now Fletch has left him for dead. Wilkie teams up with Leo and Morris to hunt Fletch down and find Leo’s nugget.

Outside, San Francisco is demolished. Buildings have collapsed, people are trapped (both alive and dead) and families stand huddled together on the sidewalks, weeping. Soon, the city is ablaze in a raging fire caused by the earthquake. The firefighters make an attempt to put it out, but the earthquake has destroyed the water mains. All anyone can do now is watch.

The boys arrive at an alley, where they see Fletch running with a white flour sack on his back. Morris takes off after him, but before Leo and Wilkie can follow, a roof collapses and closes off the alley surrounded by fire. Leo panics, wondering how he can save his friend. He tries to calm down and remember the scariest survival story about his Grandpop, the one that almost killed him: wildfires in California. He recalls how his Grandpop soaked his clothes in water and was able to run through the fire.

Leo finds a horse trough and soaks his clothes and a horse blanket that he finds. When he gets to the fire blocking the entrance to the alley, Wilkie stands with him, and Leo understands he won’t have to do this alone. Leo throws the horse blanket over the two of them, they hold their breath, and jump through the fire.

On the other side, they find Morris trapped in a hole in the street. They work together to pull him out, then climb up a garbage heap into the open window of a home. As they descend the stairs, they encounter Fletch, who has hurt his leg and is lying on the ground, holding the white flour sack close to him. Wilkie debates hurting Fletch further, but Morris talks him out of it. Together, they drag Fletch to safety then leave him alone. However, before they leave, they take the white flour sack from him.

Leo gets his gold nugget back, and Wilkie, determined to turn away from his life of pickpocketing, gives the money to a crying woman on the street who lost her home and her husband in the earthquake. Leo recognizes that Wilkie has changed, and the three boys set off for whatever new life they can find.

They stay at a tent camp in Golden Gate Park for a few days before taking a chance on a free train ride to Sacramento. They are accompanied by a multitude of other San Francisco refugees, all mourning the loss of their city and their loved ones. The boys plan to stay together in Sacramento, but a last-minute change of plans sets them on a different course.

Leo remembers the promising life that awaits Wilkie in Seattle, and the cousins in New York City that Morris had told him about earlier. Leo sells his gold nugget so they can all go their separate ways and find new, happy futures somewhere else. Leo isn’t sad to lose his nugget, nor is he sad to be leaving Wilkie—and San Francisco—for a new life in New York City with Morris. The stories that he has of his family are his forever, as are the ties that bind him, Morris, and Wilkie together, no matter where they end up in life. The book ends with the promise of new adventures for Leo as he leaves San Francisco.