A City Tossed and Broken (17 page)

Authors: Judy Blundell

BOOK: A City Tossed and Broken

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While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Minnie Bonner is a fictional character, created by the author, and her diary and its epilogue are works of fiction.

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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any measns, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Blundell, Judy.

A city tossed and broken : the diary of Minnie Bonner / Judy Blundell. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (Dear America)

Summary: It is 1906, and when her family is cheated out of their tavern, fourteen-year-old Minnie Bonner is forced to become a maid to the Sump family, who are moving to San Francisco — three weeks before the great earthquake.

ISBN 978-0-545-31022-2 (paper over board)

[1. San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906 — Fiction. 2. Earthquakes — Fiction. 3. Household employees — Fiction. 4. Family life — California — Fiction. 5. Diaries — Fiction. 6. San Francisco (Calif.) — History — 20th century — Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series: Dear America.

PZ7.B627146Cit 2013

813.6 — dc23

2012014742

e-ISBN 978-0-545-51006-6

The display type was set in P22 Arts and Crafts Hunter.

Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi

Photo research by Amla Sanghvi

First edition, March 2013

Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1906