Shop HuggleHounds
Buy New
To see product details, add this item to your cart.
Ships from: East Summer Books
Sold by: East Summer Books
To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.
Shipper / Seller
East Summer Books
East Summer Books
Shipper / Seller
East Summer Books
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.
Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less See less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by ThriftBooks-Phoenix.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

  • Chasing Secrets

Follow the author

Follow authors for new release and deal updates, plus improved recommendations. See updates from all followed authors in Your Books.
Gennifer Choldenko
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Chasing Secrets

by Gennifer Choldenko (Author) Format: Hardcover
4.4 out of 5 stars (159)
Editors' pick Best Books Ages 9-12

Purchase options and add-ons

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) Award
Nominated for:
Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards
Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award (Middle School division)
Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Readers Award
California Library Association’s Beatty Award, Eureka List
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Reading age
    9 - 12 years
  2. Print length
    288 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    4 - 7
  5. Dimensions
    5.81 x 0.96 x 8.56 inches
  6. Publisher
    Wendy Lamb Books
  7. Publication date
    August 4, 2015
  8. ISBN-10
    0385742533
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0385742535
Next slide of product details
Discover teachers' picks. Discover%20teachers%27%20picks.

Customers also bought or read

Page 1 of 1Start over
Previous page
  2. Book cover Unwind (Unwind Dystology)
    Unwind (Unwind Dystology)Teachers' pick
    Paperback
    $7.30
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  3. Book cover Orphan Eleven
    Orphan Eleven
    Paperback
    $8.99
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  4. Book cover In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse
    In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse
    Hardcover
    $10.49
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  5. Book cover Stargazing
    StargazingTeachers' pick
    Paperback
    $7.04
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  6. Book cover Letters from Rifka
    Letters from RifkaTeachers' pick
    Paperback
    $6.50
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  7. Book cover Because of the Rabbit (Scholastic Gold)
    Because of the Rabbit (Scholastic Gold)Teachers' pick
    Paperback
    $7.99
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  10. Book cover The Harlem Charade
    The Harlem Charade
    Paperback
    $7.43
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  11. Book cover Hattie Big Sky (Hattie Series)
    Hattie Big Sky (Hattie Series)
    Paperback
    $8.38
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  16. Book cover Through My Eyes
    Through My EyesTeachers' pick
    Hardcover
    $10.41
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  17. Book cover The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)
    The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)Teachers' pick
    Paperback
    $8.54
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  18. Book cover The Birchbark House
    The Birchbark HouseTeachers' pick
    Paperback
    $5.73
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  20. Book cover No Passengers Beyond This Point
    No Passengers Beyond This PointTeachers' pick
    Hardcover
    $17.60
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  21. Book cover Two-Minute Drill (Comeback Kids)
    Two-Minute Drill (Comeback Kids)
    Paperback
    $7.41
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  22. Book cover Immigrant Kids
    Immigrant Kids
    Paperback
    $8.99
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
  24. Book cover Fuzzy Mud
    Fuzzy MudTeachers' pick
    Paperback
    $7.03
    Delivery Sun, Oct 4
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5–8—Thirteen-year-old Lizzie is the daughter of Dr. Jules Kennedy, who practices medicine in turn of the 20th century San Francisco. The family resides in a house on Uncle Karl and Aunt Hortense's Nob Hill estate. There's Lizzie and her brother, Billy; Jing, the cook; Maggy, the maid; and—unbeknownst to all but Lizzie—Jing's son, Noah. Since Lizzie's mother died, Aunt Hortense has assumed a maternal role in Lizzie's upbringing, which includes making her attend Miss Barstow's School for Young Women. Unfortunately, the school offers little to nurture Lizzie's interest in science and medicine. While accompanying her father on house calls, Lizzie soon hears rumors of a plague. Then Jing goes missing. She suspects he might be under quarantine in Chinatown. But why is Chinatown the only area of the city under quarantine? And why aren't any medical staff or supplies being sent to the Chinatown residents? Despite the evidence, city officials and the medical community—including Lizzie's father—are denying the plague's existence. As the title suggests, various characters, along with the state and city government, harbor secrets. An author's note, time line, and bibliography document the historical facts and issues of the period. VERDICT Choldenko's latest novel features a fast-paced plot that will appeal to lovers of both mystery and historical fiction. A first purchase.—Sharon M. Lawler, formerly of Randolph Elementary, Universal City, TX

Review

“The plot is enriched by winning characters, meaningful friendships, a taut atmosphere, and secrets multiplying as fast as the story’s rats.” —Booklist 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." —Shelf Awareness starred review

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wendy Lamb Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 4, 2015
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st ptg.
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385742533
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385742535
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12 years
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.81 x 0.96 x 8.56 inches
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 7
  • Best Sellers Rank: #2,971,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars (159)

About the author

Follow authors for new release and deal updates, plus improved recommendations. See updates from all followed authors in Your Books.
Gennifer Choldenko

Gennifer Choldenko

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

There’s a Lego in my bum which fits with the Lego in my chair and when I sit down to write, I hear the satisfying snap of the two pieces fitting together. I love words, dictionaries, thesauruses, sharp pencils, the smell of book ink and the delicious art of carving out sentences on clean white paper. I love to slip into another person’s skin and feel what it’s like to live another life. I love when characters come to me out of nowhere and make me cry so hard my mascara runs or laugh until my stomach hurts. I love the crazy fun and infinite possibility of storytelling.

What prepared me for a life of writing fiction? Though I have a BA from Brandeis University in English and American Literature and a BFA in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design, the true answer is probably genes. I come from a long line of Irish storytellers on my father’s side and theatre people on my mother’s. I always knew I loved to write, but it took me a long time to summon the courage to chase the dream. I finally went for it when I realized I would prefer to be a failure at something I wanted to do, then a success at something I didn’t.

While I was pretending I wasn’t a writer, trying to be a nice person with a nice quiet job somewhere, I sold lingerie, lipstick and lamp shades. I wrote junk mail. I taught visually and hearing-impaired kids horseback riding. I held a prestigious job in rubbish removal and I worked in a factory wearing a paper gown while wielding a large mallet on small serving packages of ketchup.

One Third Nerd, my funniest novel yet, is due out in January 2019. My most famous novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts, garnered 20 awards, one of which was the Newbery Honor. The Tales of Alcatraz series has sold more than 2 million copies. What will probably be the last book in the series: Al Capone Throws Me a Curve is the best of the fifteen books I’ve written so far.

I am a fitness fanatic; a book-obsessed, tennis-playing woman who thinks like a twelve-year-old. If I ever get the good fortune to meet you, offer me coffee and I will be your friend for life.