Parents' Guide to Magnitude

MAGNITUDE begins on a summer day in 1903. Nine-year-old Cora Henshaw and her family are at a beach near San Francisco when an earthquake strikes. A huge wave created by the quake is about to drown Cora when she's rescued at the last minute by nine-year-old Oliver Brennan. The Henshaw and Brennan families become fast friends, until the relationship between the adults ruptures and Cora and Oliver are forbidden to see each other. Almost three years later, on April 18, 1906, Cora's left home before dawn to walk to the city's docks. There's a chance her father might be returning on a ship after months away working. That time of day is also too early, she hopes, for Union Street Gang members Vincent and Tony to be out. She owes Vincent money and she has no way to pay back the debt that's due today. At 5:12 am, a powerful 7.9 earthquake strikes. Cora and Chi, a Chinese American girl she's just met, fall through a huge crack in the street and find themselves buried underground in what seems like the remains of an old ship. Searching for a way out, Cora finds a bag filled with gold coins. A fortune that could change her struggling family's life forever. Would it really be stealing, thinks Cora, if no one's ever come looking for them? Thoughts of the gold are put aside, as Cora and Chi use an old harpoon canon to blast a hole in the earth above them. They see daylight and Cora hears a familiar voice. It's Oliver. The three decide to stay together while they look for their families. Oliver's father and brothers are firefighters, so he knows they're in danger. Both Cora and Chi learn their neighborhoods have been devastated. Desperate for news of their families, the three must find their way through streets lined with burning and collapsed buildings and search huge city parks filled with thousands of people who've lost their homes. And it's not just the aftermath of the quake that's dangerous. Vincent and Tony are looking for Cora.