I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906

“It didn’t look like much—kind of like a chewed-up yellow rock. But it was worth a fortune, Leo knew.”

Leo’s gold is one of the most important things to him in the book. Here, the gold represents the characters in the book. Many of them (Leo, Morris, and Wilkie, specifically) may not seem like heroes at first. However, by the end of the book, all three of them will show extraordinary courage, and their friendship will be judged priceless.

“He’d feel scared, and very alone. He’d miss Papa so bad, his whole body would hurt.”

Throughout the novel, Leo battles with intense feelings of loneliness. The story takes place only a few months after his Papa has passed away, and readers find Leo facing the streets of SanFrancisco on his own. Though he tries to be independent and even scoffs at Morris’s friendship at first, deep down he is afraid of being alone.

“But that gold had been Papa’s prized possession. Leo couldn’t just give it up.”

When Leo finds himself facing off against the neighborhood bullies, Fletch and Wilkie, he has to choose between letting them have his gold or fighting for it, and this puts his safety in jeopardy. Ultimately, he decides to fight to retrieve the gold, and while he doesn’t win it, the moment foreshadows the bravery that Leo will display later in the book when his other treasure is in danger: his friend