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Book Cover for: Eureka, Victoria Chang

Eureka

Victoria Chang

For fans of Inside Out and Back Again, Other Words for Home, and A Place to Hang the Moon -- Eureka is a gorgeous and emotionally resonant novel-in-verse by multiple-award-winning poet Victoria Chang that sensitively and lyrically renders the tragic events surrounding the 1885 expulsion of Chinese Americans from Eureka, California.

Love illuminates the dark.

The year is 1885. San Francisco is dangerous for Chinese immigrants like twelve-year-old Mei Mei. She must venture on her own, without her family or friends, to Eureka, California, where it is supposedly safe.

But 300 miles from home, Mei Mei misses her Ma Ma's kindness, helping out in her Ba Ba's store, and playing hide-and-seek with her best friend, Hua Hua. Despite her fear and the increasing violence against her community, she finds hope in an unexpected friend, the giant Redwood trees, and a new dream: learning how to read in English. As the world around her grows more scary, Mei Mei discovers her own power, as well as the joy of found family, the importance of courage, and the nature of freedom.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
  • Publish Date: Jan 27th, 2026
  • Pages: 272
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.25in - 5.38in - 1.00in - 1.00lb
  • EAN: 9780374393533
  • Recommended age: 10-14
  • Categories: Historical - United States - 19th CenturyStories in Verse (see also Poetry)Social Themes - Prejudice & Racism

About the Author

Chang, Victoria: - Victoria Chang has written several books of poetry, including With My Back to the World and The Trees Witness Everything, and a nonfiction book, Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief. Her poetry collection OBIT was named a New York Times Notable Book; received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the PEN/Voelcker Award; was long-listed for the National Book Award; and was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. With My Back to the World received the Forward Prize for Best Collection of Poetry and was short-listed for the PEN/Jean Stein Award, the California Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. Chang has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Chowdhury Prize in Literature. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and the director of Poetry@Tech.

Praise for this book

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

"The lyrical free verse transports readers into the vividly realized historical setting... This resonant story will endure for its specificity, poignancy, and metaphorical yet accessible verse." --Kirkus, starred review

"Powerful... a welcome addition to any middle school historical fiction collection and will surely attract readers drawn to impactful -stories told through lyrical verse." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Chang vividly renders discrimination and racism experienced by those of Chinese heritage in 1880s California through the eyes of a 12-year-old Chinese immigrant in this dynamic verse novel." --Publishers Weekly

"Emotionally resonant... Full of heart, this novel shines a light on an important time in history." --Booklist

"Mei-Mei's voice is strong and direct as she narrates with a pragmaticism that is nonetheless emotive and sympathetic." --BCCB

"[An] emotive novel in verse... balances traumatic experiences with moments of bravery and kindness." --Horn Book