Firestorm!

Twelve-year-old Poppy is an orphan living in a bad neighborhood in Chicago, pick pocketing so that she has a place to sleep at night. Justin's world couldn't be more different—his father owns a jewelry store—but when he and Poppy meet, they become fast friends, thanks in part to Justin's sweet pet goat. Through their friendship, Poppy realizes that she doesn't want to be a thief anymore and she begins to feel like she may have a place with Justin's family. But when Justin makes an expensive mistake at his father's store, Poppy is immediately blamed. In response, she flees . . . right into the Great Chicago Fire. Poppy and Justin must rely on their instincts if they are going to survive the catastrophe. Will anything be left when the fire finally burns out? Two worlds collide when Poppy, a street orphan who makes a living by stealing, and Justin, the son of a jeweler who wants to prove his worth, meet and become friends. Poppy plans to change her thieving ways, but when Justin loses money at his fathers jewelry store and Poppy is accused of stealing it, she flees back onto the streets. Justin insists on searching for herjust as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 breaks out. Alternately narrated by Poppy and Justin, this is a gripping story of right and wrong, trust and forgiveness, and finding hope in the ashes of destruction. A twelve-year-old street urchin and the son of Chicago's most important jeweler strike up an unlikely friendship in the days before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and both are nearly trapped when the city goes up in flames.