Eureka

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.

Author: Victoria Chang
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.46h x 5.85w x 0.96d
ISBN: 9780374393533
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001
Publishers Weekly 10/06/2025
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2025
Booklist 11/01/2025
School Library Journal 12/01/2025 pg. 67
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2026 pg. 69
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2026

About the Author
Victoria Chang has written several books of poetry, including With My Back to the World, which received the Forward Prize in Poetry for Best Collection of Poems. Her poetry collection OBIT was named a New York Times Notable Book and a TIME Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. It was also long-listed for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has published many other books including a nonfiction book, Dear Memory and several books for children such as a middle grade verse novel, Love Love. Chang has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Literature Award. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and the Director of Poetry@Tech.