Children's Books About Fire

Los Angeles Public Library

http://www.lapl.org/kidspath/books/fire.html

Children have many questions when faced

with a disaster like fire.

How does a fire burn?

How do the firefighters prepare for the job?

How are people rescued?

The following books can provide information

and reassurance in a time of need.

I Drive a Fire Engine
by Sarah Bridges; illustrated by Amy Bailey Muehlenhardt
Ages 3-4
When a very young child wants to know what a fireman does

this book fills the bill. More than just a picture book this title

gives preschoolers an introductory lesson in fire fighting.

Filled with colorful pictures of firemen and trucks

we discover the pumper truck, the clothes that firemen wear,

and the equipment they need to put out a fire.

Fire Storm
by Jean Craighead George; illustrated by Wendell Minor
Ages 4-6
While kayaking down the Salmon River,

Axel and his aunt and uncle are caught in the middle

of a fire raging alongside the mountains. Based on a true story

this picture book concentrates on cool-headed logic

to triumph over the looming disaster. Awash in golds

and orange the pictures reflect the seething heat.

The story ends with a promise that the forest

will grow again to be beautiful and lush.

Firefighters
by Katie Daynes
Ages 6-8
For children just learning to read this nonfiction title explains

how a firefighter goes to school, lives in the firehouse and

is called upon to put out fires and rescue people.

A mixture of cartoon style illustrations and photographs

make this an easy book for beginning readers. This introduction

to nonfiction includes a glossary and a reference to a website

that includes more information.

Rescue
by Claire Watts
Ages 7-11
All kinds of rescue attempts are highlighted in this DK Eyewitness Book.

Chock full of action photographs children can read how lives

are saved in fires, in space, on the ocean and in wartime.

Discussions include emergency medicine, natural disasters,

equipment and technology, and stories of animals that

have rescued people. Because of the nature of the DK format

readers can browse through the book,

picking and choosing what adventures to pursue.

Fire in Their Eyes
by Karen Magnuson Beil
Ages 9-11
This is a serious book about the nature and science of wildfires,

concentrating on the people who put them out.

We learn that smokejumpers parachute from an airplane

into remote areas to help contain a fire. Dangerous fires employ

experts called "hotshot crews" to attack rapidly growing conflagrations.

A chapter describing brushfires in dense communities concentrates

on the Old Topanga Fire of 1993

where the Santa Ana winds made a deep impact.