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Firefighters (2008)

by Sue Whiting(Favorite Author)

3.16 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1921150297 (ISBN13: 9781921150296)

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

Not Avail

review 1: Here is the review I wrote for my online review-writing course:The Firefighters is a story of three preschoolers imaginatively playing firefighters with their teacher, with all the typical sounds included prominently on many pages. The narrator and his two friends pretend to don firefighting uniforms, climb aboard their cardboard-box fire engines, invite their teacher (who barely fits) aboard to rush to the scene and save Lulu's Ice Creamery from a fire. When the pretending is over and the children have “flop[ped:] to the ground – tired and dirty,” the excitement builds again as they hear sirens coming closer. Soon a real fire engine and two firefighters arrive to teach the children about what to do if they are in a building that is on fire, and invite them to climb ... moreaboard the real fire engine. The thread of the story is carried by the repetition of the text clarifying that the pretend fire engines and equipment look and sound “just like the REAL ones.” The language is simple, present tense and first person, with dialogue amongst all the characters, although there is sometimes a lack of clarity about who is speaking which words. The inclusion of plenty of onomatopoeia will entice preschoolers to actively participate in a read-aloud. The acrylic illustrations include vivid colors set on a pure white background which lends itself to the simplicity of the story and allows the simple sans serif font to stand out fully. Preschoolers learning about (or obsessed with) firefighters will enjoy this book, but the adults reading it to them will become easily bored with the text due to the lack of any real thread from page to page. There is no notable meter or word play involved that often makes reading picture books to young children enjoyable for everyone. Peter Sis's Fire Truck is a much more sophisticated story for children who love fire engines, but doesn't get at the excitement of having real firefighters visit them at preschool. This book may be a welcome addition to preschool classrooms when preparing for and working up enthusiasm for such a visit.
review 2: Miss Iverson’s class loves to play firehouse. “WEEE-OOO! WEEE-OOO!” they cry as they race around the playground using large boxes as surrogate fire trucks and long tubes as fire hoses. After this excitement, “We flop to the ground—tired and dirty.” But their adventure is not over yet as a real fire truck with two firefighters aboard shows up to tell the children about fighting fires and rescuing people. Then the children get to climb into the fire truck and look around. Rawlins’ colorful illustrations show a lively group of students and their teacher enjoying a day of learning and fun. Since Whiting is Australian, she uses the “down under” safety slogan to “get down low and GO, GO, GO!” which may prove confusing to children used to the warning “Stop! Drop! And Roll.” Otherwise, this book about firefighters is a good storytime or fire safety lesson addition. less

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