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Book Review of Fire Engines

Fire Engines
Fire Engines
Author: Anne F. Rockwell
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Hardcover
reviewed on + 552 more book reviews


Age Range: 5 to 6
Annotation
Describes the parts of a fire engine and how fire fighters use them to fight fires.

From the Publisher
Told from a child's point of view, this book is all about that most fabulous of machines: the fire engine. Ladder trucks, pumper trucks, fire-engine boats, firehouse ambulances, and the chief's red car - all driven by dashing dalmations - are portrayed in pictures as bright and fun as toys.

From The Critics
School Library Journal
PreS Another companion volume to Rockwell's fine basic transportation series, Fire Engines has all of the merits of the previous books: crisp, bright illustrations in a spectrum of primary colors; a direct, simple text that is personalized by the use of the first person to heighten the appeal to very young children; and solid information conveyed in a picture book format. The earlier volumes are ``peopled'' with animals (for example, Boats has bears and Trucks is filled with cats). The lively world of Fire Engines is fittingly and amusingly inhabited by dalmatians. The book invites comparison with Gail Gibbon's Fire! Fire! (Crowell, 1984), which is similarly bright and appealing, but which is written for a slightly older audience and therefore conveys more information on fire fighting in different locales, and on points of fire safety. Certainly there is room for both in libraries. Rockwell's book will appeal to the many who, like the young dalmatian in the book, want to be fire fighters when they grow up. Connie Tyrrell Burns, Portland Public Library, Maine