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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: Fire Flight: A Wildfire Escape
Author: Cedar Pruitt
Illustrator: Chiara Fedele
Publisher: Capstone
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: PK-4 Genre/Type of Book: Nonfiction
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: No Recommended for a school library: On the fence about it Reason(s) for choosing the book: Nominated for the CYBILS Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction award
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
A moment of connection between two unlikely creatures amidst a devastating wildfire disaster.
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Review:
A moment of connection between two unlikely creatures amidst a devastating wildfire disaster. Based on a true story during the 2020 California Creek wildfire, this book details the journey of a screech owl whose home has been invaded by flames. The owl has nowhere to rest safely, until it spots another flying creature in the air: a firefighter helicopter. The owl flies into the helicopter, waiting out the danger with the pilot until it is safe to go home.
I do like this book, and think that the story is interesting. The cover and the illustrations in this book are beautiful, watercolor-esque images that capture the forest and the owl. I do think that the owl gets lost in some of the images, but in others is made a focal point that draws the reader in. The text is lyrical and poetic, which I think could lend well to a story time and less to a child picking up and reading this book on their own. I loved how the author included the real image of the owl at the end of the text, and gave background context to the story, but I don't know if this book would be a staple recommendation of mine in the nonfiction category. I could possibly see kids picking this book up because of the impressive owl illustration on the cover, but I feel like it's less of a primary nonfiction text.
I could see the book being used in a story time setting, but have a hard time coming up with activities in which the book could be used other than talking possibly about conservation and forest fires.
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the publisher's website
Find this book trailer and other resources for Fire Flight on TeachingBooks.