MY FIRE ENGINE

For the same audience that took to Peter S°s’s Fire Truck (1998), a spirited little educational fantasy from Rex (The Painting Gorilla, 1997). In a very young voice, a small boy describes his work as a firefighter. He covers equipment and tactics in crisp, no-nonsense sentences: “I jump into the Pumper Engine and we’re off. The siren blares to let people know we are coming. The Aerial Ladder Truck is right behind us. We drive quickly, but very safely.” For so staccato a beat, the text is surprisingly soothing and quite authentically ingenuous. Softening the litany of fire-fighting facts (“The engine carries 750 gallons of water. That’s equal to 25 full bathtubs”) is a modest episode of heroism in which a pet snake is rescued from the flames—all in a day’s work. Adding an overall note of warmth in vivid red, yellow, and blue are Rex’s colored-pencil illustrations, a medium that here is unrivaled in its welcoming and immediate appeal. (Picture book. 3-6)