Fire in the Forest

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-Using full-color, double-page spreads of the cycles and stages of life, death, and rebirth of the forest, Pringle presents a positive view of fire as a way for nature to renew itself. The landscape paintings are interposed with whole pages of text. Small paintings of wildlife decorate the textual pages. Pringle's writing is convincing; facts are presented clearly in an informative manner. Unfortunately, the text is at a fairly sophisticated reading level for what is, essentially, a picture-book format. While the illustrations are beautiful, middle grade readers may be reluctant to pick it up. Introduce this one to whole-language teachers, who will be able to put the illustrations to good use in a unit on nature.-Melissa Hudak, North Suburban District Library, Roscoe, IL

Carolyn Phelan

Chiding news commentators for painting the 1988 forest fires in Yellowstone National Park as catastrophic, Pringle takes the long view of fire in the Northern Rocky Mountain ecosystem. He discusses the effect of fire on the plants and animals native to the region, showing that the ecosystem is neither destroyed by a fire nor reborn after it, but simply goes through different stages of its natural cycle. Pringle makes his points intelligently, asking readers to look beyond Bambi and Smokey the Bear to see that fire is "as natural as rain." The text, accompanied by small paintings of plants and animals, appears on facing pages that alternate with double-page spread illustrations. Stretching horizontally across the pages, these large, vivid paintings show the same landscape in different stages of growth before, during, and after a fire. The paintings underscore the theme very effectively. A handsome ecology book.