Recommended Ages: Gr.

Plot Summary: Franny and JP find a puppy left behind by their aunt and uncle near Mrs. O'Leary's barn. After they chase after the wagon to try to reconnect the puppy to its mother, they turn around and see flames. They continue to run for 2 days, hoping to find their aunt and uncle and their parents.

Setting:

Characters:

Recurring Themes: survival, Chicago Fire, sibling, family

Controversial Issues:
Franny and JP - siblings

Personal Thoughts: This could work as a good introduction to the topic because it's a quick read, but it seems fairly unrealistic that they found their parents alive so quickly, especially since they were so close to the fire. I thought the dialogue was forced and unnatural due.

Genre: Historical fiction, graphic novel

Pacing: fast, graphic novel, very little dialogue
Characters: very few, not well developed
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

A deadly blaze engulfs Chicago for two terrifying days! A brother, a sister, and a helpless puppy must race through the city to stay one step ahead of the devilish inferno. But can they reunite with their lost family before it’s too late?

In History Comics: The Great Chicago Fire, writer Kate Hannigan and illustrator Alex Graudins tell the true story of how a city rose up from one of the worst catastrophes in American history, and how this disaster forever changed how homes, buildings, and communities are constructed.

Thank you, Goodreads and First Second Books for a chance to read The Great Chicago Fire Rising From the Ashes!

I read this book with my son because when it came to the house, he opened it and saw the inside of the book and thought it as for him. So, we ended up reading it together. It was an ok book. When I first read the title of the book, I thought it was going to be a book based on facts of the actual events. But in a twist the author adds in some of the myths that have come along with the Chicago fire. I didn’t really know much about the event in the first place. Except what everyone else has probably be told. But my son liked the book and I enjoyed the time spent with him and it truly wasn’t a bad book. I just think its geared towards the youngsters. Happy reading everyone!! ( )

This historical fiction follows the overused Magic Tree House and I Survived formula of having two fictional kids (and their puppy!) running around during a very real disaster, coincidentally passing real people and critical moments of the event. The flow of the kids' story is interrupted with insertions of firsthand accounts and occasional digressions about architecture.

No one in the book dies, and more note is made of the buildings lost and area razed than of the 300 people who died. Even in a book for children, it seems weird to sanitize a disaster of the human toll.

There is some cool trivia to be found throughout, and an interesting juxtaposition to the Chicago World's Fair twenty years later, but the indirect approach to the material via the fictional kids' adventures makes this weaker than the first book I read in this series, History Comics: The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery. ( )