Firefighters Are Heroes too!

This years's Summer Reading Program theme  provides librarians lots of ideas to explore the world of Superheroes.  Of course, the first instinct is to search out books about superheroes that leap tall building,  get the bad guys and lives to fight another day.  All very well and good.  However,  here's a different spin on the theme.  Why not celebrate the heroes in our neighborhood who fight the good fight every day?  Yup,  talking about the firefighters who step up to help get a cat out of a tree or go into a burning building to put out a fire and save lives.

There are three wonderful titles for children that stick with theme of heroes and saving the day that can liven up a story time.  (As a personal note,  never begin a story time about firefighter without the proper firefighters hat. It just adds more flare and fun to the event! )   

The first title to take a look at  is  Firefighters to the Rescue by Kersten Hamilton.  This title is such fun to read because of it's invitation to audience to get into the story.  Children will quickly learn when to chime in "Firefighters to the rescue" during the story.   The illustration are vivid and bright to   catch and keep children's attention.   If this book is not a hit with the crowd, it just may be that the crowd is filled with boring three and four years olds.   

If the first title is not available or you have children begging for more exciting firefighter stories,  Patricia Hubbell's Firefighters: Speeding! Spraying! Saving!  is an excellent choice.  As the title suggests, this book is filled with action words that paint a clear picture of what firefighters do everyday.   Add to this Viviana Garofoli’s digital art that add to the simple, rhyming text that preschoolers take great delight in.

It goes without saying that Mark Teague's Firehouse! had to make the list.  Teague's humorous tale begins with Edward and his cousin's Judy trip to the firehouse.  Everything is fine from the slid down the fireman's pole to riding on the firetruck.   After a little excitement, Edward learns how it feels to  save the day.  It's every child's dream to be a fireman and through the eyes of Edward, they get a small taste of what's it's like.  It is great fun for everyone. Even for the librarians sharing the story.


Of course this is not a complete and final list of books for Firefighter heroes.  It is a great beginning.
Enjoy the stories with the little ones.and don't forget your hat!

Firefighters' helmets hung at the station!