Firegirl

Tom is your typical middle-school boy. He is just a little rough around the edges, has a crush on the prettiest girl in class, and hangs out with a friend talking about cool cars and gross stuff. Then, a new girl comes to class for two weeks - two weeks that change who Tom is deep inside. The new girl has been disfigured in a fire and has come to Tom's town for treatments. In this brief little story, Tom's inward character comes rising out of himself - often to his own surprise - as he resists the crowd's reactions to this poor girl. The author doesn't create an overly heroic response. Instead he allows the reader to view a very realistic struggle...to want to be better than you are...yet still wrestle with a desire to be relieved of caring so much. What an EXCELLENT novel! Everything isn't tidily resolved at the end. It's just a glimpse at the life-changing moments we face that shape our character.

It only takes an hour or two to read but you will remember the way it made you feel. You want to be the person who would reach out to Jessica; it's not her fault that she is so disfigured that she is painful to look at. The kids in the class are real. There are kids who fear her, pity her and care about her. They are curious about how she got like this and make up stories to calm their own fears. But Jessica isn't just the burned girl she has a story too, she is keeping a secret. The story is powerful but still appropriate for pre-teens.

In this story a 7th grade boy stands up to his friends in defense of a new student who has been disfigured in a car fire. A great concept. So rare these days to see something that teaches kids the difference between right and wrong without being sappy.

Tom Bender's homeroom teacher at St. Catherine's School tries to prepare him and his fellow classmates for the addition of a special student. No amount of explanation can prepare them for the shocking appearance of Jessica Feeney, a burn victim who has moved to their town to receive special medical attention. Her face looks like a mask, her hands and arms are disfigured, and thick stockings cover her burned legs. Most of the children in the class can't even bring themselves to look at her, much less talk to her. The teacher seats Jessica between Tom and his best friend Jeff. While Jeff slides his desk far away from Jessica, Tom does his best to act normally around her even though inside he's terrified. Before Jessica entered Tom's class, his biggest concerns in life were trying to impress Courtney Zisky and getting to take a ride in Jeff's uncle's Cobra. Jeff's homeroom class learned that they will have a class election for President just minutes before Jessica's arrival. Through the election process the reader learns more about the students in Tom's class. Tom has no intention of running for President, but he plans to nominate Courtney to get her attention. Of course no one is thinking about nominating Jessica. Shortly after Jessica's arrival, rumors begin to circulate about how she was burned in a fire. The rumors get wilder and more far-fetched every day. Tom learns the truth about Jessica when the teacher asks him to deliver homework to her one day after school. He begins a tentative friendship with her that changes his outlook on life. This powerful, emotional novel told in first person will touch readers' hearts. Some situations come only once in a person's lifetime, but they are enough to change that individual forever. Don't miss the opportunity to be moved by FIREGIRL. --- Reviewed by Renee Kirchner ([email protected])

When you are a children's librarian, like myself, you grow to stereotype certain authors without thought. For example, if you had walked up to me not too long ago and asked me to describe author Tony Abbott, I would've rambled off some well meaning dribble about the man's overwhelmingly successful, "Chronicles of Droon" series. "Droon" synthesizes everything I dislike about early chapter series fiction. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I was skeptical when I heard that "Firegirl" was written by the same guy. My colleagues and I are currently in the process of reading all the best children's books of 2006, so it came as a shock to me when two of them started crooning in unison over Abbott's latest effort. In a fit of pique (not to mention a sort of I'll-show-them mentality) I volunteered to read the book next. I think my intention was to read it, hate it, and show everyone that Abbott was just a two-bit hack without a drop of writing credibility. Then I actually sat down and read "Firegirl". And to my shock I found it to be a dignified, touching, and remarkably SMART little work of fiction. Little, Brown and Company took a chance on seeing if Abbott had the writing chops to win over skeptics like myself. Their gamble will pay them back in spades. The book only covers a couple of weeks, and as Tom himself says right from the start, "Stuff did get a little crazy for a while, but it didn't last long, and I think it was mostly in my head anyway". And it all happened when Jessica Feeney came to his class. Until she came Tom was a very regular seventh grader. He's a little plump, obsessed over a rare car called a Cobra, and daydreams regularly about saving the life of the girl of his dreams, Courtney. Then Jessica comes to his class. Caught in a fire a couple years ago, Jessica suffers from severe burning over her entire body. Tom is just as disgusted by Jessica's appearance as everyone else in his class, but he's also completely fascinated. Slowly he gets to know her better than anyone else, and in turn incurs the wrath of his friend Jeff. By the end of the book Jessica has moved to another town and Tom is a person completely and utterly different from having known her for the brief period he did. Okay, I summed it up poorly. It doesn't sound like a book you'd want to read, does it? What's remarkable is that it is, though. It's amazing. For example, at one point Tom and Jessica are having their first conversation and Tom starts talking about superpowers. He's always liked to daydream that he had, what he likes to call, "dumb powers". Something like an indestructible finger or legs of snow or the ability to roll uphill. The kids then have a great conversation about how many powers a person would actually need and how the best power could be one that "nobody else wants". It's a small scene and the writing in it is so beautiful and succinct that kids can read this conversation as it happens and then read between the lines as well. Here's