The Great Big Fire Engine Book

This books was around in the 60s when I was growing up. It is still a great book with lots of detailed color pictures, action and excitment in an easy to comprehend story line. Since the book was written a long time ago, the fire station is all white males but all the excitment of fire engines racing to a fire is still there. A must for any young boy!

My son's favorite book. Every page has so much detail, he is enthralled and loves to read/look over and over again. A nice change of pace from today's children's books which are much more simple in their design. P.S.--Note that the fire chief looks like Tom Dewey (as in "Dewey defeats Truman")!

What a darling book this is! It's really realistic, shows the firemen actually fighting a fire. It's nice to see that because quite frankly, you don't really see that is most fireman books. I keep saying fireman instead of firefighter, because this book was written before there were women on the force and thus, show all men in the story. It's great though, seeing the old firetrucks and the dalmation. The book was written in 1950 and just has the most beautiful illustrations of the firemen and all that red! It shows the fire chief's truck, the hose car (truck) and the hook-and-ladder truck with the firemen hanging on for dear life alongside. The driver steers in the back as well which makes for tons of conversation with my little one. It actually shows the firemen hooking the hoses up to the fire hydrant, eliminating the confusion that all the water comes from the truck. I've had to explain that sometimes when there isn't a hookup, they bring a tanker truck with water. The firemen are actually using their axes to put out the fire in the antique store and are rescuing items as well with the net. However, our favorite part of the book is the very last page which says, "Hurray for the brave firemen!" I think that says it all.

This is a great book to teach children about fire and fire fighting. The illustrations of firemen (not firefighters) at work are very vivid and colorful. The illustrations use clear lines rather than sketch-type illustrations. The historical fire engines (circa 1950s) are retro-cool. My two-year old daughter learned a lot about fires and firemen from this book. Most importantly, it kept her interest and mine -- the parent who has to read it repeatedly.

I loved this book as a child and now my young children love it too. The illustrations are fantastic... the kind of illustrations that remained implanted in the back of my mind for 30 years: it was a joy to see them again and I was surprised at how clearly I had remembered them. Your little "fireman" is going to love this book. Be prepared to make lots of siren and alarm noises.The plot is simple. The firemen get on their fantastic trucks and go put out a fire! No injuries and apparently most of the property is saved. "Hurray for the brave firemen!"