THE FIREFIGHTERS

Rawlins’s preschoolers perfectly model the fun children can have when they use their imaginations. Using props they find around the school, Mrs. Iverson and her students pretend that a fire call has just come in. They race to dress and hop aboard their cardboard fire engine, “just like the REAL one.” A wall in the midst of being painted red serves as their fire, which they quickly put out. While they are resting from their labors, a real fire truck pays a visit to the school, and two firefighters teach the students all about their jobs and fire safety. Whiting’s final lines capture the essence of a preschooler’s sense of the myriad possibilities that the future holds: “ ‘You know, we’re firefighters, too,’ I tell the firefighters. ‘Just not the REAL ones like you. Not yet!’ ” The acrylic illustrations—vivid colors against appropriately blank-canvas white space—give concrete examples of the ways in which ordinary materials can become playthings. A spark to imaginations, with a little fire safety on the side. (Picture book. 3-6)