As harrowing stories of Los Angeles wildfires lead the national news, practical information and reassuring stories may help young people process their worries. Within hours of the L.A. emergencies, bookstores assembled displays and libraries gathered resources to help young people comprehend the threat. Publishers and news outlets shared titles to educate readers about fire and natural disaster.
In Pacific Palisades and Altadena, hundreds of homes have been lost to brush fire, along with schools and libraries. Displaced kids will be unable to rejoin classmates or neighborhood friends for the foreseeable future. Bea Goodwin, a bookseller at Book Alley in Pasadena, put together a list of middle grade titles about grief and resilience, and a set of picture books including They Hold the Line: Wildfires, Wildlands, and the Firefighters Who Brave Them by Dan Haley, illustrated by Molly Mendoza (Chronicle, 2023) and When the Storm Comes by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo (Penguin/Paulsen, 2020), a book not about fire but about sheltering from scary weather.
In her neighborhood, Goodwin said, “People are looking to mass donate” books to families, and “customers are replacing children’s libraries. I threw an entire [free] box together for an Altadena moms’ Facebook group collecting children’s book donations,” and a customer purchased the Harry Potter series for their niece upon learning that the niece’s home had been destroyed.
Goodwin also created a GoFundMe for Book Alley’s owner, Tom Rogers, his wife Emily Rogers, and their two adult sons, Thomas and Sam, who lost their Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Fortunately, Book Alley was unharmed, but “three of the Altadena schools burned too,” Goodwin said, “and a ton of businesses in this historically Black neighborhood went up in flames.” Since January 10, the Book Alley crowdfunding appeal has attracted hundreds of donors and raised its goal. “Everyone truly is coming together,” Goodwin said. Indeed, many stores have instituted easy ways for customers to donate—such as rounding up a purchase for fire relief—and Skylight Booksellers Union in Los Feliz hosted a supply drive for L.A.’s unhoused and newly displaced communities.
To acknowledge fire’s dangers and unite the reading community, we’ve gathered a list of titles that address why fires occur, how people escape a blaze, and how communities help one another. These narratives represent personal experiences of natural disaster, professional expertise around battling fire or evacuating safely, and accounts of domesticated and wild animals, and hardy plants and seeds, surviving the worst.
Picture Books
Dear Wild Child: You Carry Your Home Inside You by Wallace J. Nichols and Wallace Grayce Nichols, illus. by Drew Beckmeyer. Abrams, 2022 $18.99; ISBN 9781951836467. This picture book, inspired by the author’s letter to his daughter after their home was lost in a California wildfire, highlights the loss and love of a home.
Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires (Books for a Better Earth) by Jessica Stremer and Michael Garland. Holiday House, 2024 $12.99; ISBN978-0-8234-6068-7. This nonfiction work looks at how non-domesticated animals and wild plants adapt to wildfires and in some cases help prevent them.
The Fox and the Forest Fire by Danny Popovici. Chronicle, 2021 $17.99; ISBN 978-1-79720-282-2). In this picture book written by a former firefighter and fire educator and acquired by Ariel Richardson, a Chronicle children’s editor who lost her home in a fire, a fox and a boy learn about the things a fire cannot touch.
Out of the Woods by Rebecca Bond. FSG, 2015, $11.99. Antonio’s home at a lakeside hotel becomes a haven for his community when a fire burns through the forest.
Simone by Viet Thanh Nguyen, illus. by Minnie Phan. Astra, 2024 $18.99 ISBN 978-1-66265-119-9. The young Vietnamese American star of this picture book by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Nguyen (The Sympathizer) and illustrator Minnie Phan (The Yellow Áo Dài) has her life changed when a wildfire forces her and her family to evacuate to a local school, where she bonds with her peers over the frightening experience.
They Hold the Line: Wildfires, Wildlands, and the Firefighters Who Brave Them by Dan Paley, illus. by Molly Mendoza. Chronicle, 2023 $18.99; ISBN 978-1-79721-450-4. Science writer Paley offers a tribute to the first responders who combat wildfires.
Wildfire! by Ashley Wolff. Beach Lane, 2021 $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-8773-4. Dispatcher Maria calls for help when a forest fire breaks out and observes how the wild animals take shelter. See our q&a with Wolff.
Wildfires by Seymour Simon. HarperCollins, 2016 $8.99 ISBN 978-0062345066. This nonfiction picture book showcases how wildfires impact nature in surprising ways.
Older Readers
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018 (I Survived #20) by Lauren Tarshis. Scholastic, 2020 ISBN 978-1-338-31744-2. Based on the 2018 fire season, one of the most deadly and destructive fires of the century, the 20th installment of the I Survived series follows a boy named Josh as he and his family are trapped by a firestorm.
Jumper by Melanie Crowder. Viking, 2022 $18.99 ISBN 978-0-593-32696-1. Blair Scott is surprised to discover she has made it into the latest class of smokejumpers, and in an effort to prove herself in a male dominated field, takes risks that become dangerous. See our q&a with Crowder.
Missing Mike by Shari Green. Pajama Press, 2018 $14.95 ISBN 978-1-77278-326-1. A sudden evacuation forces Cara to leave behind her dog Mike, but Cara determines to find her pet no matter what.
Paradise on Fire by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Little, Brown, 2023 $8.99; ISBN 978-0-316-49385-7. Addy is sent to spend her summer at a wilderness camp where she learns all kinds of survival skills, which are put to the test when the camp lands in the path of a forest fire.
Wildfire by Breena Bard. Little, Brown Ink, 2023 $12.99; ISBN 978-0-316-27768-6. This graphic novel follows an eighth grader and her family after their rural Oregon property burns in a forest fire and they move in with friends while recovering from the traumatic event. The story explores starting over at a new school and mourning the loss of a home. See our q&a with Bard.
Wildfire by Rodman Philbrick. Scholastic, 2021 $17.99; ISBN 978-1-338-26690-0. When a fire breaks out at camp, Sam must utilize the survival skills his father taught him to lead himself and his fellow campers to safety.
Wildfire Rescue (Disaster Squad #1) by Rekha S. Rajan, illus. by Courtney Lovett. Scholastic, 2021 $6.99; ISBN 978-1-338-82883-2. In this series launch, the Jackson family heads to Northern California to offer their assistance when a wildfire breaks out.
