Fire!: My Parent's Story

Haas (Beware the Mare) mines family history for this compelling account of a fire that ravaged a Vermont homestead when her mother was a child. In the early hours of a morning in May 1948, ""an old white farmhouse dreams in the moonlight."" Unbeknownst to its sleeping occupants, a fire has started in the kitchen. Eight-year-old Patty awakens first, coughing from the smoke, and her mother quickly alerts the others in the house--Patty's father; her aunt and uncle, who own the house; a cousin; and a summer boarder and his son. All escape to safety, and the focus shifts to saving the house and barn. With the nearest fire truck 20 miles away, it's up to Patty's family and neighbors to try. Haas's vivid descriptions--""a thick snake of smoke,"" fire that ""grows like fast vines""--and her use of the present tense lend an edge-of-the-seat immediacy and convey a palpable sense of the fear, confusion and excitement that a house fire brings. In an afterword, Haas notes that because of the fire, farmers in southern Vermont built fire ponds for protection and started local volunteer fire departments. A selection of black-and-white family photographs and juicy tidbits (Patty eventually married the boy who carried her to safety, the son of the summer boarder) make this both a satisfying personal account, as well as a fascinating glimpse of rural life in New England half a century ago. Ages 8-up. (May)