CORA FREAR: A True Story

Launching the Brave Kids chapter book series, this morsel of historical fiction springs from a memoir by Cora Frear, born in 1887 and raised on the Iowa prairie. The tale opens as Cora's father, a doctor, invites her to accompany him on a buggy ride to visit an ailing patient. Cora, who often acts as her father's assistant, eagerly accepts. After spying dark clouds and a red glow in the sky behind them, Cora realizes that a prairie fire is heading their way. Her father decides to set a backfire—he will sear a patch of grass that, reduced to ash, will serve as a "blessed island of safety" when the prairie fire approaches. The doctor's single match fails to ignite, but Cora manages to find one last remaining match in her father's cast-off vest pocket. The scene is set for high drama, but Goodman's (Animal Rescue) bland prose doesn't do justice to the duo's peril or anguish: "The fire was burning around them. The temperature was almost unbearable. The heat seemed to last forever." An afterword amplifies the historical setting. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 6-9. (Apr.)