Firefighters

The titles in the Community Helpers series describe a variety of well-known helping professions with which children are likely to be familiar. Each book begins with a basic scenario involving the professional and, in some cases, a child. It then answers the questions What are . . .? and What do these people do? by giving an overview of the professional's job. It concludes with several traits that make a person good at that profession. In Firefighters, Bowman describes the emergency workers as caring, strong, alert, and brave. Bland but appropriate stock photos show racially diverse men and women engaged in each volume's featured career as well as gear they'll use on the job. A glossary at the end of each of these level-1 readers uses text and photos to define key vocabulary terms, which are bolded in the main text.--Aronin, Miriam Copyright 2018 Booklist

K-Gr 3-Dramatic opening scenarios will hook readers into learning about community helpers. Photos depict workers employed in typical settings, wearing job-related garb, or using tools of the trade that are also singled out and labeled in a "gear" box. An emphasis on caring and safety, such as how teachers must be patient, be good problem-solvers, and "keep misbehaving students on task," is a running theme throughout. Large and colorful images of adults interacting with children reflect a number of races, genders, and religions, including a nurse wearing a hijab. In each book, the narrative is formatted on the left side of the page and uses predictable sentence patterns. Vocabulary is in bold type, and arrows point to the word represented in the photo to reinforce context. The index in each book is lacking; one includes children and students as entries. Concepts such as how nurses track how medicine changes their patients' health exemplifies a higher level of thinking than most for this audience. VERDICT Thoughtful presentations for elementary schoolers. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.