Magnus at the Fire - Hardcover

Armstrong, Jennifer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689839227 ISBN 13: 9780689839221

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

When the Broadway Fire House acquires a motorized fire engine, Magnus the fire horse is not ready to retire.

About this title

Review

Shrugging off attempts to replace him with a motorized truck, an old fire horse breaks through fences whenever he hears the bell, and not only beats the newfangled engine to fires repeatedly, to the annoyance of the Captain, but comes through in the clutch when the machine breaks down. Armstrong tells this dramatic historical tale in suitably rousing fashion-"He followed the smell of smoke, galloping down Long Alley and over another two fences, his mane and tail flaring out behind him like flames. . . . " Smith uses WPA mural-style figures and colors to illustrate it, placing burly firefighters around a monumentally muscled grey, all in heroic poses and viewed from low angles for a larger-than-life look. Even glimpsed in final, well-earned retirement far from the city, where the only flames come from autumn bonfires, Magnus cuts an awesome figure. Children, horse lovers or no, will long remember him. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9) (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author

Jennifer Armstrong is the author of numerous award-winning picture books and novels. Her works include Hugh Can Do and Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat (both ALA Notable books); The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan (a BCCB Blue Ribbon Book); and Black-Eyed Susan (a New York Public Library Best Book). Her first novel, Steal Away, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Notable book, and a Golden Kite Honor book. Other titles include Pockets, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, Magnus at the Fire, Photo by Brady, and Once Upon a Banana. She lives in New York State.

Owen Smith's illustrations have appeared in Time, Esquire, Rolling Stone, the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, and numerous times on the cover of the New Yorker. Influenced by WPA artists of the 1930s and muralist Diego Rivera, Smith holds a BA from the Arts Center College in Pasadena. He is internationally renowned, and his paintings have been featured in exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Rome, and Milan. His first picture book, Ray Hicks's The Jack Tales, was published in 2000. Owen lives with his wife and two sons in Alameda, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0689839227
• ISBN 13: 9780689839221
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Smith Owen