The Great Fire (children's novel)
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| Author | Jim Murphy |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | 1995 |
| Publisher | Scholastic Corporation |
| Media type | hardcover, paperback |
| Pages | 144 pp |
| ISBN | 0590472674 |
The Great Fire is a story for children and young adults, written by Jim Murphy about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which caused the destruction of most of the city of Chicago. The Great Fire was a Newbery medal honor book in 1996.[1]
Plot
The novel The Great Fire is about the great fire that happened in Chicago. The huge fire started in the O'Learys' barn and lasted for 30 hours. Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan was the first to notice the fire and ran to save the cows in the barn and to tell the O'Learys' that their property was on fire, William Lee a neighbor of the O'Learys' runs to the drug store to turn in a fire alarm, but Bruno Gell the owner of the drug store doesn't allow him because all the fire trucks had left. Lee goes back to his house and gets his baby and wife out of the house. Bruno Gell claimed that he turned in the alarm after lee left the drugstore, but no alarm was recorded at the central alarm office and the fire started to spread to other parts of the neighborhood and destroying everything in its path. After several minutes the fire trucks were sent to box 242, which is almost a mile away from the barn were the fire had started and then the fire trucks were sent again to the wrong location and the fire continued to spread. The fire advanced from the O'Learys' barn towards Jefferson's street before the firefighters finally showed up to the right location of the fire. The firefighters were exhausted from multiple fires over the past week and didn't have enough energy to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the city. The residents of the area took whatever they can from their houses and ran away from the fire. Dorsey, a fireman, ran to the drug store pulled the lever to sound the fire alarm but no one responded and the fire continued to grow with the power of the wind and burned more houses and injured many fire fighters. The fire was now headed towards north and east Chicago, burning whatever is in its path. The fire grew so big the fire trucks weren't able to turn it off and leave the burned area in order to protect the other areas of the city.The people were all running away in different directions, Claire one of the people whose house was burned down ran into a dead end and was trapped between the fire and the houses. Claire ran to the tallest house and jumped to the other side of the street and kept running towards the south side of the city. To prevent the fire from moving towards the south side of the city the fire fighters blow up the houses and helped the residents of that area to flee towards Lincoln Park where they spent the night. As the fire kept moving towards other parts of the city it started to rain, which gave the people of the city hope and by morning the fire that devastated the city was no more. The fire had completely destroyed many parts of the city, it had caused one hundred thousand people to become homeless and killed about 300 people and many more were missing. After the fire the people of Chicago began to rebuilt their city and received aid from other states. The United States Army put up tents for the people that lost their houses. After the fire the residents of the city accused the O'learys of starting the fire, which caused the O'learys to sell their property and left Chicago, because of fear that they might be killed by the angry people of Chicago. Before the great fire that devastated the city Chicago was known as the Queen city of the west and the Gem of the Prairie, but after the fire it was nothing but dust.[2]
Characters
- Patrick O'Leary-- Owner of the barn that where the fire began.
- Catherine O'Leary-- wife of Patrick O'Leary; she is blamed for starting the fire.
- Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan-- A wagon-driver who is the first person to see the fire.
- William Lee-- Neighbor of the O'Learys; attempts to raise the alarm about the fire.
- Bruno Gell-- The owner of the drug store where the alarm box is located.
- Mathias Schaffer-- A 40-year-old special insurance patrol; he noticed the fire, but dismissed it.
- William Brown-- Schaffer's assistant; he refuses to send the fire trucks to box 319.
- Joseph E. Chamberlain-- A 20-year-old reporter for the Chicago evening post.
- Chief Marshall Robert Williams-- Chief of the fire department.
- Julia Lemo-- A resident of Chicago, she saves her children and her parents from the fire.[3]
Critical Reception
Reviewer Erin Whalen described the novel as having "vivid description" that "makes it easy for students to imagine being at the event and to feel what the victims of the fire went through."[4] Other critics described the novel as a book that sparks excitement and interest in the fire that occurred in Chicago. The novel is also described as being adventurous and hard to put down.[5] Critics from the Horn Book described the novel as having "vivid first hand descriptions by persons who lived through the 1871 Chicago fire are woven into a gripping account and absorbing the riveting reading".[6]
Awards
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- Newbery Honor (1996)
- ALA Best Books for Young Adults (1996)
- A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (1996)
- BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (1995)
- Jefferson Cup (1996).[7]
References
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- ↑ "The Great Fire by Jim Murphy | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2015.
- ↑ "THE GREAT FIRE by Jim Murphy | Kirkus." Kirkus Reviews. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015.
- ↑ Whalen, Erin. "The Great Fire." Educational Leadership 71.3 (2013): 92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 May 2015.
- ↑ Price, Susannah, and Trevelyn E. Jones. "Book Review: Grades 3-6." School Library Journal 41.7 (1995): 89. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 25 May 2015.
- ↑ Bush, Margaret A. "The Great Fire." Horn Book Magazine 71.3 (1995): 343-344. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2015.
- ↑ "The Great Fire by Jim Murphy." LibraryThing.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015.
