Fire Storm
By Jean Craighead George
Illustrated by Wendell Minor

     Axel accompanies his Uncle Paul and Aunt Charlotte, along with the little dog, Grits, on a rafting trip down the Middle Fork of Idaho's great Salmon River. For three days they paddle along, enjoying the wild beauty and the animals, but it is the summer of 2000, the driest in 100 years, when fires burned out of control all over the West. Shooting the cascades and the waterfalls is great adventure, but Axel and his family get more adventure than they bargained for.

     Suddenly, a bolt of dry lightening streaks to the ridge above them, and dry pine trees explode into flame. They paddle on for another hour as smoke fills the river canyon, then begin to realize that there is fire all around them, and they must find a safe place immediately.

      This is an exciting story about a family fighting a battle with nature at her worst. Jean Craighead George gives us a riveting story of the danger of a fierce firestorm and then the regeneration that follows forest fires.

    Wendell Minor's illustrations are breathtakingly beautiful. This book would make a wonderful gift for that child you love to read to.