Jan Neubert Schultz

Firestorm is a book of juvenile fiction (grades 4-7) set in Hinckley, Minnesota during the Great Fire of 1894. Maggie, the lead character, has recently suffered the loss of her mother and she and her family have had to relocate to Hinckley because of her father's job as a railroad conductor. The story describes her attempts to cope with the many tumultuous changes in her life.

Over the years, a number of historical works and first person accounts have been written about the fire (see, for example, The Hinckley Fire by McDermott and Anderson) and the author has made extensive use of the factual information contained in these books. Thus, Maggie, her family, and a few acquaintances become the fictional glue that binds together actual events of the disaster. The book has all of the right ingredients for a great adventure story and when the book weaves the fabric of historical events around the heroine the story does hold the readers interest.

Unfortunately, Maggie is completely unbelievable. Her actions, behavior, and concerns are those of a dysfunctional 21st century spoiled brat. The lack of correlation between her behavior and her supposed position in life completely overshadows the people and events and reduces the pleasant act of reading to tedium. The end result is that by the time the fire starts to rage through Hinckley the reader almost begins to hope that maybe Maggie won't make the train.… (more)