Personal accounts of survivors and careful research helped construct a narrative of how the people of Chicago found the courage and strength to rebuild their city after the devastating fire of 1871.  

This children's nonfiction account of the great fire that devastated Chicago is a wonderful resource for kids and adults. The retelling focuses on the adventures of four different people involved in different ways with the catastrophe, branching out to give more factual information where appropriate. This structure helps to keep the account personalized, and more interesting, while still imparting all the relevant detail. Side by side with the well-written content are the photographs and illustrations, all of high quality, that really bring to life the events described. I liked this book, which taught me more about a subject I knew only cursorily, and was in a small and easy dose, considering that nonfiction is not an area in which I read extensively. ( )

Kearsten says: Fascinating story of the Great Fire that gutted Chicago in 1871. Using first-hand accounts, Murphy tells the chronology of the fire that claimed many lives and many more buildings, streets...

This is well-written and wonderfully accessible - recommended! ( )

Kearsten says: Fascinating story of the Great Fire that gutted Chicago in 1871. Using first-hand accounts, Murphy tells the chronology of the fire that claimed many lives and many more buildings, streets...

This is well-written and wonderfully accessible - recommended! ( )

Fascinating story of the Great Fire that gutted Chicago in 1871. Using first-hand accounts, Murphy tells the chronology of the fire that claimed many lives and many more buildings, streets...

This is well-written and wonderfully accessible - recommended! ( )

Intermediate
Middle School

This book gives personal accounts to the chicago fire. It explains many mistakes and the overall chaos of the situations. This has been a great informational book with maps to outline the damage as the fire spread. This would be a good book for children just because all of the pictures, maps, and the personal account of the 12 year old that they can relate to. ( )

Well-researched, but rather dry. I listened to the audio recording of this title and it was fine, but not especially captivating. ( )

This was a very informative book about the fire of 1871 that left almost 100,000 people homeless and killed many others. The author takes the reader from minutes before the fire started to the rebuilding of the city. He set straight some nasty myths that most people believe about the cause of the fire. I think the best part of the book is that there are personal accounts scattered through the pages, which makes it seem more real.

A vertible cinematic account of the catastrophe that decimated much of Chicago in 1871, forcing more than 100,000 people from their homes. Jim Murphy tells the story through the eyes of several survivors. These characters serve as dramatic focal points as the fire sweeps across the city, their stories illuminated by fascinating archival photos and maps outlining the spread of fire. 1996 Newbery Honor Book.

I hardly knew anything about the Chicago fire, so this book was a great resource of information. I really liked how Murphy focused on specific individuals' accounts of the fire and kept revisiting those people throughout the book. It was a great way to get a picture of what was going on in different places at the same time. I listened to the audiobook, which was well read, but I missed out on seeing all of the pictures from the actual book, which was disappointing. A solid nonfiction book. ( )

Freddy- 4/1 returned

This is an interesting non-fiction book about the great Chicago fire. For students in IL this might be of particular interest since it is Illinois history. The book reads well and includes maps, timelines, etc. ( )