While this month’s theme is natural disasters, I focused on just one: wildfires. The books I read all had a lot of overlap. They were:
Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires
by Jessica Stremer, illustrated by Michael Garland
Of the books I read this month, Fire Escape covers the most material and has the highest word count. Topics include how plants and animals survive wildfires, how animals are treated after being injured in a fire, how goats act as a fire prevention tool, and much more. I suspect everyone will find at least one topic that interests them in this book. The numerous Fire Fact! factoids provide lots of interesting tidbits for trivia-minded readers.
They Hold the Line: Wildfires, Wildlands, and the Firefighters Who Brave Them
by Dan Paley, illustrated by Molly Mendoza
They Hold the Line packs a lot of information in a relatively low word count. It’s a great book for visual learners. I really loved reading the illustrator’s notes about how they chose the colors to use for the illustrations.
I also read two other books about wildfires that were not on the monthly theme list.
Wildfires
by Georgia Beth
Of the books I read this month, Wildfires has the most in-depth coverage of the chemistry of fire. It packs a lot of information into a relatively short format.
All About Wildfires
by Alessandra Potenza
Over the past year, wildfires have been rather prominent in my life. New Jersey – where I live – had a near record drought last year. This brought on almost daily wildfires, all over the state. Recently, a fire burned along the Jersey Shore, making its way onto the state’s most destructive fires list. This “Jones Road” fire was spotted April 22 and reached 100% containment just before I started writing this post on May 12. This fire was one of many around the U.S. that have garnered lots of attention in the news due to their severity.
So, on to activities that can connect readers with these books.
Explore Fire Science
In addition to activities given in some of the books, there are some great science experiments that explore fire. Here are a few.
See first-hand the role oxygen plays in fire using tealight candles and different sized jars. Here’s one version of this activity on Education.com: https://www.education.com/activity/article/candle-snuffing-contest
Fire Extinguisher Experiment from Science Explorers: https://scienceexplorers.com/diy-fire-extinguisher-experiment-for-kids
There is a lesson plan, including links to videos and other resources, along with a matchstick forest fire demonstration on the Headwaters Science Institute web site: https://headwatersscienceinstitute.org/wildfire-science
Explore Fire Data
Fire data is provided in the books in different ways. Look into data that’s available and consider creating your own.
Check out the National Risk Index from FEMA: https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/wildfire – explore the map to determine what the fire risk is in your area.
If you want to do a deep dive, the USDA has a website called Wildfire Risk to Communities (https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/fire/wildfirerisk). You can put in your state or other community name and explore different wildfire risks, like the risk to homes. This website describes how it calculated risk, as well as ways to reduce that risk.
If you want to create some graphs, here’s one source of data. You can graph the number of fires and/or the number of acres burned in the U.S. over time using data from the National Interagency Fire Center: https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/statistics/wildfires. You could also do some calculations, like figuring out the average number of acres each fire burned each year.
Explore Stewardship
Many of the books discuss stewardship of the land. This year, I enrolled in the Rutgers Environmental Steward program (https://envirostewards.rutgers.edu), so this is something I’ve thought a lot about lately.
What does land stewardship mean? You could explore this topic individually, in small groups, or as a larger group. It might work best to do a combination of all three. A good place to start might be to read a definition of stewardship. Then think about what this means in relation to land. How does land stewardship impact natural disasters like wildfires? What is each individual’s role in the stewardship of our shared lands?
Explore More
There are other places where you can explore wildfire topics in more depth. One is a website from the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fire/fire-in-depth.htm, which is part of an even broader topic: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fire/wildland-fire-subject.htm. This is an incredible rabbit hole you could dive into, learning about wildland fire careers, fire ecology, fire behavior, and much more.
If you want to learn more about the different causes of wildfires, check out this page from the National Interagency Fire Center: https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/fire-prevention-education-mitigation/wildfire-investigation. If you want a real challenge, see if you can find out the causes of the past year’s wildfires in your state. Then think about how you can present that information using graphs and charts.
Explore headlines and other news sources to see what wildfires are making the news today.
There are lots of other resources out there. Pick a topic and see where the exploration takes you.
There are endless activities that could be tied into this topic. Hopefully the few listed here inspire you to explore more.
Janet Slingerland has written over 2 dozen books for young readers. To find out more about Janet and her books, check out her website: http://janetsbooks.com
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