Author: Earl Hicks Jr.

Illustrated by Pablo Niz

ISBN: 978-1-4196-6160-0

In Ready Freddie Getting Ready for Fires writer Earl Hicks Jr. pairs up with illustrator Pablo Niz raising two important questions for young readers and their parents, how do you prevent fires and what do you do if caught up in one. 

The enlightening story develops through a conversation between a boy named Freddie and his dog Georgi who open with teaching children and their parents about the value of several crucial precautions that must be adopted in order to prevent fires.

These consist of never playing with matches or candles, by no means put anything on top of a hot surface such as a stove or heater, don’t play near a hot oven, stove or heater, keep a fire extinguisher on each floor of your house and fresh batteries in smoke detectors, and choose a safe place outside your home to meet and have regular fire drills.

If, on the other hand, we be unlucky and find ourselves caught in a house fire or for that matter any fire, Freddie and Georgi counsel us to keep calm and keep in mind the following: if we should smell smoke or hear the smoke detector, tell a grown-up and quickly leave the building, however, touch the door before leaving the room, and if the door is too hot we must leave the room another way such as out the window, crawl under the smoke where it is safe to breathe, never go back inside a burning building to fetch belongings and don’t forget to tell the firefighters if there is anyone in the building, find a safe place outside of the building, call 911 informing whoever answers the call your address and if anyone is still in the house, if your clothes are on fire, we should stop, drop and roll as rolling on the ground will smother the fire and help put it out.

When I recently interviewed Hicks and asked him what motivated him to write this book and the series that will follow, he indicated that there were very few children’s books dealing with the topic of emergency preparedness.  

The book is very well organized and its presentation is great fun to read, extremely informative and a pleasure to look at as it deals with a very important topic that should be on every parent’s agenda when discussing with their children different kinds of emergencies.

Hick’s choice of words is straightforward and simple making the narrative as appealing and accessible as possible, while at the same time capturing the seriousness of the topic.

Supporting Hick’s prose are Niz’s bright, lively illustrations that work very well in that they not only amplify the story but also present some vital information that help readers understand the importance of fire prevention as well as steps to take in the event of a fire.

His use of primary colors and simple lines is very effective and the characters’ faces are quite comical and easy to read.   

Ready Freddie Getting Ready for Fires is a beautifully rendered book and is the first in a series of children’s books dealing with emergencies. According to the inside back cover of the book there will be other books pertaining to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, power failures, lost children, and parental sickness.