I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871 by Lauren Tarshis

Pre-K thru 6th grade –Historical Fiction category – Juvenile Fiction 

Genre or category

Historical Fiction

Fiction

Survival

Target Age Group

Ages 9 - 12

2nd - 3rd grade

Lexile Level: 730 according to NoveList (EBSCOhost, 2015)

Summary

Young Oscar finds himself in the middle of Chicago right as a fire is engulfing the city. Separated from his family and finding himself in charge of two young, homeless orphans, Oscar must find his way back to his family, all while surviving the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Justification

My local library has this book cataloged and shelved as Juvenile Fiction and is one of several in a series of very popular books amongst Tulsa City-County Library children (Tulsa City-County Library, n.d.). While this series is named a New York Times Best Selling Series (Scholastic Inc, n.d.) this title in particular has not received any accolades other than recognition in Iowa by the Iowa Association of School Librarians Book Awards: Iowa Children's Choice Award (EBSCOhost, 2015). Regardless of its absent literary awards, Scholastic is incredibly reputable and Tarshis certainly has cemented herself in the world of children’s historical fiction.

Evaluation

For this review, I will be evaluating point of view, tension, and pacing.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871 is told from the perspective of a young boy named Oscar. Oscar and his mother moved to Chicago from Minnesota upon his mother’s nuptials with Mr. Morrow and arrived in Chicago hours before the blaze engulfed the city. From Oscar’s POV, we see a young boy who is dreading their arrival, missing his father, and someone who will do what he can to protect those he sees as in need. Through Oscar, readers are transported to Chicago and walk in his shoes. We feel his anger about moving, his shame for feeling like he has failed his father, his anger and frustration at being tricked by thieves, and we certainly feel his fear and determination once he realizes that he is caught in the blaze. Oscar is your “typical kid” who has been uprooted from all he knows and finds himself caught in the middle of a disaster. Through Oscar, kids can see someone like them battle his way through trouble with unwavering resilience. It teaches them they can make it through their hard times, even if they are as big as a natural disaster, or as “small” as moving away from all you knew.

The nature of this event arguably provides the basis of this story’s tension and feelings of anxiety, and Tarshis expertly wove a narrative with the predisposed fears that disasters bring. I could not wait to read the next page throughout this entire book, while it wasn’t what I expected it to be, I was invested in what happened to Oscar, Jennie, Bruno, and Mr. Morrow. At every turn of the page, something significant happened to Oscar and company that induced nervousness, amazement, fear, worry, etc. This short story is fraught with suspense, and you have to keep reading in order to quell those feelings of anxiety. As a reader, you have to make sure that everyone is okay, even if you already know that the main character survives their ordeal.

Tarshis created a relatable main character, threw him into a city he’s never been in, and placed this story right in the climax of one of Chicago’s most devastating disasters. Lauren Tarshis’ I Survived books are meant to give a brief insight into some of history's disasters and dangers, not provide a history lesson. This is a very fast-paced book, readers have 97 pages of tension and anxiety-inducing narrative to flip through, and is tied up nicely by the last page so that readers aren’t left wondering what happens next. It never felt like the author lingered on any aspect of her story for too long, each chapter was about 5 pages so lingering did not appear to be her plan. The author wanted this story to move swiftly, almost as swiftly as the fire that engulfed Chicago I believe.

 

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads for the simple fact that it wasn’t what I expected it to be and I was being stingy with my review. It was a very good story, and I found every bit of it believable, I read this book as an eBook per the requirements of this assignment. I accessed this title via Libby and read it through Amazon Kindle. I, like many avid book readers, prefer a physical book in my hands for my reading enjoyment, but as a young adult of the 21st Century, I don’t hate technology and will happily read an eBook when I don’t have access to a physical copy. When it came to I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871, the eBook format helped me to not spoil “what comes next” as I so often do by accident when I read books. eBooks do not greatly impact my reading experience other than having a harder time gauging where I am within the physical confines of the book.

 

References

EBSCOhost. (2015). I Survived, The Great Chicago Fire, 1871. NoveList Plus. https://search-ebscohost-com.db.tulsalibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=neh&tg=UI&an=10396302&site=novp-live

Goodreads. (n.d.). I Survived, The Great Chicago Fire, 1871. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22749534-i-survived-the-great-chicago-fire-1871?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_27

Tarshis, L. (2015). I Survived, The Great Chicago Fire, 1871 [eBook edition]. Scholastic Inc. https://libbyapp.com/search/tulsa/search/query-I%20Survived%20the%20Great%20Chicago%20Fire%2C%201871/page-1/2099674

Tulsa City-County Library. (n.d.). I Survived, The Great Chicago Fire, 1871. Catalog. https://tccl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S63C3204389

Scholastic Inc. (n.d.)  I Survived: When disaster strikes, heroes are made. Scholastic Kids. https://kids.scholastic.com/content/kids64/en/books/i-survived.html