Author: Mark Teague
Age Range: 2 – 4 years
Board book: 32 pages
Publisher: Cartwheel Books
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Our Score: 2 out of 5 stars
“Spend a hilarious day at the firehouse,” after reading this line from the official synopsis, I was expecting a hilarious book. “Firehouse!” isn’t hilarious. To be honest, it’s not even all that fun. The book is full of facts about what firefighters do in a firehouse, during a fire drill, and during a real emergency. This is a great resource to teach children about firefighters, but as far as entertainment goes, I’m just not sure this hits the nail on the head.
The illustrations are detailed-but in a book geared toward 2-4 year olds, the illustrations are too detailed and the font is not friendly. The story is about firefighting dogs. The dogs are classically cute but not cartoon enough to be alluring to young children. Maybe use this book in a theme unit where you’re teaching children the vocabulary for the firehouse, but I’m not sure this would just be a fun read for everyday purposes.