Firestorm!

October 1, 2010
In the Chicago of 1871, 12-year-old Poppy lives in the literal underworld—one of the old buildings left to rot beneath the now-elevated town. Abandoned by her mother eight years ago, she lives with a thief and her daughters, picking pockets for a living. A chance encounter with 13-year-old Justin, the son of a jeweler, gives her an improbable entry into a better life—Justin's pious older sister offers Poppy clothing and food and encourages her to consider herself a friend of the family. Poppy's thieving compatriots threaten to kill Justin's pet goat if Poppy won't help them rob the jewelry store, endangering her escape. The Great Chicago Fire forms a roaring climax to a story that lacks a central problem or any internal integrity. Every relationship wilts under overwrought sentimentality, none of the characters rises above two dimensions and if someone would strike the exclamation-point key from Harlow's keyboard they would be doing readers a favor. As in Secret of the Night Ponies (2009), the author takes an interesting point of history and wastes it entirely. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

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February 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-Orphaned Poppy, 12, is tired of stealing for Ma Brennan and living in a rough Chicago neighborhood in 1871, so she begins to plan her escape. By chance she meets Justin Butterworth, the son of a wealthy jeweler who lives in a beautiful house and has a new pet goat named Ticktock. He takes Poppy to see his goat, and she meets his sister, who gives Poppy her old clothes. Ma Brennan finds out about Poppy's new friends and threatens to hurt Ticktock if the child does not get her a key to the jewelry shop. Although Poppy does not take anything from Mr. Butterworth, she overhears him accuse her of stealing. She runs away and takes Ticktock with her so Ma Brennan can't harm her. The night of the Great Chicago Fire, Justin and Poppy struggle with thousands of others to flee before they are reunited. The narrative alternates between the two friends; both characters represent the time period, but lack a spark of originality. The plot moves steadily until the night of the blaze, when the action and details are literally on fire. Harlow's afterword gives additional information about the Great Chicago Fire and clarifies which parts of her book were based on facts and real people.-Samantha Larsen Hastings, Riverton Library, UT

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2010
Grades 4-7 Two worlds collide when 12-year-old Poppy, a skilled pickpocket working the streets of 1870s Chicago, meets 13-year-old Justin Butterworth, a prominent jewelers son. Justins sister warns, Be careful. . . . You dont know where this friendship with Poppy might lead you. Yet with the help of Justins goat, Ticktock, he and Poppy soon become friends. Neither character has it easy: Justin is jealous of his older brother, Charlie, the next in line to run their fathers business, and Poppys caretaker, a Fagin-like character, forces Poppy to make a wax impression of the key to the Butterworths store in hopes of robbing it. Narrated in alternating chapters by both Poppy and Justin, the story follows their struggles and ends with their suspenseful escape from the Great Chicago Fire. Although the dialogue doesnt always ring true, and the situations occasionally seem contrived, Harlow has done her research about the details of the fire and effectively touches on class issues and the economic disparity of the time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)