Book Review: Where Fires Dance
Reviewed by Kyleigh Williams
I was asked to do a book review and this is what I came up with. The book is Where Fires Dance. The book was written by Alison Clark and Eric Howe with illustrations by Kiyo Mander.
As a grade 8 student, I find it hard to understand sometimes why people do not know that if you destroy something, it will take years to get things back to normal.
Where Fires Dance is about Edward, a Hairstreak Butterfly that lives in the prairie and savanna grasslands far away. From egg, to caterpillar to a butterfly, Edward learns as he talks to the other animals that live around him. The stories that were told to him are about what happened in the grasslands before he was born. After each story, the animals end with a line something like… “I am telling you this story as it was told to me/or told to my parents.”
It reminds me of the way that older people – elders would tell stories. Like a lesson but told as a story because you will find it interesting and easy to remember.
I thought Where Fires Dance is a good book to read. It does not take much time; but you would need to read this book in a nice and quiet place because you have to pay attention.
If you like books that have action and adventure, you might not enjoy something that was educational. But, if you take your time, you will find that you will actually like it. I don’t think the book is for kids below middle school because the pictures and words are written for older children from grade 6 to high school.
The book in generally happy. At the beginning you might feel worried for Edward as a caterpillar. I thought something bad would happen to him when I read about the animals around him. It’s happy because the book is a lesson of something we need to know.
This book is interesting because there’s different stories on each page and you wouldn’t guess that there’s different stories because of the title. It is the stories and the lessons you will learn that would make it good for people to read it.
We need to live in this world and we need to take care of it.
Kyleigh Williams is a 13 year old, grade 8 student attending school in North Bay. She is originally from Kashechewan First Nation. She loves to play volleyball and is looking forward to Grade 9. For more information about Kyleigh, please visit www.omushkego.wordpress.com
Where Fires Dance sells for $15 and can be purchased through:
Alderville Black Oak Savanna Ecology Centre
8467 County Road 18
Alderville, ON
K0K 2X0
Telephone: 905.352.1008
email: savannatours@eagle.ca