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Lawson, Jessica

Ablaze: The Story of America's First Female Smokejumper

40 pp. | Viking | July, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9780593463659 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 9780593463666 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Sarah Gonzales. Lawson’s lyrical picture-book biography of change-making wildland firefighter Deanne Shulman opens with an anecdote from Shulman’s childhood that foreshadows her future vocation. The young girl, an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, builds up the courage to climb, and then jump from, her favorite tall tree. Lawson employs vivid imagery to describe Shulman’s life on the front lines with the United States Forest Service: “Short naps with no sleeping bag. Curled up, waking like a big ball of dirt.” Her story might be many readers’ first exposure to the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which she first successfully invokes when her small stature initially bars her from becoming a smokejumper. With tidy narrative symmetry, Shulman’s story closes with her first parachute jump on the job. Gonzales’s textured illustrations swirl together both cool forest greens and blues and the warm tones of fire but never grow too scary—the darkest, most intense hues are reserved for reflecting the fuel of Shulman’s frustration and determination: “Inside, Deanne was ablaze.” An author’s note acknowledges both the useful role of wildfires and their ­growing severity due to climate change. A glossary is also appended.
Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

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