Mountain
The Window
Paper
Airfield
Pictures,
The Big Burn
Firefighters dig in as the flames of wildfire race across Idaho
The year is 1910, the blaze's effects will be felt for decades, and for Jarrett, Lizbeth, and Seth, it's time to take a stand
Dozens of blazes dot the countryside, born of sparks thrown from trains, from campfires gone out of control, from lightning strikes that ignite the towering snags of dry forests. When these fires join, they become one vast wall of flame that can destroy everything.
Caught in its path are three teens. At sixteen, Jarrett is fool enough to lose his railroad job and perhaps man enough to join the fight against the forest fires.
Lizbeth doesn't own the land she loves so much, but she will do anything to stay--even if she has to let her homestead burn.
And Seth enlists in the army, hoping a uniform will give him that rare thing, courage--or something even more rare for a black man in turn-of-the-century America--respect.
But respect and courage can vanish in the face of advancing flames. Based on the story of one of the biggest wildfires of the century, THE BIG BURN is a portrait of a time and a place and of an event that altered the face of Montana and Idaho, changed the way we fight wildfires, and dramatically transformed the people at the front lines forever.
• Western Writers of America Spur Award for Juvenile Fiction
• Montana Book Award Honor Book
• One Book, One Community choice