Video Of The Week: Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey.
RSSFrom SLJ September 2004
Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA -- School Library Journal, 09/06/2004
videocassette. color. 13:38 min. Spoken Arts. 2003. #SAV969. $49.95.
K-Gr 4-A fireboat, the John J. Harvey, was launched in New York City in 1931 and had a distinguished career. In 1995 the fireboat was waiting to be sold for scrap, but some folks got together and fixed her up. Of course she couldn't fight fires--she was too old--but she enjoyed traveling around New York Harbor. Then September 11, 2001 came around. Suddenly her low-tech capabilities came in handy. The fireboat was called out of retirement to pump water for the engines that fought fires at the site of the terrorist attacks. Maira Kalman introduces her story (Putnam, 2002) from the deck of the actual John J. Harvey. Young viewers get to see the boat in action, against the new New York skyline at both the beginning and end of the video. Actor Roy Scheider reads the text with expression and excellent pacing, while Kalman's splashy illustrations are scanned iconographically. Additional illustrations have been added for this production, and the final page of text has been eliminated. This touching story puts the tragedy in terms that young children can understand. Only the very basics of the incident are touched upon, while the focus is on the fireboat. Viewers learn that small things can make a big difference, and that usefulness does not necessarily diminish with age. More to the point, as schools are faced with acknowledging the anniversaries of 9/11, this production gives teachers a chance to approach it with younger children in a context they will understand.
