The Fire Engine Book (Little Golden Book)

When you put together a book for kids book of a certain caliber, I guess it is just good forever. Phones and TVs and cameras may have all changed dramatically, but the way this book presents the idea of a firetruck is that of a timeless essential of modern culture. I mean, you can see clearly through the art and text styles that this specimen of children's literature is decades old, yet it performs its essential function at an optimum level. Little kids love firetrucks, and they don't have the attention span to dilly dally about it. Given that each page only has a handful of words, I think the story could use more pages, but Golden Books have certain qualities, and quick pacing is typically one of them. That said, the more contemporary Golden Books (like the ones for Star Wars and super heroes) typically slow the pacing down a bit by adding closer to three sentences per page. This book is for sure one, or sometimes only a half a sentence per page. Compared to other books, like Goodnight Darth Vader, there are something like four times as many pages using this sort of pace. So, it depends how you look at it. For my three year old, sometimes one of these is enough, or sometimes it can take up to five books this size. I like how shorter stories provide us the trickery of saying, "Just one more book. This is the last bedtime story of the night, OK." Then the kid agrees, but it's a little switcheroo to a quick book like this one (and we do have some even shorter, believe me). You get the picture. It's hard to have anything critical to say towards a book that has survived several decades and remains relevant. Any other critique really doesn't matter.

I purchased four fire truck books for my 2 year old after he developed an interest, and this one was his favorite! We read it in its entirety three times in a row last night and were not able to finish any of the others I ordered before he got distracted or requested this one be read again!

I bought this book for my son, who loves trucks and fire engines. We have a lot of little golden books that were mine in the 1990s, but we didn't have this one, so we were excited. When I opened the package, the book was ripped at the golden binding. The book itself is ok, but if I was grabbing this off of the shelf at a store, I wouldn't have grabbed a damaged one. This isn't something that happened during shipping because I had ordered other books that were in the box too and this is the only one that was messed up. Yes, we can still use the book, but it is irritating that I already have to fix it.

I love this book. I got it as a child and I have always loved it. I picked up a copy for my son, and even at 3 months old, he is able to keep his attention on it. I try to also ask him how many firefighters he sees and count them as well. Yes, there is NO diversity in this book, but it was first printed in 1949. It is a "Classic" and I think it is a good idea not to change this one. However, I would fully support Little Golden Books if they decided to make an updated version as not part of the classics collection and have a bit more modern language and the diversity this book is sorely lacking. I'd totally buy that book, too.Printed in USA

My dad was a fireman, and this book was my favorite. We loved the line, "the chief is on his way!"My three children loved this book.In 2001, I found some fabric that looks very similar to the pictures in the book, and I recently made a quilt with it and other fire fabrics for a new baby. So I had to buy and send the book with the quilt.I still have my 68 year old classic tucked away. It was 19cents and my mother bought it in the supermarket while I sat in the basket. It's a classic!

A wonderful classic, stands the test of time...

I got this for my grandson to go along with his new firehouse toy. I find myself buying him more retro toys and books to convey traditional masculine roles today’s manufacturers and authors are doing their best to thwart. Not everyone is on board with the agenda and I’m happy to find this gem.

Great Christmas Gift.

I sent this book to my 2 year old grandson in Sydney. He is obsessed with Fire Engines and he loves this little book. It has been a constant at bedtime for some time now.

My 4 year old son loves this book and we read it every night. If your little one likes anything to do with fire fighters then this is a win. I especially like that it was written in the 50's. No masks, no air tanks, no walkie-talkies. These birds were real deal hero and that is timeless cool.

this book is VERY dated, but my 2 year old son loves it, it had a hard cover on the ouside, and slightly flimsby paper inside the book but in general it's a good buy to keep my son quiet, as he's obsessed with fire engines.

A tradition I've started with my sister for our children as our aunty used to get them for us. Lovely books. :-D

Great book - follow up to 5 little firemen. Short read so max 5 mins