The Great Fire of 1871 was one of most colossal disasters in American history. Overnight, the flourishing city of Chicago was transformed into a smoldering wasteland.
The damage was so profound that few people believed the city could ever rise again. By weaving personal accounts of actual survivors together with the carefully researched history of Chicago and the disaster, Jim Murphy constructs a riveting narrative that recreates the event with drama and immediacy. And finally, he reveals how, even in a time of deepest despair, the human spirit triumphed, as the people of Chicago found the courage and strength to build their city once again.
The Great Fire (Newbery Honor Book) by Jim Murphy
Jim Murphy began his career in children's books as an editor, but managed to escape to become a writer, entering a life of personal and creative happiness and enduring financial uncertainty. He's convinced that the latter keeps him coming back to his computer to write every day and feels that a sense of impending doom is the doorway to creativity. He has never counted the number of books he's published (feeling the time and energy is better spent doing research and writing) but guesses that he has over thirty books to his credit. Jim's work has been honored with numerous awards, including two American Library Association Newbery Honor Book Awards, an ALA Robert F. Sibert Award and Sibert Honor Book Award, three National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Awards, a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award and a BG/HB Honor Book Award, two SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, and been a finalist for the National Book Award. Recently, he was given the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award for "his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
ISBN: 0590472674
EAN: 9780590472678
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Binding: Hardcover
Copyright Date: 1995
Pub Date: April 01, 1995
Picture Books - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States - State & Local
-Great Fire, Chicago, Ill., 1871 -Chicago (Ill.)
-History -To 1875
-Fires -Illinois
-Chicago -19th century
- Geographic Orientation | Illinois
- Locality | Chicago, Illinois
- Chronological Period | 1851-1899
OCLC Number: OCLC#30070801
Awards: Newbery Medal | Honor Book | Children's | 1996
Dewey: 977.311041
LC Call Number: F548.42
LCCN: 94009963
Lexile Level: 1130