Trucks, Boots, and Bells

Calling all kids who are fascinated by firefighting! You will love these eighteen poems, exciting pictures, and fun facts!

Bells ring out a code / Time to hit the road / Firefighters answering the call!

In eighteen poems and a collection of fun facts, firefighters put on their helmets, pull on their boots, and race through the city! With their hoses, axes, and bright red blazes, they’re ready to battle blazes.

The daughter of a firefighter, Mary E. Cronin writes with great love and respect as she shares behind-the-scenes details, along with drama and pathos. Aaron Marin brings fresh perspective and childlike imagination to every page, while underscoring the dignity and bravery of a noble profession.

The ballads, haikus, and other poems in this book make it the perfect introduction to many forms of poetry. Poems include “Trucks, Boots, and Bells,” “Pole Slider,” “Helmet,” “We’re Engine 71,” “Attack Hose,” “Fierce Battle,” Mother Firehouse,” and more.Mary E. Cronin became a reader and writer in the Bronx, New York—that’s where she visited her father’s firehouse and climbed on the fire truck. She now lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where she still waves to fire trucks. She can be reached at www.maryecronin.com.

Though a doodler as a child, Aaron Marin spent eleven years in the military (he’s very good at deadlines) before turning his attention to fine art, and now to children’s book illustration. In his work, he aims to capture the defining essence of an environment or person or place, often challenging assumptions of beauty, power, and intelligence relating to the Black experience in America.