ABLAZE

Before blazing a trail as the U.S. Forest Service’s first female smokejumper, Deanne Shulman was just a kid who loved the outdoors.

Being outdoorsy in California, however, meant reckoning with wildfires and their effects on the people and places Deanne loved. As a young woman, she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, fighting fires. The work was tough and dangerous, but it fueled her heart’s fire. With a hotshot crew, she fought fast-spreading wildfires head-on, but she was eager to try another, even more perilous job: smokejumping. Parachuting from planes into active wildfire regions required an enormous amount of physical strength and stamina, and the USFS had never employed a female smokejumper. Deanne trained relentlessly for the smokejumper test, only to learn that she was too small to qualify. Appealing the height and weight guidelines via the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, Deanne waited nine months while her claim was investigated. Finally, she was granted a tryout. After grueling mental and physical trials, there was only one thing left to do…jump! Smoldering, warm-toned illustrations combine multiple scenes on each page with a dynamic flow. Visuals evoking a fast-spreading blaze are enhanced by Lawson’s lyrical prose. Deanne is white; the rest of the cast varies in skin tone.

A scorching tale of one woman’s unstoppable courage and fiery grit.