Ablaze
ABLAZE
Writer: Jessica Lawson
Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Editor: Meriam Metoui
Art & Design: Kate Renner and Lily K. Qian
Pub date: July 1, 2025
Writer: Jessica Lawson
Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Editor: Meriam Metoui
Art & Design: Kate Renner and Lily K. Qian
Pub date: July 1, 2025
A lyrical and empowering biography on Deanne Shulman, America's first female smokejumper.
Deanne loved being outdoors.
With her family, she spent summers sailing the Salton Sea and backpacking the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As she grew older, her love of nature only grew. So when the heat rose each fire season and the blazes burned near and far, she noticed. Deanne knew she had to do her part in fighting the fires. She spent years on woodland crews, clearing brush and branches that could make the fire spread, and on hotshot crews where she fought faster fires and took bigger risks, spending weeks in one-hundred-degree heat working twenty-four-hour shifts. But what Deanne really wanted was to be a smokejumper, to jump from planes and parachute into dangerous wildfires that no truck could ever reach. To be the first line of defense. The only problem? There had never been a female smokejumper before.
With lyrical text from Jessica Lawson and striking illustrations from Sarah Gonzales, Ablaze tells the story of Deanne Shulman’s groundbreaking work with the United States Forest Service as she fought against unfair rules and blazed the way for women in firefighting.
ORDER NOW:
︎︎︎ Penguin Random House
︎︎︎ Drawn & Quarterly
︎︎︎ Indigo
︎︎︎ Amazon Canada
Deanne loved being outdoors.
With her family, she spent summers sailing the Salton Sea and backpacking the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As she grew older, her love of nature only grew. So when the heat rose each fire season and the blazes burned near and far, she noticed. Deanne knew she had to do her part in fighting the fires. She spent years on woodland crews, clearing brush and branches that could make the fire spread, and on hotshot crews where she fought faster fires and took bigger risks, spending weeks in one-hundred-degree heat working twenty-four-hour shifts. But what Deanne really wanted was to be a smokejumper, to jump from planes and parachute into dangerous wildfires that no truck could ever reach. To be the first line of defense. The only problem? There had never been a female smokejumper before.
With lyrical text from Jessica Lawson and striking illustrations from Sarah Gonzales, Ablaze tells the story of Deanne Shulman’s groundbreaking work with the United States Forest Service as she fought against unfair rules and blazed the way for women in firefighting.
ORDER NOW:
︎︎︎ Penguin Random House
︎︎︎ Drawn & Quarterly
︎︎︎ Indigo
︎︎︎ Amazon Canada
PRAISE
* A Junior Library Guild Selection
“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 . . . A scorching tale of one woman’s unstoppable courage and fiery grit.”
— Kirkus Reviews
— Kirkus Reviews
“In this resonant story, conserving nature, protecting communities, and demanding equal opportunity unite.”
— Publishers Weekly
— Publishers Weekly
“A satisfying and timely offering.”
— Booklist
— Booklist
“Evocative of watercolor and pencilwork, the smudgy, blurred art in vibrant colors of blazing reds and oranges nearly radiates heat off the page . . . A reminder that persistence even in the
face of what seems insurmountable is essential as the climate crisis grows.”
— BCCB
face of what seems insurmountable is essential as the climate crisis grows.”
— BCCB
INTERIORS
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