Review: One of the most important lessons that children can learn, what makes a hero
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 11, 2013
To the young and imaginative mind, the first responders are heroes that spend their days doing dramatic and heroic things. Firefighters are always fighting fires and rescuing people by carrying them down ladders from dizzying heights. However, firefighters are called out for many emergencies, everything from rescuing stranded animals to extracting people from unusual spaces that they cannot get out of.Most of their day is spent in routine activity at the station and after a day of pretending to be firefighter heroes with his friends, Billy the Goat tells his parents all about his day of incredible heroics. His parents tell him that firefighters do many other things that are far more mundane and his father arranges for Billy to spend a day at a fire station.Billy learns one of the most important lessons of being human, namely that we are all afraid and what heroes do is set their fear aside when necessary. Being afraid is normal, putting that aside when necessary is what makes people special. At the end of the day, Billy understands what being a firefighter is all about and he is a better person as a consequence of his day at the fire station.This is an excellent book for children; it peels away the relentless heroism of the media and shows firefighters as humans, albeit those that do extraordinary things.