The Fire-Eaters

by David Almond

Book Overview

Bobby Burns knows he's a lucky lad. Growing up in sleepy Keely Bay, Bobby is exposed to all manner of wondrous things: stars reflecting off the icy sea, a friend that can heal injured fawns with her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440420121
• ISBN13: 9780440420125
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

A new David Almond fan...

This story was most engaging as I was brought back to my youth in a flood of memories. The author also succeeded in re-awakening the same feelings of joy and anxiety that I remembered from this time in history. My 13 year old son had recommended this book to me and I must be developing an interest in young adult fiction. Another book in this genre that captured my attention was Mark McNulty's `The Sea Shack'. Each book involved tales of young boys and their experiences in seacoast communities. I could identify with these times and circumstances and the authors remarkable talent for developing young characters. These books are terrific offerings for true `summer escape' reading. And, they are to be enjoyed by young and old alike as I have learned. Now, I must read the other David Almond books. I have become a fan.

City on fire

The greatest testament there is to the power of good writing is the ability it has to tell universal stories in very particular settings. For example, when you think of the author David Almond you pretty much have to think of one place in the world. North-eastern England. Books like "Kit's Wilderness" (one of the greatest children's books ever dreamt up) would be nothing without their location. And the same goes for his particularly ambitious effort, "The Fire-Eaters". This book is set, in his own words in, "a tatty place, a coaly beach by a coaly sea". The characters talk with thick beautiful brogues. Their lives and the lives of their ancestors are rooted to the beaches on which they were born. Yet somehow this book could apply to any human being on any land on this small planet we call our own. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a testament to good writing. Keely Bay is set apart from the rest of the world. It's the kind of place where a family can make a living simply by panning for the coal that appears naturally in the sea around it. Bobby Burns, however, is bound for higher things. He has been accepted into the nearby public school (along with some of his friends) and away from people like his friend Joseph. Then the world comes crashing down around him. When Bobby meets a mysterious fire-eater in a nearby city, that's the moment when his life starts to take a turn for the bizarre. Suddenly his dad has a mysterious illness and far away in America the Russian Missle Crisis is taking place. Bobby finds himself standing up to the oppressive corporeal punishment wielded at his school and dealing with the darkness that's coming far too close to his once perfect life. Deftly, author David Almond weaves fact and fancy, history and mystical goings-on to create a story that's technically fictional but more real than any other book being published today. Almond as an author has always been fascinated with stories in which a young male protagonist has a deep connection with an older male father-figure. In "Skellig" (his best known and most magical work) it was the mysterious bird-man found in the boy's garage. In "Kit's Wilderness" it was both the boy's grandfather and the boy he befriended in the deep dark coal mines. Here, Bobby befriends a mysterious stranger (like in "Skellig") but also has a deep meaningful relationship with his own father (like in "Kit's Wilderness"). Also, Almond tends to place a magical girl-figure in his books. This one is no exception. And it's funny... for all that Mr. Almond can be relied upon to create such regular cut-out characters, his books are some of the freshest and deeply moving out there today. Every time I read a David Almond book I think it's the best thing I've ever read. Until I happen to read the next David Almond book and the whole process starts again. His talent is in his ability to weave plots, themes, and ideas together. The fact that Almond makes his work seem so effortl

Strong and Beautiful

Another book by David Almond that carries you along in the story as miracles slowly unfold beneath the surface. The characters are drawn with tenderness and humor and the community they create and inhabit becomes almost a character in itself. I remember the Cuban missile crisis--I was about the same age as Bobby Burns, the main character in this story, and the story evoked the memory of those days so hauntingly. I keep marveling at the title, that plural that makes you think "together we can save the world."

Awesome book

When i first got this book out it didnt sound like a interesting book. I read the first page wondering what was happening. But as the story got deeper into the plot i couldnt put it down. I dont really read that much i enjoy watching television but this was such a sensational read i couldnt stop. Has a nice plot and is writin extremly well. Another great book by David almond

A powerful read

Bobby Burns has lived his entire life in the small coastal town of Keely Bay, but in the autumn of 1962 he finds that his life is changing. He is going to a new preparatory school, leaving his old friends and the village school behind. He suspects his father may be sick. The Cuban Missile Crisis is raging in America, threatening the entire world with nuclear annihilation.He is also meeting new people. There is McNulty, a fire-eater and escapologist whose mind was unhinged in WWII. There is Daniel, the new kid in town, who looks down on Keely Bay's working class inhabitants. Then there are the cruel teachers at Bobby's new school, who resort to beatings when they feel children don't know their place.Together, Bobby and Daniel mount a protest against the barbaric practice of strapping. The potential price of expulsion seems insignificant compared to the protests against nuclear war they see on television. When Bobby asks his father about the rioting, he answers, "That's just people doing what they should do, making their voice heard, yelling against what they know is wrong."David Almond's books often deal with themes of faith and redemption. THE FIRE-EATERS contains both of these elements, along with a reverence for even the most damaged lives. The night when nuclear war is averted, Bobby, his family, McNulty and the neighbors gather on the beach, eating, drinking and trying to spend time together with the people and places they love before the world ends, or changes forever.THE FIRE-EATERS contains a powerful message of hope. The fear of nuclear war, which was at its height during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was for its generation what the fear of terrorism is for this generation. Not every disaster can be averted, as was seen during the tragic events of September 11th, but the FIRE-EATERS is a reminder that these moments of crisis can bring clarity to our lives and help us to treasure those things that are truly meaningful. --- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood