Suitabook
There’s a Fire on the Mountain
Kirsty Paxton
CC BY 4.0Credits & Licence
Originally published by Book Dash. Writer: Kirsty Paxton. Illustrator: Julie Smith-Belton. Designer: Nadene Reignier. Editor: Margot Bertelsmann.
Cover resized and converted to WebP; artwork unchanged. Suitabook’s AI guidance is a separate assessment.
Original Book on Book Dash: There’s a Fire on the Mountain (opens in a new tab)- Reading
- Pause at the fire and aftermath pages to check how the scenes feel, then linger over the changing plants. Let the child lead any discussion about what happens next.
- Themes
- Fire, loss and regrowth: A mountain fire burns buildings and plants; after the blackened slopes are shown, flowers, ferns and other plants appear. The story makes the damage and sadness visible, then gives substantial attention to the return of plant life. It does not establish a broader judgement about fire or recovery.
- Community response: People run away from smoke and flames with books and bags; firefighters use hoses and helicopters to fight the blaze. The story depicts people escaping and firefighters working, but does not develop individual experiences or explain the wider response.
- Worth knowing
- The blaze is shown burning buildings, books, trees and grass; people run from smoke and flames, and the children later say they are very sad. The aftermath may feel upsetting.