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Cyd Moore

Leslea Newman

A Fire Engine for Ruthie Hardcover – Picture Book, August 23, 2004

by Lesléa Newman (Author), Cyd Moore (Illustrator)

13 ratings

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Ruthie loves to visit Nana, but they don’t always like to play with the same things. Ruthie loves fire engines and motorcycles, while Nana loves dolls and dress-up clothes. Nana’s neighbor, Brian, gets to play with fire engines and motorcycles. So why doesn’t Ruthie? Energetic illustrations capture the loving relationship between Ruthie and Nana in this insightful and sensitive story.

Reading age

4 - 7 years
Print length

32 pages
Language

English
Grade level

Preschool - 3
Dimensions

10 x 0.13 x 10 inches
Publisher

Clarion Books
Publication date

August 23, 2004
ISBN-10

0618159894
ISBN-13

978-0618159895
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As with Newman's The Boy Who Cried Fabulous (reviewed April 12), the author here introduces a protagonist with interests that buck societal stereotypes. Ruthie and her grandmother spend lots of time together, buying Ruthie's favorite foods, checking out her favorite books and playing on her favorite swing set. But with each outing, Ruthie longingly observes the neighbor boy, Brian, playing with his noisy vehicles. " 'Do you have a train to play with at your house, Nana?'... 'No,' says Nana, 'but I have some beautiful dolls waiting at home for you.' " While Nana encourages tea parties and flower painting, Ruthie prefers the roar of toy motorcycles and fire engines. Moore (I Love You, Stinky Face) balances the enjoyable times the pair shares (as in a vignette of their playdate at the park) with the slight disappointment Ruthie feels when her preferences don't mesh with Nana's. The vibrant watercolors pack in plenty of detail and the cheery hues of the busy spreads echo Ruthie's sunny optimism, as do her short, curly red locks. Nana eventually learns to let her granddaughter be her guide into more boisterous play, though readers may feel that the ending goes too far when Nana gets carried away with Brian's trains herself. Young and old will likely appreciate both protagonists' points of view. Ages 4-8.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2–Ruthie is visiting her grandmother for a few days. Coming back from the grocery store, they pass a young neighbor, Brian, playing with a fire truck. Ruthie hopes that Nana has a truck like that at her house but she doesn't, and the woman suggests that they play with dolls instead. Before long, the girl has an imaginary fire going and turns a cardboard box into a pretend truck. The next day, Brian is playing with a train set. Ruthie is not interested in putting on a fashion show with dress-up clothes, so she creates a train out of chairs. So it goes until Nana asks her what she'd like to do, and Ruthie asks to visit Brian. They play with all sorts of transportation toys and when Nana arrives to pick up her granddaughter, she joins in the fun. The next day, the two visit the toy store to buy a fire engine and a train. Moore's realistic illustrations, done in watercolor, are pleasant enough, but they cannot carry this predictable story. Old favorites, such as Charlotte Zolotow's William's Doll (HarperCollins, 1972), do a better job of addressing issues of male-female role expectations.–Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books; New title edition (August 23, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618159894
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618159895
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 4 - 7 years
Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 3
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10 x 0.13 x 10 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,407 in Children's Cars & Trucks Books (Books)
- #3,730 in Children's Multigenerational Family Life
- #8,129 in Children's Books on Girls' & Women's Issues

Customer Reviews:
13 ratings

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Cyd Moore
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Cyd Moore is a painter, graphic designer and illustrator of magazines, McDonald's Happy Meal boxes, games, posters, and more than 50 children's books including the adorable (and addictive!) I LOVE YOU, STINKY FACE written by Lisa McCourt. Her artwork can be seen here: www.CydMoore.com.
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Leslea Newman
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Lesléa Newman is the author of 75 books for readers of all ages including the teen novel in verse, OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD; the middle grade novel, HACHIKO WAITS; the poetry collection, I CARRY MY MOTHER; the short story collection, A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK; and the children's books, A SWEET PASSOVER, THE BOY WHO CRIED FABULOUS, KETZEL, THE CAT WHO COMPOSED, and HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. Her literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD was named an American Library Association 2013 Stonewall Honor Book, and A SWEET PASSOVER was named a 2013 Sydney Taylor Honor as well. A past poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, she is a faculty member of Spalding University's brief-residency MFA in Writing program. Her newest poetry collection, I CARRY MY MOTHER is a book-length cycle of poems that explores a daughter's journey through her mother's illness and death. From diagnosis through yahrtzeit (one-year anniversary), the narrator grapples with what it means to lose a mother. The poems, written in a variety of forms (sonnet, pantoum, villanelle, sestina, terza rima, haiku, and others) are finely crafted, completely accessible, and full of startling, poignant, and powerful imagery. These poems will resonant with all who have lost a parent, relative, spouse, friend, or anyone whom they dearly love.
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Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
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Top reviews from the United States

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t_3kids_later

awesome birthday gift

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 27, 2012

Verified Purchase

my little princess was turning three and asked for a fire truck. Because I'm a preschool teacher I was aware of this book and it went along with the fire truck perfectly as the little girl in the book is not a "princess" as much as her grandma thought she would be. And in the end no matter if your a girlie girl or tomboy and no matter what age you are fire trucks are totally COOL.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Wonderful story

Helpful

Tree of Life Counseling

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 14, 2017

wonderful

Beautiful book but materialistic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 14, 2015

5 stars for the beauty of this book. Great illustrations, well written and easy to read out loud. Held my kids attention (ages 2, 4 and 6).
BUT I guess I missed the point of this story. It seems to be supposed to be about how it's okay for girls to play with boy toys. We have never differentiated girl and boy toys in our house. My son has a (boy) doll, my girls play with trains and snap circuits. I didn't even pick up that message initially. Instead this book really bothered me. The little girl goes to stay with grandma. Grandma has planned many wonderful trips and fun activities for them to do together but all the girl can think about is what the boy down the street has. She doesn't want a tea party although she plays along for a while with grandma she wants to play fire trucks. At first she gets creative turning a box into a fire engine (great solution I thought) but the author points out all that is lacking about a cardboard imaginary fire truck (no sounds etc). Things like this go on for a week until finally the grandmother goes out and spends a fortune at the toy store so her granddaughter can have all the same toys as the boy down the street.
If you know people who have issues with girls playing with trains and fire trucks and want to teach them that it's okay for girls to play with the "boy toys" then this book is for you but if you are trying to teach your kids not to covet their neighbor's toys and enjoy making the best of what they have then you might not enjoy this book as much.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

great for tomboy's

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2005

This is a cute picture book about a little girl named Ruthie. She is visiting her Nana and her Nana has lots of things planed from them to do together like play with dolls and have tea parties. Ruthie does these things with her Nana but she doesn't like them very much. Ruthie likes to play with toys like trucks, cars, and trains. She see a little neighbor boy playing with thes things and she tells her Nana she wants to play with him. Nana lets her visit and once Nana sees how much fun Ruthie is having she joins them as well!

I liked that the book showed it's ok for girls to like to same toys as boys and for boys to enjoy things that girls like as well.

I would recommend this book to others. Girls who enjoy playing with "boy toys" will relate to Ruthie well.

4 people found this helpful

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sbrose

A FIve Year Old's Review

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 13, 2012

My granddaughter says, "A Fire Engine for Ruthie" is my best book. She is not particulary interested in fire engines but loves to play pirate anr loves the fact that Ruthie gets to play the way she chooses.

Helpful

3 1/2 Nana Gets Her Groove Back

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 30, 2005

When curly-headed Ruthie's visits her grandma, "Nana" doesn't seem to have a clue about her granddaughter. She doesn't understand that Ruthie loves the fire engines and trains and motorcycles with which young Brian plays, even though she asks Nana if she has those three days in a row. Nana has a good heart; she simply doesn't own them. Instead, Nana suggests that they paint flowers, have a tea party, and throw a fashion show. Ruthie, however, just agrees to these activities, "even though she really doesn't like" them.

Nana fails to notice that Ruthie always inserts Brian's more exciting toys into the pretend play and painting that she and Ruthie do together: A motorcycle appears in Ruthie's daisy picture, and she pretends to smell fire. Nana appears oblivious to Ruthie's interests, and Ruthie's imagination has not yet developed enough to play without real-looking toys. For example, Ruthie makes a pretend fire truck from a box, but she loses interest because it "has no black-and-white dog sitting up front," and "no silver ladder that slides up and down and no yellow hose to unwind." The two are so out of touch that the book's funniest line occurs on day four, when Nana once again asks Ruthie, "What would you like to do today?"

"Ruthie tells Nana, 'I want to play with Brian.'" This comes as no surprise to the reader.

To make a long story short (and, unfortunately, the book does seem longer than its 32 pages), Nana finally understands Ruthie's need for more exciting, action-oriented toys and play when they visit Brian. Nana becomes involved with the kids, and even "buys a fire engine for Ruthie, a train for herself, and two motorcycles to share." The book's colorful pictures--especially one of Nana all dressed up in a feather boa and a floppy orange hat--maintain interest, even though Nana sometimes looks like a teenager. In fact, Nana neither looks nor acts much differently from a parent who doesn't know his or her own child. Real generational and gender themes are portrayed so subtly that the book sometimes lacks warmth and a feeling of authenticity. The book could be useful for instructional and counseling purposes, and it might be fun for grandparents to read with their extended family.

6 people found this helpful

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A Fire Engine for Ruthie Hardcover – Picture Book, August 23, 2004

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