Fire

It has been noted that Marshak's poems for children are filled with fire. The matter is that in early childhood, the boy and his family experienced a fire in their own home. The writer said that his very first vivid childhood memory is the fire engulfing the curtains, his mother quickly and anxiously dressing him, and the incomprehensible feeling of a very deep fear. In Marshak's poems, we will encounter fire more than once. After all, he always treated it with caution and tried to convey this carefulness and attentiveness to children.
Indeed, the theme of fire and fire is one of the most attractive and captivating for children. In their understanding, a firefighter is the most heroic profession, and a fire truck is created for dangerous and noble adventures. That is why S. Marshak's book "Fire" with illustrations by V. Konashevich has been published 28 times since 1923. It has not become outdated, it has not left the scene, and it continues to live in the old and new pictures of its best illustrator, Vladimir Konashevich.

Before you is the latest updated version by the authors, which was released in 1952. Now the action of the book unfolds against the backdrop of a modern city: fire teams have been replaced by fire trucks, and multi-story buildings have grown in place of one-story houses. While re-illustrating "Fire", Konashevich closely and attentively observed the work of the fire depot in Leningrad, asked firefighters questions, and meticulously sketched the new machines. But both in the text and in the image, there remains an interesting detail that has long disappeared from modern firefighting, the meaning of which should be explained to children: the number of signal balls raised by the lookout over the tower indicated the intensity of the fire and the approximate direction of the fire location.
The light rhyme, engaging plot, and expressive colorful illustrations make Marshak and Konashevich's "Fire" an unmatched masterpiece of literature "for little ones." Such a publication of "Fire" (as, indeed, all of Marshak's children's works with illustrations by V.M. Konashevich) must be present for all children and their parents.
Recommended for parents to read aloud to younger preschool children, as well as for examining and discussing the pictures