By Jessica Lawson
Illustrated by Sarah Gonzales
Viking / Penguin Random House, 2025
32 pages
978-0-593-46365-9
Ages 5-9
Deanne Shulman’s childhood love of nature became a passion for fighting wildfires with the U.S. Forest Service when she was an adult. The work was physically and mentally arduous, but Deanne excelled as a member of wildland crews and hotshot crews, working twenty-four-hour days in extreme heat. “But there was still one dangerous job that she’d never had a chance to try… Smokejumper.” These elite firefighters parachute from planes in order to be the first on the scene of a wildfire. Deanne easily passed the first of the required physical tests, but she reached a stumbling block before the second. At the time, smokejumpers were required to be at least five feet, five inches tall and 130 pounds. Deanne was too small. But she refused to be deterred; she filed a formal complaint based on the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, and within two years, she was allowed to take the tests—and passed. Her efforts led to an adjustment of the size requirements and opened the doors for more women to become smokejumpers. This story of an impressive young woman concludes with a substantial glossary of terms related to the high-interest topic of fighting wildfires. ©2025 Cooperative Children’s Book Center