The Fire Cat

"The Fire Ca"t is the story about Pickles, a stray who winds up in the Fire Department.
Pickle's life doesn't start out very auspiciously Pickles lives in a barrel. He is a stray cat who spends his time picking on the little cats in his neighborhood.  One day he chases a smaller cat up a tree. The smaller cat makes his getaway but Pickles is stuck. 
A lady named Mrs. Goodkind, who watches over the cats calls the fire department. They send out a truck to bring Pickles down.
The firefighter asks Mrs. Goodkind if this is her cat and she says no. She goes on to explain that Pickles is not the kind of cat who is happy in a home. She believes he wants to do big things. Joe the firefighter takes Pickles back to the fire station where he is introduced to the chief.
The chief allows him to stay provided Pickles earns his keep.
Pickles becomes an integral part of the company helping out in all sorts of ways, up to and including helping to hold the hose during fires, but he still can't help but chase littler kittens.
One day though, a kitten needs help. That's when Pickles shows that a cat with big paws, can indeed do big things!
This book was written by Esther Averill in 1960. She was from Connecticut originally but went to Paris. While there she worked as a photojournalist, and started a publishing company that published children's books. She returned from Paris in 1941, and continued working as a publisher and writer. She liked writing about cats for the most part, writing a series of books about a cat named Jenny.
In 1960 she wrote "The Fire Cat" and around 1965 my mother first read it to me. When my own crew came along I read it to them. And they are still entertained by the big cat with big paws. In fact my youngest cat Maude would have been named Pickles if she had been a boy, because she has paws like a catcher's mitt!
"The Fire Cat" is a chapter book, so it is easy to pick up and put down when you are just beginning to read. The illustrations are not fancy, but they are charming, done in a simple primary colors.
If your youngsters are cat lovers they will definitely enjoy this book. If they love fire stations they will enjoy it as well, although at this point the pictures are "vintage" <I use that word instead of antique since the book is the same age I am!>.
Pick up "The Fire Cat" today!