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Saving Thunder the Great: the true story of a gerbil's escape from the Fort McMurray wildfire
"If you have to evacuate while I'm at work, just take Thunder the Great."
Those were Mamma's instructions the day before flames roared into Fort McMurray. On May 3, 2016, Mamma and Thunder the Great — a gerbil belonging to her son Jackson — were forced to flee their home. In a frightening rescue attempt, Mamma faces wildfire, traffic gridlock, an empty gas tank, and other challenges … all to get Thunder and herself to safety for the sake of her son.
Saving Thunder the Great is the true story of a hungry gerbil's rescue, a mother's love for her child, and the community who helps her.
Those were Mamma's instructions the day before flames roared into Fort McMurray. On May 3, 2016, Mamma and Thunder the Great — a gerbil belonging to her son Jackson — were forced to flee their home. In a frightening rescue attempt, Mamma faces wildfire, traffic gridlock, an empty gas tank, and other challenges … all to get Thunder and herself to safety for the sake of her son.
Saving Thunder the Great is the true story of a hungry gerbil's rescue, a mother's love for her child, and the community who helps her.
- GenresCanada
36 pages, Hardcover
Published October 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 2, 2019
This author will be a featured speaker at a conference that I am attending in August. Since I try to read something by each of the key-note speakers before the event, I requested this children’s book from my library. As Friday was exceedingly smokey from northern wildfires, this particular book seemed especially appropriate. Based on actual events following the Fort McMurray wildfire of 2016, it follows the path of a mother and her son’s pet gerbil, Thunder the Great, during the evacuation of that city.
If I wasn’t already familiar with the events of that summer, I think I might have sometimes wondered what was going on in this book. There is a lot of knowledge that the reader is just assumed to possess. In my opinion, the fearsome nature of the evacuation is rather glossed over--to prevent nightmares amongst the target audience presumably. If we are to abandon factual accuracy, it would have been more effective to make the child the main character of the book--I’m not sure how much children will identify with the mother as main focus.
The artwork is lovely and very realistic. It’s not often that I see gerbils appearing in illustrations in books. An explanation for Thunder the Great’s name would have been welcome, at least to me.
If I wasn’t already familiar with the events of that summer, I think I might have sometimes wondered what was going on in this book. There is a lot of knowledge that the reader is just assumed to possess. In my opinion, the fearsome nature of the evacuation is rather glossed over--to prevent nightmares amongst the target audience presumably. If we are to abandon factual accuracy, it would have been more effective to make the child the main character of the book--I’m not sure how much children will identify with the mother as main focus.
The artwork is lovely and very realistic. It’s not often that I see gerbils appearing in illustrations in books. An explanation for Thunder the Great’s name would have been welcome, at least to me.
December 25, 2016
This is an enticing story of a mother's effort to save her son's pet from the wildfires at Fort Mac that occurred earlier this year. It was a scary time for those unfortunate people who lost their homes and had to rely on friends and strangers for evacuation and safety. I enjoyed reading this true story from my childhood province and a terrible moment in recent history. Since my brother works in Fort McMurray this hits close to home for me. It is also well illustrated with beautiful paintings that are very realistic. I brought this book to my family Christmas gathering and it was an instant hit with everyone.
December 21, 2016
It really reminds those of us what it was like May 3 and shares with the world what it was like.
October 16, 2017
Saving Thunder the Great: a true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire, written by Leanne Shirtliffe is a story children will enjoy reading.
It was May 1, 2016, when a fire started outside the northern city of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.
Jackson was visiting his grandparents in Newfoundland, the farthest eastern province of Canada, and had left his pet gerbil – Thunder the Great – in the care of his mother in Fort McMurray. His mother, Julie, was a young woman working nightshifts, trying to support herself and her son.
On the afternoon of May 3 Julie was wakened by a friend urgently telling her they had to get out of there, the wildfire was spreading so that all 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray had to be evacuated immediately. The fire was moving so quickly she had time only to throw some clothes into a suitcase, grab the gerbil in his cage, and head her car – low on gas – out of the city.
It was a terrifying experience. Along the way Julie stopped to pick up a few people who were walking in the choking smoke and let them out where they needed to go. Julie is the person who took a photo of a woman, Karley, riding her horse and leading her two others to get them out safely. That photo went “viral.”
The Fort McMurray wildfires were very dangerous and destructive. Author Leanne Shirtliffe, talked with Julie several times to get her personal story of the events, and through Saving Thunder the Great: the true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire, her story is told on a level suitable for children to read while not ignoring the real-life drama.
Although the beautiful illustrations by Georgina Graham show how close the fire was to the thousands of people escaping to save their lives, they do not make this book too scary for young readers. Her work is impressive and realistic.
In the back of the book you’ll find two pages of Author’s Notes about Fort McMurray and Julie, who is referred to as Mama through the story. Also, in case you read the publisher’s information on the last page and wonder about it … when I inquired about Saving Thunder the Great: the true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire being listed as a fiction I was informed by the publisher “The book is non-fiction; the cataloguing citation is an error.”
It was May 1, 2016, when a fire started outside the northern city of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.
Jackson was visiting his grandparents in Newfoundland, the farthest eastern province of Canada, and had left his pet gerbil – Thunder the Great – in the care of his mother in Fort McMurray. His mother, Julie, was a young woman working nightshifts, trying to support herself and her son.
On the afternoon of May 3 Julie was wakened by a friend urgently telling her they had to get out of there, the wildfire was spreading so that all 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray had to be evacuated immediately. The fire was moving so quickly she had time only to throw some clothes into a suitcase, grab the gerbil in his cage, and head her car – low on gas – out of the city.
It was a terrifying experience. Along the way Julie stopped to pick up a few people who were walking in the choking smoke and let them out where they needed to go. Julie is the person who took a photo of a woman, Karley, riding her horse and leading her two others to get them out safely. That photo went “viral.”
The Fort McMurray wildfires were very dangerous and destructive. Author Leanne Shirtliffe, talked with Julie several times to get her personal story of the events, and through Saving Thunder the Great: the true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire, her story is told on a level suitable for children to read while not ignoring the real-life drama.
Although the beautiful illustrations by Georgina Graham show how close the fire was to the thousands of people escaping to save their lives, they do not make this book too scary for young readers. Her work is impressive and realistic.
In the back of the book you’ll find two pages of Author’s Notes about Fort McMurray and Julie, who is referred to as Mama through the story. Also, in case you read the publisher’s information on the last page and wonder about it … when I inquired about Saving Thunder the Great: the true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire being listed as a fiction I was informed by the publisher “The book is non-fiction; the cataloguing citation is an error.”
May 6, 2017
Disclosure: I am the author. :)
May 15, 2019
Illustrations were 4.5, but the story was just a 3. *read by Papa
November 15, 2019
A lovely book with amazing illustrations.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews