Publisher's blurb :Amy is staying in Marysville with her grandmother, and help in the garden and clean out her gutters. It is, after all, bushfire season. As summer arrives, so do the fires, and Dad is busy helping control the flames in bushfires that have started burning in Victoria. But it is early February 2009, and the Black Saturday bushfire is about to encircle Amy and her family, and teach Amy first-hand about tragedy and survival.

My review : An interesting one because the reader actually knows what is going to happen before the main character Amy does and the frantic problems that confronted the people of Marysville on that terrible day are clearly illustrated. I like how Sally has thrown in a touch of romance to lighten up the drama as otherwise the whole book would have been too intense. Spoiler alert: the grandmother becomes catatonic when she realise they have left it too late to leave and Amy has to slap her across the face to make the grandmother drive to the oval ( the only safe place in the burning town). I'm not sure whether in real life this would have worked with someone in shock.

Suitable for Years 7- 10 ( )