Four signed copies of my picture book Fire Truck vs. Dragon (illustrated by Shanda McCloskey and published in March 2020 by Little, Brown) are up for grabs in this month’s giveaway!
As I return to featuring Shark vs. Train, its 2010 companion, in my author visits for the first time in many years, I’ve been thinking about students’ inevitable questions and observations about how the two books contrast and compare.
Fire Truck vs. Dragon hit shelves exactly one day before Covid was declared a pandemic, which means my bookstore event scheduled for that upcoming weekend was one of the first plans of mine to be scuttled.
As a result, I sort of skipped over the ideal opportunity to give a talk about Fire Truck vs. Dragon and Shark vs. Train as a pair.
The short version of that, and what I expect to convey to a lot of elementary school students in the months ahead, is that where Shark vs. Train was a series of ridiculous competitions between two characters you would never expect to be in conflict, Fire Truck vs. Dragon is a series of ridiculously thwarted expectations of what will happen between two seemingly conflicting characters.
So, that’s the contrast between the two books. The comparison? Like its predecessor, I’ve found Fire Truck vs. Dragon to be an absolute hoot to read aloud.
But back to the giveaway! Subscribers to my monthly Bartography Express newsletter (folks can sign up here) are eligible for one of those four personalized copies of Fire Truck vs. Dragon.
If you’d like one of the winners to be you, by the end of February 2023 either say so in the comments below or email me directly, and you’ll be in the running. (U.S. mailing addresses only.)
Good luck!
I love the idea of comparing/contrasting the two books! Thank you for the idea. I’d love to be considered for a signed copy. Thank you as always for your blog posts!
Hi Chris, you came to my class with Nancy Roser at UT about a decade ago and read and signed Shark vs Train. Your boom was a beloved part of my classroom library and is a now a favorite of my kids, 4 and 7. They really love the message you wrote about rooting for my students. We’d love a copy of Fire Truck vs. Dragon. Thanks a congrats on all your success since we last met.
Fire Truck vs. Dragon looks like a fun book! Though I was a December winner, please enter me to win!
By the way, I hand delivered the extra copy of my December win to the charter school in McKinney, TX as a Valentines surprise!
Thank you for your wonderful books! My students love reading them. I’d love to hav a copy of Fire Truck vs Dragon.
Mandy, Claire, Barbara, and Jackie — thank you all so much for putting yourselves in the running, and good luck to each of you!
I’m excited to read it and would love to be entered into the drawing!