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Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey.

Article Excerpt
written and illustrated by Maira Kalman, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons

With its glory days of firefighting alongside storage wharves and the Normandie left in the past, the fireboat John J. Harvey was an improbable candidate for heroism on September 11, 2001. In the city's critical hour of need, the Harvey nonetheless volunteered to do its bit and proved to be uniquely capable of fighting a blaze that land-based equipment, hobbled by broken water mains, couldn't reach. In Kalman's vibrant retelling, the hero John J. Harvey also stands as an archetype for a career of dedicated civic service. This viewpoint is extended through Kalman's potent imagery. The attack on the Twin Towers is an intrusion of still, solemn colors and formal shapes that force us to hold our breath--but only for a moment. It's the life surrounding that moment that's fiery and explosive, a riot of pinks and reds and oranges, complex textures, and playful perspectives. Here is a message worth passing on: no one is too small or too old to be of service, and no tragedy is too heinous to be overcome. Life wins. E.B.

I AM WHAT I AM (and Popeye ends right there with a succinct pop, but I have been asked to go on though I admire brevity above all else and often say the less said the better unless you have a lot to say which is fine it just better be interesting)--I am what I am because my grandmother...

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