Fire on the Mountain
Written by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis
Simon & Schuster, 1994
40 pages
Ages 4-10
HC ISBN: 978-0-060-56493-3
PB ISBN: 978-0-689-81896-7
“Fire on the Mountain is my retelling of an Ethiopian folktale I heard as a child, about a dreamer who survives one test of a night on a cold mountain and then has to also outwit the rich man who would cheat him of his victory.” —Jane Kurtz
Awards & Recognition
- Alternate selection, Children’s Book of the Month Club.
- ALA’s Book Links called it one of the best picture books of 1994.
- One of five finalists for the PEN West Literary Award for Children’s Literature.
- Nominated for the Flicker Tale Award and Young Hoosier Award, state lists.
Classroom Resources
- Compare Fire on the Mountain to any one of the titles listed in the booklist below.
- This book was the first book illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Look at some other books by the same talented artist. Do you find any similarities?
- Down the Road (Harcourt)
- Magid Fasts for Ramadan (Clarion)
- The New King (Dial)
- Big Boy (Clarion)
Other Books to Read
- “Fire on the Mountain” from The Fire on the Mountain and other Ethiopian Stories by Harold Courlander and Wolf Leslau (Holt, 1950).
- “The Warmth of a Fire” from Fair is Fair by Sharon Creeden (August House, 1995)
- “One Candle Power” in Once the Hodja by Alice Geer Kelsey (David McKay, 1994).
- “Ooka and the Stolen Smell” in The Case of the Marble Monster by I.G. Edmonds (Scholastic, 1961).
- In the Month of Kislev by Nina Jaffe (Viking, 1992).
- “Rich Man, Poor Man” in Favorite Folktales from Around the World by Jane Yolen (Pantheon, 1986).
