Saving Thunder the Great: The True Story of a Gerbil's Escape from the Fort McMurray Wildfire

by Leanne Shirtliffe, Georgia Graham (Illustrator)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927099858
Publisher:	Boulder Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Leanne Shirtliffe is the author of The Change Your Name Store, No More Beige Food, and Don't Lick the Minivan. When she's not writing, she can be found teaching high school or trying to convince her husband that they "need" a pet. Her children are on her side. She lives in Calgary and is proud to call Alberta her home.

Georgia Graham's artwork has graced the pages of numerous children's books, including Nana's Summer Surprise, Cub's Journey Home, Here Comes Hortense, Where Wild Horses Run, and Nana's Getting Married. She lives in Lacombe, Alberta.

Interviews

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Fort McMurray sits in northern Alberta amidst beautiful boreal forest. Fort Mac, as it's commonly known, is an international city: you can hear over 80 languages spoken, making it one of the most diverse Canadian cities.

On May 1, 2016, a wildfire started outside Fort Mac. Two days later, the fire forced all 88,000 fort McMurray residents to evacuate, and destroyed over 2,400 buildings, including Mamma's basement apartment. to date, it is the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history and the largest evacuation in alberta due to a forest fire.

Fort Mac has only one road in and one road out; the evacuation could have been chaotic and deadly, but it wasn't. In a press conference, Fire Chief Darby Allen choked back tears and said: "We successfully evacuated 88,000 people. No one was hurt and no one has passed away ... We are here, and we are strong." The fire claimed no one.

The Red Cross raised over $100 million for Fort Mac evacuees inthe three weeks following the wildfire. It set a Canadian record for the charity.

Julie Lodge is Jackson's Mamma. She worked as a tool crib attendant in Fort McMurray. The photo that Julie took of a woman (Karley Kenny) texting while rescuing her horses (Cowboy, Diva, and Shadow) went viral.

The hospital where Julie dropped off the mother and son is called the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. Its patients were evacuated to a camp north of Fort Mac so that those wo were seriously ill could be airlifted out.

Blacksand Lodge, where Julie and Thunder reunited and spent the night, burned to the ground on May 17. It was safely evacuated the night before.

Julie Lodge is a resilient woman. During one of our many conversations, she said, "I want people to know that Fort Mac is a city that contains real people with real stories and real lives."

Julie, her son, Jackson, and their gerbil, Thunder the Great, are three such lives.