By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Andrew Scott

Title: The Fire Eaters
Author: David Almond
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Number of Pages: 218

Bobby Burns lives in a nice little town in England near the ocean and everything is going fine for him. Then a man named Mcnulty who eats fire and swallows swords comes to Bobby's town and changes Bobby's life forever!

When Bobby gets accepted into an excellent prep school, he feels that his life is just perfect.

Then one day when he is walking downtown with his mother and they see a very tough, scary man who is eating fire and sticking skewers down his throat for entertainment on the street. Bobby is scared of the man because he is so rough. The man asks for a volunteer to help him in the show and he picks Bobby! After the show, Bobby learns that the man's name is Mcnulty and that he lives on the streets and makes money by performing tricks for everyone. Bobby feels sorry for Mcnulty because he's homeless. So in the next few weeks, Bobby decides to help Mcnulty by bringing him food.

McNulty teaches Bobby to care for other people. Then Bobby's life becomes even more complicated when his dad becomes very sick. Bobby has to find a way to help both Mcnulty and his father at the same time. What makes things even harder is that Bobby tries to follow Mcnulty around where he is putting on different shows. In the end McNulty comes to Bobby's house and finally he dies there.

The Fire Eaters was hard to read because the language was weird and old-fashioned. There was also not a lot of action. I wouldn't recommend this book if you like thrillers or fantasy because it wasn't that kind of book at all. It was kind of slow and boring. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger than 10. (February, 2005)