Written by Tony Abbott
Published by Little, Brown, 2006
ISBN 9780316011716

Everyone at some point in their life finds a friend that brings out the best in them or changes them in a positive way. This is the way Tom, in the book Firegirl, feels about Jessica, a quiet, shy girl who was badly burned in a fire. Nobody wanted to be Jessica’s friend because of the way she looked. Everyone judged Jessica by the way she looked. At first Tom didn’t like Jessica just because he was going off of the rumors and judgments made by his classmates and peers. Finally, after ignoring her and pretending he didn’t care, Tom looked beyond her appearance and found the real Jessica. Jessica became the friend that nobody else was to Tom.

Tony Abbott, the author of Firegirl, teaches that there is more to a person than what they look like. Along with every person comes a personality waiting to be discovered by a true friend.

—Megan Zamow, 6th Grader