Rating: 
Summary: An interesting prospect
Review: A small band of children in Florida are trying to scrape up a living in a burnt out dead town. A plaugue (nuclear holocaust, diesease....whatever) killed the adults on the planet which indirectly lead to the death of nearly all the children as well. These 7 children (the oldest being 17) are fighting to make a living when a strange teenager (around 15) appears on the doorstep.
He calls himself "the Anchorman" and intices the children into a wild journey to find a man named "President" (kinda corny dontcha think?). The journey is laced with strange happenings and interesting appearences but has a killer cliffhanger at the end.
This book could have been very good, but was far too wordy. It spent far too much time trying to make stories, rather than developing the characters and the plot. On the hole, a rather disappointing start to a series. This review is by a 15 year old avid reader........who is definitely not impressed.
Rating: 
Summary: That Zimmerman Dude is Getting on My Nerves
Review: First of all, bits of this book might be a bit too disturbing for younger children. The themes are powerful and alarming. At first I thought it was a book written by creepy religious fanatics or something.
Boy was I wrong.
I got stuck into the story of these children with their allegorical names. It's filled with powerful scenes. Angerman has got to be the best catalyst character ever who takes these children that would have soon died from starvation on an unforgetable dangerous journey to discover why all of this happened.
He is disturbing and powerful and my favourite character in the whole series.
I also loved the way the writers used language, the puns they used, terms and phrases tranformed by the characters young minds.
It's a brilliant and chilling first book in these series.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I finished the Kindling last night, and loved it soooo much. The cliffhanger really made me want to read more. This is a really great book to read anytime, for anything. I suggest that anyone who wants a good book should read the Kindling.
Rating: 
Summary: Vir-us?!
Review: Interesting read. King's "The Stand" for younger readers is the best way to sum this story up. It was somewhat a slow start, however, ends good.
I feel there is no major character development going on in this book, however there are two more I've yet to read. The only two characters I really feel any strong emotions towards are Hunter and Angerman. Hunter is one of the main characters and seems to me pretty level headed. Angerman on the other hand is kind of creepy. I seriously hope is killed off in this series soon. He agitates me too much. Him doing so, however, proves to me that his character was well developed (seeing that I feel so strongly towards his demise).
Overall a pretty good read.
Rating:
Summary: Nice book...
Review: Okay, lets start at the begining. This book had a hooking plot and all, and the story was great. It's a sci-fi about a plague that wiped out all the adults in the world. Kids relied on their parents so much, they couldn't survive without them, and died of hunger and fever etc...Now, five years later, we have a group of kids. Three of them are around 13-15. They take care of younger kids, who are way too un-intellegent and immature to be realistic. The plot is hooking enough to distract you from that. Their fate twists when another person shows up at the door. He is misterios, and calls himself Angerman. He has a maniquin who he likes to blame the plague on, and beat up. Either he is a little luny or his something about his past is disturbing, because he's plain wierd, but still my favorite character. Okay. All in all, this book is not how I think it would be if a plague really did come. I guess this book deserves a better rating. I don't know. Let me warn you, the second you finish you'll want to pick up the second book. It really leaves you at a climax.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT WRITING ON A TRAGICALLY FLAWED PREMISE
Review: The Fire-Us trilogy is an entertaining post-apocalyptic thriller for those who are too young to remember the fears of nuclear annihilation that came to an end in the 1990's. Unfortunately, in the final installment, the authors' political biases become all to clear. For adult readers, this trilogy is an example of the kinds of evil allegations that our currend political Left is willing to spread about conservatives. If a conservative writer were to say such things about liberals he or she would be called a witch hunter, a McCarthyite, or worse. But so be it. The tale itself is entertaining enough on its own merits. THE KINDLING, opens in the town of Lazarus, Florida. We learn that five years earlier, a mysterious plague called Fire-Us had wiped out every adult on the planet. Although the plague did not harm children, most of them have died of neglect. But a hardy band of survivors in Lazarus boast that "We're still here!" The eldest of them would seem to have been only eight or nine when the plague struck. They have been so traumatized that they only have dim recollections of their First Mommies and First Daddies, and their First Names are only dim recollections. But they have survived by taking shelter in an empty house and by raiding abandoned stores in the town. We meet Teacher, with her holy scrapbook that records the history of the band and gives surprisingly good advice on the decisions of the band. There is Mommy, who attends to the needs of the younger children; Teddy Bear, Baby, and Doll. Hunter and his brother, Action Figure do the hunting for the group. A stranger of dubious sanity who calls himself Angerman shows up and joins the group along with Bad Guy, a store mannequin that seems to be his alter ego. Soon afterwards, the group rescues Puppy and Kitty, a boy and girl who seem to be too young to have been born before Fire-Us (virus?). Puppy and Kitty cannot talk, only bark and meow. Angerman persuades the group to seek out President to learn what happened in Fire-Us. They set out. As this installment ends, they reach and abandoned shopping mall and encounter the first adults they have seen in five years.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT WRITING ON A TRAGICALLY FLAWED PREMISE
Review: The Fire-Us trilogy is an entertaining post-apocalyptic thriller for those who are too young to remember the fears of nuclear annihilation that came to an end in the 1990's. Unfortunately, in the final installment, the authors' political biases become all to clear. For adult readers, this trilogy is an example of the kinds of evil allegations that our currend political Left is willing to spread about conservatives. If a conservative writer were to say such things about liberals he or she would be called a witch hunter, a McCarthyite, or worse. But so be it. The tale itself is entertaining enough on its own merits. THE KINDLING, opens in the town of Lazarus, Florida. We learn that five years earlier, a mysterious plague called Fire-Us had wiped out every adult on the planet. Although the plague did not harm children, most of them have died of neglect. But a hardy band of survivors in Lazarus boast that "We're still here!" The eldest of them would seem to have been only eight or nine when the plague struck. They have been so traumatized that they only have dim recollections of their First Mommies and First Daddies, and their First Names are only dim recollections. But they have survived by taking shelter in an empty house and by raiding abandoned stores in the town. We meet Teacher, with her holy scrapbook that records the history of the band and gives surprisingly good advice on the decisions of the band. There is Mommy, who attends to the needs of the younger children; Teddy Bear, Baby, and Doll. Hunter and his brother, Action Figure do the hunting for the group. A stranger of dubious sanity who calls himself Angerman shows up and joins the group along with Bad Guy, a store mannequin that seems to be his alter ego. Soon afterwards, the group rescues Puppy and Kitty, a boy and girl who seem to be too young to have been born before Fire-Us (virus?). Puppy and Kitty cannot talk, only bark and meow. Angerman persuades the group to seek out President to learn what happened in Fire-Us. They set out. As this installment ends, they reach and abandoned shopping mall and encounter the first adults they have seen in five years.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly compelling
Review: The first book in a trilogy, The Kindling is an engrossing read with compelling characters. I immediately felt attached to this "family" of children trying to survive in the aftermath of a plague-like "Fire-Us" that killed off all the adults and was completely caught up in their struggles and hopes. It's a story so absorbing it's tempting to read the book in one sitting. The book, however late it keeps you up, is not only a page-turner, but a richly imagined account of a world that is somehow recognizably ours even as it has been made strange and often menacing. The Kindling plays on the fantasy all children have of being in charge of the world (there's something thrilling about the idea of scavenging for food and salvage in the unpeopled strip malls and abandoned houses of post-apocalypse America without adults to supervise or set rules even as such "hunting" (as it's called in the book) is a life-and-death necessity for these kids), but given the damaged landcape and psychologically scarred inheritors of this world, that fantasy is turned here to something perilous and completely absorbing. That the authors have made this world so strange, familiar, and utterly convincing is a testament to their fine prose and deep powers of imagination. We care about the way their characters must face this world and themselves in order to survive and when they take to the road in search of answers, we go with them, attuned to their every action and nearly breathless for their survival and success. I can't wait for part two!
Rating:
Summary: It was a good book
Review: The Kindling took place in the year 2007. The world has been wiped out.[just the adults]from a deadly pluge. There was no electricity, no civilataion only kids. Seven children survide the dieses and Know live in a small town in Florida. They all changed their names to mommy,hunter,Teacher,Action figure,teddy bear,baby and dolly. These kids lost their parents and now are living alone. I gave this book three stars because u liked the inmagination of Jennifer Armstrong had to put in to this book the Kindling. things I didn't like about her book I also didn't lie how it went back in forth between the characters.i also liked Jennifer Armstrongs great way of explaining the characters fellings.This boo9k is the first of its trilogy of FIRE-US.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow Start, Great Finish........
Review: The Kindling(2002). Jennifer Armstrong and Nancy Butcher's First Novel Collaboration, and the First Novel In The "Fire-Us" Series.
In my predictable Summer Reading List chockful of big-name authors, I saw 'The Kindling', a novel I'd never heard of, so I decided to give it a chance. Like so many novels before it, 'The Kindling' chronicles the after-affects of the End of the World, may it be by Nuclear War or Plague, and we find the lone survivors banding together to remake Human Civilization. But, the question arises, does 'The Kindling' offer anything new to the table, or is a rehashed 'End of the World' novel we've already read twice before? Read on to find out!
Plot-
In 2007, In Lazarus, Florida, 7 survivors dwell in the aftermath of the 'Fire-Us' plague. 'Fire-Us' wiped out all the adults on Earth, and the kids, left alone and neglected, mostly died out without supervision, but a select few banded together and learned to survive without Electricity and everyday appliances. We meet Mother and Teacher, two teenage girls who look after the little children such as Doll, Baby, Teddy Bear. Also, Action Figure and Hunter hunt down food and water for the sole survivors. For five years, the young group of children have survived on their own, leading a predictable life of feasting off of old supermarkets and the land, but their food supply is running low. But,just as their about to start really worring about their supplies,a knock on their door will change everything, and the person behind the door will take them on a journey that will test their strength and their friendship.
Writing/Opinion/Etc.-
'The Kindling', while following the basic approach to 'End of the World' novels, has some individuality because it uses children instead of adults, and Armstrong/Butcher's take on a child's reaction and interaction with a destroyed world is quite interesting. The writing here is pretty straightforward, with getting the story out being more of interest to the author's than writing techniques, but that's fine since this is a book for Young Adult's anyways. Also, the authors did a great job of fleshing out the characters, and the reader learns to love the characters, and it's quite addictive to follow them on their quest. My only problem with the novel is that it doesn't really pick up until about 100 pages in, and the first few pages don't seem quite as well-written, but once you get past that, it's an enthralling read from start to finish, and I'd be interested in reading the other books since this one leaves you at a rather big climax.
Overall, 'The Kindling' is a solid read for Teens and Children(Over 8), and it's one of those popcorn novels, that reads like a movie, and ends with you on the edge of your seat. I'm encouraged to read the other novels in the 'Fire-Us' series, because the climax you're left at almost forces the reader to!
RECOMMENDED TO YOUNG ADULTS, CHILDREN, FANS OF 'END OF THE WORLD' NOVELS, AND ADVENTURE NOVELS. BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER NOVELS IN THE 'FIRE-US' SERIES IF YOU LIKED 'THE KINDLING'!
Also Recommended-
Keepers Of The Flame- Jennifer Armstrong, Nancy Butcher
The Stand- Stephen King
The Andromeda Strain- Michael Chrichton
Thanks For Reading!
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