Module 6: Picture Books

Smoky Night by Eve Bunting

Caldecott Winner
 Illustrated by David Diaz

Summary: Smoky Nights is a story of what a boy sees happening during a riot in Los Angeles. The boy sees that people are really angry and they are tearing things up and looting stores, so his mother explains why the people are acting that way.   As a result of the rioting, the building the family lives in catches on fire and they have to go to a shelter.  The mother realizes that the people in her neighborhood aren't very friendly with one another and decides she should get to know Mrs. Kim who owns the shop across the street.

My Impressions: I thought the book served it's purpose in explaining what rioting is, why people riot, and the devastation that occurs as the result.

Reviews:

Author: Hazel Rochman

Ages 5-9. Bunting says she wrote this story after the Los Angeles riots made her wonder about what riots mean to the children who live through them. A boy and his cat look down from the window at people rioting in the streets below. His mother explains that rioting can happen when people get angry: "They want to smash and destroy. They don't care anymore what's right and wrong." The boy says that they look angry, but they look happy. too. He sees them looting Mrs. Kim's grocery store across the street; his mother never building burns, and everyone has to rush out to the shelter. The boy's cat is gone, and so is Mrs. Kim's cat, but a kind fire fighter finds both animals; they were hiding together. Then Bunting overstates her message: maybe the people, like the cats, need to get to know each other, so the boy's mother and Mrs. Kim agree to visit. Diaz's art is powerful - pulsating and crowded; part street mural, part urban collage. In each double-page spread, the background is a photograph of found objects and debris in a variety of textures and jagged shapes. On the right-hand page is an acrylic painting like a view through a heavy window, with thick lines and bright neon colors showing a multicultural cast. In fine contrast, the story is told quietly from the child's point of view, safe with his mother despite the fear, reaching out to the neighborhood community within the chaos.

Library Use: The artwork in this book is very unique.  The artist used regular objects that related to the story and used them as the background for the characters and text.  I think children could create their own form of urban art by choosing objects from home or school that represented them- a candy wrapper, a torn piece of loose leaf paper that's wrinkled and had a poem written on it, etc. Then they could write one page about themselves- "A Day in My Life"

Resource List:
Bunting, E. (1994). Smoky Night. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.

Rochman, Hazel. (1994, March 1). Review of the book Smoky Night, by Eve Bunting.  Booklist 90(13), 1267. Retrieved from Literature Resource Center. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15238722&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w