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Title: Smoky Night by Eve Bunting, David Diaz ISBN: 0-15-201884-0 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: April, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (24 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A new view of urban violence
Comment: Bunting takes a bold step by bringing the LA riots to life through the eyes of a child. Though not the ideal bed time story, Smoky night is worth being read. It conveys the message of the effects of urban violence on a child but also tells a beautiful tale of coming together. Daniel and his cat stare out their apartment window at the streets below as people loot the stores. He can not understand why this is happening, how people can look angry and happy at the same time. As Daniel and his mother sleep, a fire breaks out in their building. In the confusion their cat is lost as well as the cat of Mrs. Kim, a Korean shop owner where Daniel's mother never goes. Perhaps a tad cornybut effective is Bunting's use of the two cats coming together to find comfort and security in a time of crisis. The illustrations of David Diaz fill the pages with bright neon colors. His use of multi media to create unique chaotic pictures, complimentary to the story being told.
Rating: 4
Summary: Smoky Night- Chilren facing rioting and prejudice
Comment: From her home in Pasadena, California, Eve Bunting was close enough to Los Angeles for the riots of the early 90's to have had a big impact on her everyday life during that time. As an author of children's literature who was always thinking of new story lines, she began wondering about the effects the riots had on children in the Los Angeles area and other areas where rioting was taking place. This is the premise of her book Smoky Night. In the story, a young boy and his mother witness a riot on the streets outside their home. Later that evening, their building catches fire, and they go to a shelter until the fire can be extinguished and the building repaired. Through their experience, they learn the importance of getting along with others regardless of their race or background. Bunting does a wonderful job of portraying the craziness and futility of the riots from a child's perspective. The illustrations by David Diaz are also important in furthering the theme of overcoming the adversity of the riots, along with racism, through togetherness. Smoky Night begins with just the narrator and his mother, exhibiting their isolation in the middle of the dangerous riots. The mother in the story becomes the interpreter of the riots for the young boy. He seems to understand how the rioters are feeling, he says, "They look angry. But they look happy, too," but he does not understand why they are smashing and stealing things. His mother explains that they are so angry that they don't care what's right or wrong anymore. The pictures that illustrate the scenes of the rioting streets are wonderful. Collages of such things as glass to represent the broken windows, the soles of shoes to represent the robbing of the shoe store, and several different types of cereal to represent the robbing of Mrs. Kim's market create the illustrations. A painted scene of the action that is being described at the time also accompanies each of these backgrounds. During the riots, the colors and images are brightly colored, and many different things cover each page. The colors as well as the sparse, carefully selected words create the sense of panic and confusion that everyone, especially the children must have been feeling at the time. The brightest illustration is the one depicting the reds and yellows of the apartment fire along with matches and the fleeing occupants of the building. On the same page appears a lot of dialogue to represent the confusion of the fire in the middle of the night. Most of this consists of quick questions, many concerning the boy's lost cat. Later in the story, Bunting uses this cat which always fights with a neighbor's cat as a metaphor for the people who also work against their neighbors. The reader finds out about the cats' feud and the prejudice of the people when the boy says, "Mr. Kim's cat and my cat fight all the time, and Mrs. Kim yells at Jasmine in words I don't understand." As the people flee from the burning building their sense of urgency is obvious from the repeated use of exclamation points on the page. After the residents of the apartment escape from the fire, the text seems to move more slowly and the pictures show thick, soup-like smoke covering everything. Not until the residents of the apartment reach a shelter and a kind fireman brings both the boy's and Mrs. Kim's cats to them do the illustrations brighten up once again. In the story the cats are important because, like the people, the cats do not get along at first. However, when they are caught in the riots and the fire, they find the need to be with one another and, in the end, the fireman finds them together. The people involved in the story go through the same changes, and they also find that they have never taken the time to get to know each other. A story like Smoky Night can be helpful for any person who is struggling through adversity or thinking that others may be too different from themselves to be worth befriending.
Rating: 1
Summary: Avoid, this book creates negative stereotypes.
Comment: Must aggree with other negative posts. Although the author has good intentions, this book is too complex for kindergarteners who may sadly create negative stereotypes of Blacks based on the depictions in the book.
However, this book may be appropriate for childeren who have encountered urban riots and other street violence.
Unfortunately I will have to solicite my child's kindergarten library to remove the book or at least place a warning indicating the book contains complex social issues.
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Title: Fly Away Home by Ronald Himler, Eve Bunting ISBN: 0395664152 Publisher: Clarion Books Pub. Date: 22 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Wall by Ronald Himler, Eve Bunting ISBN: 0395629772 Publisher: Clarion Books Pub. Date: 24 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland, Tatsuro Kiuchi ISBN: 0152014837 Publisher: Voyager Books Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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Title: Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say ISBN: 0395570352 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books Pub. Date: 25 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant, Peter Catalanotto ISBN: 0531070824 Publisher: Orchard Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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