- author: Eve Bunting "no author website"
- illustrator: David Diaz "no author website"
- medium: acrylic and photographs
- year of publication: 1994
- publication city: San Diego, CA
- publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company
- ISBN: 0-15-269954-6
- Caldecott Medal recipient, 1995
Personal thoughts:
Story: Eve Bunting has written a fascinating and complicated picture book full of moral conundrums and political themes. The very setting of a child’s apartment during the night of a city riot is controversial and exciting. What the child witnesses is frightening. Rioting, it is explained by his mother, “can happen when people get angry…They don’t care anymore what’s right and what’s wrong.” Is it stealing, the boy wonders, when looters begin taking electronics, food and clothing from stores. A riot is confusing, to children and adults. Bunting surprised me by writing about topics that are political. The rioters loot Mrs. Kim's grocery shop and the boy explains that his family doesn't shop there. His family only shops at stores owned by their people. This was a prevalent theme in popular culture in the 1990's when African American neighborhoods objected to the businesses in their neighborhoods being owned by Asians. What is this subject matter doing in a picture book? This kind of detail is fantastic and it helps to open dialogue about race, socio-economics and culture. I was totally impressed by Smokey Night, for its tackling of issues suitable for older readers.
Art: Diaz's pictures are colorful with an ethnic vibe and give a sense of what's going on in the story. The art is also in multimedia form, with photographs of objects beneath the paintings. When food is central to the story, cereal pieces are displayed about the page. When shoes are being stolen, photographs of shoe soles are on the page. The juxtaposition of paintings and photographs makes the book seem complicated and tactile, like you could almost touch the objects you see. A very creative style is used.
***use of symbol: Cats are symbols of beings that, while usually are in conflict with each other, come together and learn to get along during a time of conflict. The people use the cats as an example to work together and live in harmony.
Art: Diaz's pictures are colorful with an ethnic vibe and give a sense of what's going on in the story. The art is also in multimedia form, with photographs of objects beneath the paintings. When food is central to the story, cereal pieces are displayed about the page. When shoes are being stolen, photographs of shoe soles are on the page. The juxtaposition of paintings and photographs makes the book seem complicated and tactile, like you could almost touch the objects you see. A very creative style is used.
***use of symbol: Cats are symbols of beings that, while usually are in conflict with each other, come together and learn to get along during a time of conflict. The people use the cats as an example to work together and live in harmony.
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