Module 6: Smoky Night

Summary: The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 are described through the innocent eyes of a young boy.

Citation: Bunting, E., Diaz, D., Wallerstein, W., MacElwee, K., Diaz, D., D'moch, L., Central Graphics., ... Tien Wah Press Sdn. Bhd. (1994). Smoky night. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.

Impression: The collage and abstract paintings describe a vivid picture of the chaos and destruction during the Los Angles riots. The illustrations demonstrate the commotion of the characters in the scenes. Also, Eve Bunting provides excellent written word to explain the paintings and gives a deeper understanding to the story. This is a wonderful book that describes social differences and how communities and people can come together in a world of violence. This is a well composed childrens' book that enables parents, teachers, community leaders, therapists, and librarians to open up a difficult but important topic in our society.

Review:
Kirkus Review
A noted author (Fly Away Home, 1991) brings all her empathy and creative skill to another timely topic: an inner-city riot. Standing well back from their window, Daniel and his mama watch looters steal TVs and break into Kim's market. When it quiets down the two fall asleep, only to be roused: their building is burning, so they escape, through ravaged streets, to a shelter. Though Bunting offers no reasons for the violence, she succinctly describes the mob's psychology. Mama explains, "...people get angry. They want to smash and destroy. They don't care anymore what's right...After a while it's like a game," while Daniel observes, "They look angry. But they look happy, too." The story is rounded out with a touch of reconciliation: Mama has't patronized Kim's market ("...it's better if we buy from our own people") but, after Daniel's cat and Mrs. Kims' make friends at the shelter, the people realize that they, too, could be friendly. Diaz's art -- rough-edged acrylic paintings mounted on collages of paper, burnt matches, and materials that might be found blowing on a California street -- is extraordinarily powerful. Defined in heavy black, the expressionistically rendered faces are intense with smoky shades and dark, neon-lit color. An outstandingly handsome book that represents its subject realistically while underplaying the worst of its horrors; an excellent vehicle for discussion.
(1994). [Review of the book Smoky night, by E. Bunting]. Kirkus Reviews, VNU eMedia. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/

Betsy Hearne (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
Eve Bunting has a good track record for vitalizing what would be docudrama in the hands of a lesser storyteller. Here the scenario is an inner-city riot that young Daniel and his mother and his yellow cat Jasmine watch from their apartment window. "It can happen when people get angry," explains Mama. "They want to smash and destroy. They don't care anymore what's right and what's wrong." Among the stores looted is Mrs. Kim's market, and when Daniel's building catches fire in the middle of the night, both he and Mrs. Kim end up in the local church shelter, worrying about whether their cats-archenemies in the past-have escaped the blaze. It's the authentic child's perspective that makes the tale so touching. What impresses Daniel in the midst of an adult-size crisis are the kind of details that adults wouldn't notice ("I've never seen a bigger jar of mayo," he observes in the shelter) or wouldn't be honest about ("Mrs. Kim takes her big, fat, mean old orange cat and holds him close"). It's these very observations that lead Daniel to a truth about what caused the riot to begin with. Diaz has not been afraid to take risks in illustrating the story with thickly textured paintings against a background of torn-paper and found-object collage; the heavy outlines are a bit reminiscent of John Steptoe's early work. Without becoming cluttered or gimmicky, these pictures manage to capture a calamitous atmosphere that finally calms. His choice of a stylized medium to express a frighteningly realistic situation will allow young listeners to get the emotional impact without becoming overpowered by it-just as the first-person narrative succeeds in doing a lot by not trying to do too much. In fact, both author and artist have managed to portray a politically charged event without pretension or preaching. R*--Highly recommended as a book of special distinction.
Hearne, B. (1994, March). [Review of the book Smoky night, by E. Bunting]. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 47(7).

Uses: This book could be in a book displayed with similar books that speak about community outreach programs after a disaster has happened to a community. The books could accompany information that the community government has developed in order to deal with cultural differences and emergency preparedness plans. Also, parents can read this to children to help explain difficult social injustices and outrages like riots or protests.