Blackout by John Rocco
Published: May 24, 2011
Genre: Children's Literature, Picture Book
Audience: Preschool - Kindergarten
Setting: A family's home in the city
Content Warnings: Power Outage
Summary (From Amazon): One hot summer night in the city, all the power goes out. The TV shuts off and a boy wails, "Mommm!" His sister can no longer use the phone, Mom can't work on her computer, and Dad can't finish cooking dinner. What's a family to do? When they go up to the roof to escape the heat, they find the lights--in stars that can be seen for a change--and so many neighbors it's like a block party in the sky! On the street below, people are having just as much fun--talking, rollerblading, and eating ice cream before it melts. The boy and his family enjoy being not so busy for once. They even have time to play a board game together. When the electricity is restored, everything can go back to normal . . . but not everyone likes normal. The boy switches off the lights, and out comes the board game again.
Using a combination of panels and full bleed illustrations that move from color to black-and-white and back to color, John Rocco shows that if we are willing to put our cares aside for a while, there is party potential in a summer blackout.
Review: This story is set in the city during the summer. A boy wants to spend time with his family and he brings a game to play, but everyone is too busy to play. He resigns himself to play a video game and then the power goes out. It seems that everyone is now a lot less busy. They meet at the kitchen table and made shadow puppets. It is going okay until it is too hot and sticky. The family goes up to their roof top and see that their neighbors are up there enjoying the lights from the stars. They also hear noise from below, so they go down to the street and see that some are playing in the sprinklers and getting a cold treat. The power is then restored, but the beauty is they make time to play the game together. I think this story is simple, but effective for both children and adults. We are constantly in a hustle bustle state and we don't always slow down to make those memories or take the time with children. This also could be used as an introductory to the power being off and things that you can do in the meantime.
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