Smokey Night is a book about a boy named, Daniel who lives in a city where riots are taking place. From his window Daniel can see looters breaking into nearby stores. Daniel is also observing fires burning in the distance. Of course Daniel is terrified and asks his mom why are people doing such bad things? His mom answers Daniel by saying that sometimes when people get angry they just want to destroy and don’t care if it’s right or wrong. Daniel and his mom have to leave suddenly to go to a shelter, Daniel cannot find his cat but it is too dangerous to try and find her at that moment. Once at the shelter Daniel and his mother run into Mrs. Kim, their long time neighbor who they had never spoken with because they belong to different ethnic groups. Mrs. Kim’s cat is also missing and her and Daniel are brought together by the fear they have for their missing cats. This story has a happy ending when both cats are united with their owners by the firemen. Mrs. Kim and Daniel’s mother start a friendship they never thought was possible.

This book is for any teacher or parent who wants to introduce the realities of the world to children. As a mother and future teacher I feel it is important to address things such as riots and racial tensions. This book shows how tragedy can bring people together and how children may have more in common with someone than they thought they ever would.

After reading this book children could list all the things they have in common with other children in the class. This would be a great activity in the beginning of the year for children to get to know each other. For younger children, they could draw and cut out their own versions of the cats from the story. This book also has to do with fires, and could be used to start a discussion on fire safety.

A note of caution: this is an intense and emotional book. It's also amazingly poignant and beautifully created and a welcome addition to any library. But, with the subject material being the LA riots as seen through a small boy's eyes, parents should be aware of and involved in the reading process of Smoky Night.
David Diaz does a masterful job of creating two dimensional collages on each page of this book, juxtaposing chalk drawings of the main characters with layered effects of paper, candy, cardboard, and many other mediums. The story focuses on a small boy named Daniel who is seeing rioters in his neighborhood and is displaced from his home due to the fires that occur later. When both Daniel's cat and the cat of a local Asian woman are both rescued by a firefighter, Daniel serves as the innocent architect of racial reconciliation between two individuals. This reconciliation is at the heart of this story, a story that doesn't gloss over the harsh details of the riots but instead allows these details to be healed by the people affected. Truly a very engaging book that should be enjoyed by children and adults alike. ( )

The graphics in this book are really interesting. The story is heartwarming and shows that in a time of crisis that people who are different can bond.

This is a very good example of realistic fiction because the setting if very vivid. The destruction is clearly described and so is the fire that is started in the apartment building. A variety of people are present in this story such as Mrs. Kim, Daniel and his mom, and firefighters. This story is also convincingly true because it depicts the riots that did take place in Los Angeles.

Setting: This is a very appropriate setting because the book focuses on the Los Angeles riots where this story takes place.

Media: collage

This is a great book to help children recognize diversity, conflict and resolution. The beginning of this book showing pictures of a young boy and his mother witnessing a riot. Later there is a fire and he misplaces his cat. Later he finds his cat with his neighbor's cat(who his mother has issues with) in the arms of a fire fighter. In the end, everyone is happy that they are alive along with their cats. ( )