EducatingParents.org rating: Caution - Read With Care
Warning: story depicts a night of protests in a neighborhood. Theme may be scary for young children. Good opportunity to talk tough topics presented in the book.

This is an incredibly well illustrated book that takes place during the L.A. Riots. However, the riots are not the focal point of the story. the story is about Daniel and how he perceives his surroundings, and what happens that 'smokey night.' He describes how Mrs. Kim is not very friendly, and how they don't shop at her store. During the riots, the building catches fife, and Daniel, and his mother have to evacuate, along with his neighbors. Daniel is forced to abandon his cat, and Mrs, Kim does as well. They find their cats plating together, and this aspires Daniel's mom to invite Mrs. Kim, and her cat to come over some other time. I took the cats sharing milk when they hadn't gotten along before as a metaphor for tragedy bringing us closer together despite our differences. I think this is what Daniels mother takes from the incident as well. I think that this is a good book to teach this lesson to my students as well, and to point out that we don't have to wait for tragedy to bring us together, but instead we can learn to befriend and learn from each other, despite our outward differences, because this makes us wiser, and more compassionate. Also, people aren't so different, once you get to know them. ( )

Tells the night of Daniel and his mother, where several disturbances are taking place in the streets of their city, the building where they live catches fire because of the riots and after leaving the building they were missing their cats, Daniel and his neighbor can't find their cats, but at the end the cats were found together despite they never get along before the fire. This book tells a beautiful narrative where it teaches you that despite the environment, to always be kind, help and give yourself the opportunity to meet others. ( )

Title: Smoky Night
- Author: Eve Bunting
- Illustrator: David Diaz
- Publisher: Harcourt Brace
- Date: 1994 (year published)
- Pages: 40
- Type of Book/Genre: Picture Book, realistic fiction or historical fiction
- Short Summary of the Plot: The book begins with a boy named Daniel, his mama, and his cat Jasmine looking out their window seeing people rioting in the streets. The book talks about why people riot, and how they sometimes steal things when they do. The author shows a character named Mrs. Kim that is yelling at people stealing from her, she has a store that Daniel and mama do not shop at because she is not “their people.” Daniel and mama go to sleep, but she wakes him up because there is a fire in their building. As they are evacuating, they are forced to leave Jasmine behind because they can’t find her. People affected by the fire go to a shelter, including Mrs. Kim. At the shelter, Mrs. Kim shares that she is missing her cat too. Then a firefighter comes to the shelter carrying Jasmine and Mrs. Kim’s cat in his arms, he tells them that they were hiding together under the stairs in the building. The cats share a bowl of milk, and Mama invites Mrs. Kim and her cat to come over and share milk again another time, Mrs. Kim agrees to. Then, the story ends.
- Tags/Subject headings that describe the content: Riots, fire, anxiety, overcoming differences.
- My response: I enjoyed reading this book, if I were to ever do a unit on historical riots I would want to use this book, and I want to have it in my class regardless.

This story not only shows the hardships of disasters in cities and even places we don't usually see but also shows how in the event of a disaster people come together to help each other even if they are not on the friendliest terms. ( )