Author: Eve Bunting
Title: Smoky Night
Illustrator: David Diaz
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company
Year: 1994
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Caldecott
Reading Level: Emergent
Interest-Level: Elementary
Topics: Fire, Neighborliness, Interpersonal Relations, Riots
Summary: A boy and his mother watch from their window as a riot begins in their street. During the night, the boy gets waken up by his mother because the rioters have set the building on fire. As all the neighbors are brought together during this tragic time they soon find out they may find happiness in one another on this Smoky Night.
Extension Activities:
*Talk to the students about the danger of fire and what to do when there is one. You can demonstrate the stop, drop and roll technique and have the students take turns practicing.
*Discuss the important of relations between neighbors, friends, family etc. and how everyone should be kind to each other.
*The pictures in the book are very different. Have the students discuss how they are different from other books they have read. Let them take their own picture on a camera and print it out.
