Blackout
By John Rocco
40 pages, $13.64 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion; First Edition edition (May 24, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1423121902
ISBN-13: 978-1423121909
Other formats: paperback, audiobook
Genre: Picture books
Reading Level: Grade level Equivalent: 1.1; Lexile® Measure: Not Available; DRA: 16; Guided Reading: I
Interest Level: Grades K – 2
Reader’s Annotation: When the lights go out the fun begins, and everyone is together in this family-centered story.
Summary: A young boy is home on a sultry summer night in an unnamed city. He hears the sounds of bustling life outside his building, and notices that everyone inside is busy as well. He is just about to settle into a video-game playing session when suddenly the lights go out. What could be a disaster turns into a blessing in disguise as the whole family, the whole city actually, come together to have a good time without any distractions.
Review: Sometimes we have to snap out of our ordinary routines in order to make human connections. John Rocco’s Caldecott Honor Book, Blackout, understands this universal fact of modern living and uses it to great effect. Rocco ingeniously employs a comic-book style layout to move the action along, but it also coveys the separateness of a busy family, each shown through a different apartment window, doing separate activities in separate rooms. By keeping the family members nameless, Rocco allows readers to relate, and imagine their own family on, say, a hectic weeknight. Rocco’s communicates this disjointedness, but employs humour rather than judgement to advocate for togetherness. When the boy protagonist of the story gives up trying to engage his family with a board game, a knowing portrait of Thomas Edison shares the frame while he plays video games. The borders that frame each illustration box are bright white, but then the lights go out and dark black and blues hug each frame. The text is sparse, and let the illustrations do most of the talking, but one does wish that Rocco had chosen a single textual presentation style rather than employing everything from text boxes, bubbles, and free-floating text. The variety itself feels disjointed. Visually, the intimacy that the titular blackout inspires is expressed through larger frames to accommodate the family all in one place, and fun lo-tech activities such as shadow puppets and stargazing. The family finds that the Blackout hasn’t just brought them closer together, but the entire community. This message of taking time out to appreciate one another isn’t pushed upon the reader, since it plays out as a family making the best of an unusual situation, but once the lights come back on and the family makes a conscious decision to spend time together, we read Rocco loud and clear. This will make a great bed-time story, and would fit right into a pajama storytime plan. The book features a mixed-race family, which feels right in the urban setting, and Rocco successfully creates the cozy feeling of an old-fashioned family night.
Issues/Themes: Family Activities; City Life; Summer Themes
Why I Read This Title: I was looking at the Caldecott honor books from from 2012, and this one stuck out with it’s fun premise and message of spending quality time together.
Awards: 2012 Caldecott Honor Book; ALA Notable Children’s Books – Younger Readers Category: 2012; Golden Archer Awards (Wisconsin): Primary; School Library Journal Best Picture Books: 2011
Readalikes: Thunder-Boomer!, The Lonely Phonebooth, When Lightening Comes in a Jar
Additional Reviews:
BookList:
Preschool-Grade 1 It’s a scenario many kids are probably all too familiar with: a young boy wants to play, but older sis is gabbing on the phone, Mom is busy on the computer, and Dad is making dinner. When the power goes out, however, the family comes together to make shadow puppets on the wall, join the neighbors on the roof to admire the stars, and even head out front to the most idyllic city street you’ll ever see. All good things come to an end, though. The power comes back on, and everyone immediately slips back into walled-off family units—though the walls are a bit weaker now. Compositionally, this picture book bears a strong resemblance to Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen (1970), breaking some of the pages into comics-style panels and running a boxed narrative up top. Rocco’s lustrous, animation-quality artwork somehow manages to get richer the darker it gets, and features one of the silkiest skies since Van Gogh’s Starry Night. A versatile reminder to take a break and invest in quality together time once in a while. — Chipman, Ian (Reviewed 06-01-2011) (Booklist, vol 107, number 19, p90)
Publishers Weekly:
/* Starred Review */ Rocco’s sublime account of a city blackout reveals a bittersweet truth: it sometimes takes a crisis to bring a family together. In a series of graphic novel–style panels, a small child tries to convince family members to play a board game one hot summer night, but they’re all too busy. When the lights go out, though, the neighborhood comes alive and the whole family drifts up to the roof to look at the stars: “It was a block party in the sky.” Rocco (Fu Finds the Way) gets everything right: the father’s pained, sheepish smile when he says he has no time to play; the velvety dark and glowing candlelight of the blackout (as well as the sense of magic that can accompany one); and the final solution to the problem of a too-busy family (a private blackout, courtesy of a light switch). The high-energy visuals that characterize Rocco’s other work get dialed back a little. In the most poignant spread, the family sits on the stoop, eating ice cream: “And no one was busy at all.” It’s a rare event these days. Ages 4–8. (May) –Staff (Reviewed March 7, 2011) (Publishers Weekly, vol 258, issue 10, p)
Kirkus:
/* Starred Review */ “It started out as a normal summer night”—until the lights go out, citywide.When it gets “too hot and sticky” inside their apartment (no fans or AC tonight), one busy family (mom, dad, two girls and a black cat) heads to the rooftop of their building, where they find light via stars and a block party “in the sky.” Other parties are happening down on the street, too. When the lights come back on, everything returns to normal, except for this family, which continues to enjoy the dark. The plot line, conveyed with just a few sentences, is simple enough, but the dramatic illustrations illuminate the story. Beginning with the intriguing cover—the silhouetted family on their rooftop under a vast, dark-blue sky dotted with Starry Night–type swirls, black is used as both a backdrop and a highlighter. Page composition effectively intermingles boxed pages and panels with double-page spreads, generating action. Brilliantly designed, with comic bits such as a portrait of Edison on a wall and the cat running from a hand shadow of a dog.Not all young readers will have experienced a blackout, but this engaging snapshot could easily have them wishing for one. (Picture book. 5-8)(Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2011)
Hyprvellum 