Blackout

When author/illustrator John Rocco interviewed people who had experienced the 2003 blackout in the Northeast, he noted a special look in their eyes and heard vivid memories. That was his inspiration for this Caldecott Honor Book. Why stay in a stuffy apartment when you could be on the roof with a star-filled sky or on the street in the midst of an instant party? Stanley Tucci's narration does Rocco proud. He gives weight to each descriptive phrase and dramatically elongates words like "candles" and "flashlights," providing anticipatory pauses while young listeners look at the illustrations. Each family member in the story is given a distinctive voice. Background sounds underscore the city setting, and jaunty music enlivens the party scene. An interview with John Rocco completes the production. A.R. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 7, 2011
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.