Title: Something Happened in our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Anne Hazzard. Illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
Genre: Children's picture book
Targeted Age: Ages 4-8+
Plot Summary: This title follows two different families, one Black and one White, and how they react to a Black man being shot by police. As the children in each family ask questions, they are given different answers. Both give good examples of listening to their children and answering them at their level. Both families discuss racial injustice from their perspectives but also honestly and with examples their children will understand.
Justification for book choice: Following the 2020 shooting of George Floyd this book was especially challenged even though it was published in 2018. Protestors claim it give an anti-police message, however, the book claims it is a pattern and that not all police are part of that pattern.
Evaluation:
Illustrations: Jennifer Zivoin created beautiful illustrations. Your eyes are always drawn to the faces and people on each page. The colors are calming. They are colorful without feeling flashing or angry. The people and the dialogue are what can be focused on. The illustrations add details not included in the text, such as the setting that both families live next door to each other based on an image that shows the children in upstairs windows in buildings next to each other.
Theme: The theme is something that I wish was not relevant. But it continues to be - unfair and fatal violence against blacks. This topic continues to be in the news and it can be difficult to explain to younger children. We can't prevent them from hearing about it because just like in this book - they will hear about it from older kids, family, media, etc. Beyond the issue of the violence, I think that the other theme is how to talk to your kids about tough topics.
Accuracy: This picture book is designed with families in mind. While the circumstance was based on real events, this is a fictional book. However, there is a lot of supplementary material provided in the back of the book. These resources include information for families about how to discuss, definition of terms, and sample questions and answers. This book is designed with families in mind to be able to discuss accuracy of news reports, the accuracy of judging others, and the accuracy needed when discussing scary events.