Smoky Night by Eve Bunting

Title: Smoky Night

Author: Eve Bunting

Publisher: Sandpiper

Release date: April 1999

Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 978-0152018849

Summary:

Amazon:

"Bunting addresses urban violence in this thought-provoking and visually exciting picture book inspired by the Los Angeles riots. Although they're neighbors, Daniel's cat and Mrs. Kim's cat don't get along. Nor do Daniel and his mother shop at Mrs. Kim's market. "It's better if we buy from our own people," Daniel's mother says. But when Daniel's apartment building goes up in flames, all of the neighbors (including the cats) learn the value of bridging differences. Bunting does not explicitly connect her message about racism with the riots in her story's background, but her work is thoroughly believable and taut, steering clear of the maudlin or didactic. Diaz's dazzling mixed-media collages superimpose bold acrylic illustrations on photographs of carefully arranged backgrounds that feature a wide array of symbolic materials--from scraps of paper and shards of broken glass to spilled rice and plastic dry-cleaner bags. Interestingly, Diaz doesn't strongly differentiate the presumably Asian American Mrs. Kim from the African American characters--even the artwork here cautions the reader against assumptions about race."

http://www.amazon.com/Smoky-Night-Eve-Bunting/dp/0152018840

In the classroom:

This short picture book broadcasts community in a very positive way that would be a great mini lesson for students.  It carries a lot of meaning with the broadening of ethnicities and judgements and leaves with a happy ending with the characters helping one another.  It's a kids book with a great message, regardless of the age.  

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Release date: January 2006

Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 978-0385732550

Setting:

Amazon:

"In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers"

http://www.amazon.com/Giver-Lois-Lowry/dp/0385732554/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288584308&sr=1-1

In the classroom:

The Giver shows students to stand up for what they believe in.  It teaches them the standards between right from wrong and gives them the strength to act when they know something is not the way it should be.  

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

Title: Seedfolks
Author: Paul Fleishman
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Release date: December 2004
Pages: 70
ISBN-13: 978-0064472074


Summary:
Amazon:
"Sometimes, even in the middle of ugliness and neglect, a little bit of beauty will bloom. Award-winning writer Paul Fleischman dazzles us with this truth inSeedfolks--a slim novel that bursts with hope. Wasting not a single word, Fleischman unfolds a story of a blighted neighborhood transformed when a young girl plants a few lima beans in an abandoned lot. Slowly, one by one, neighbors are touched and stirred to action as they see tendrils poke through the dirt. Hispanics, Haitians, Koreans, young, and old begin to turn the littered lot into a garden for the whole community. A gift for hearts of all ages, this gentle, timeless story will delight anyone in need of a sprig of inspiration"


http://www.amazon.com/Seedfolks-Joanna-Colter-Books-Fleischman/dp/0064472078/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288563575&sr=1-1


In the classroom:
Throughout this entire book, it describes a sense of community between complete strangers.  This is something that is very important for kids who are transitioning between middle school and high school or maybe moving to a completely new city.  Community is something that will help them adjust to the people that they are around during these difficult times and needs to be emphasized within schools.