“Blackout” by John Rocco

I had never heard of John Rocco before I picked up this book. A few interesting facts about him: He used to help design attractions for the Walt Disney World’s Epcot; he created illustrations for the DreamWorlds movie Shrek; and he created the cover artwork for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Who knew?

This book tells the story of a little girl (or boy—I honestly can’t tell and the book doesn’t say) living in an apartment building in a big city. One hot sticky evening, the little girl wants to play a table game, but her mom, dad, and sister are all too busy. The little girl goes to play video games by herself. Then, the electricity goes out, leaving the entire city in a blackout. The family huddles around the table and, with nothing else to do, plays a game by candlelight, until it gets too hot and sticky to stay in the house. They climb up to the roof, where they are amazed by the stars. They realize that other families are enjoying time on the rooftops as well. They then go down into the street and find a block party going on. When the lights come back on, the family goes back inside and resumes their pre-blackout activities. Pretty soon the little girl wanders into the room and shuts off the light. The story ends with the whole family again seated around the table by candlelight playing a board game.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I liked the themes that it presented of getting rid of distractions and spending time together as a family. I liked that the family got to see stars. It’s sad to me that some children can grow up without ever being able to really see starts. However, this book does have a few drawbacks. For one thing, I don’t think it will work well as a read-aloud, given that it’s written in graphic novel format. I also thought that the block party up on the roof and the block party down on the street added an unnecessary element to the story. In light of the them of family spending time together, the parties felt like a little bit like an afterthought. Still a good book, however, and I would check it out for my kids!