Author: Eve Buntings
Summary: Smoky Night is a story told by a young boy who witnesses riots outside his bedroom window. His mother tries to calm him while the building and shops below are being broken into with people stealing items and fires bursting out. The boy finally is able to fall asleep to only be woken up by his mother as she yells for him to go down the stairs to safety as their apartment building is on fire. All the boy worries about is his cat that has gone missing through the night. The boy, his mother, and others from their building are sent to a safe house where they are fed and given areas to sleep. They see a neighbor there that they do not speak to who the author makes references as being from a different group of people. The lady is named Mrs. Kim and her cat is known to dislike the narrator's cat and vice versa. At the end of the story the firefighter comes in with both cats who are laying calmly next to each other. The boy, his mother, and Mrs. Kim begin to realize that if the cats can get along, so can they.
Lesson: I would read this story and then explain that the story was set during the Californian riots. I would get students to discuss why they think that riots may of occurred during this time period. I would then tell the students why and when the riots occurred and ask the students to talk about what they thought about the riots and if they could connect that piece of history to anything else they have learned.
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