Blackout

One hot summer night in the city, all the power goes out. The TV shuts off and a boy wails, "Mommm!" His sister can no longer use the phone, Mom can't work on her computer, and Dad can't finish cooking dinner. What's a family to do? When they go up to the roof to escape the heat, they find the lights--in stars that can be seen for a change--and so many neighbors it's like a blo...

One hot summer night in the city, all the power goes out. The TV shuts off and a boy wails, "Mommm!" His sister can no longer use the phone, Mom can't work on her computer, and Dad can't finish cooking dinner. What's a family to do? When they go up to the roof to escape the heat, they find the lights--in stars that can be seen for a change--and so many neighbors it's like a block party in the sky! On the street below, people are having just as much fun--talking, rollerblading, and eating ice cream before it melts. The boy and his family enjoy being not so busy for once. They even have time to play a board game together. When the electricity is restored, everything can go back to normal . . . but not everyone likes normal. The boy switches off the lights, and out comes the board game again. Using a combination of panels and full bleed illustrations that move fromcolor to black-and-white and back to color,John Rocco shows that if we are willing to put our cares aside for a while, there is party potential in a summer blackout.

约翰·罗科一生中从事过很多种工作，从捕捞贝壳动物，到为迪斯尼王国的主题公园设计景点，为梦工厂电影《怪物史莱克》绘制插画。从2005年开始，他把重点放到创作儿童图书上，有获鲍德斯原声大奖的《狼！狼！》，还有《月亮粉》《福找出路》。他还为雷克·莱尔顿的畅销作品《珀西·杰克逊和奥林匹亚神》系列和《凯恩编年史》系列创作封面。约翰和他的家人住在纽约布鲁克林区，在那里他们经历了令人难忘的夏季停电。