Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice

Written by Marianne Celano and Donald Moses

Narrated by Leslie Green

Following a police shooting, two families - one White and one Black - discuss the event, its aftermath, and what they can do to help.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BG Records
• Release date: Apr 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781950949014

Reviews for Something Happened in Our Town

[zoes_human · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful parent-teacher resource for broaching the difficult topic of racism and police shootings of Black people. The picture book portion models this challenging conversation in a White family and in a Black family. The back of the book provides great definitions of related terms that are broken down simply for kids. Additionally, there is a supplemental section with additional tips to help adults who don't feel ready to have this conversation and aren't certain how to tackle some of the questions that kids can ask. A valuable resource that has a place in EVERY library.

[librarianryan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! I hate that this book must exist, but it must. A black man was shot. Exactly why or what happened is not known. It doesn’t need to be known because this book is about how it impacts the town's kids. They see and hear things just like adults, but they need more context, more explanation on why things happen. They also want to know how to keep it from happening again. Everything about this book is spot on. Even the information in the back is expansive, important, and necessary. For those out there trying to ban this book because it might make white children feel inferior or sad for history and current society, too bad. Because the black, brown, and other children feel worse as it is their people, they see these bad things happening to. This book is a very important resource that should be in all libraries and schools. We need to learn from history to make a better society, for if we don’t we will repeat it.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up for Banned Book Week back in September but didn't manage to get to it for a while. But it's definitely a worthwhile read and deserves a wide audience as a tool to help open conversations with children about racism and injustice. It's a little awkward as far as being a story, but that's obviously not its main purpose.

[librolindsay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a bit didactic, but it's a great conversation starter with kids. I wish this existed when I was a kid.

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately, this is a much needed book in our world right now. It tries to explain to children about the shooting of an unarmed black man. The parents of a white child and of a black child each explain to their children about the history of racism, slavery and how people are unfairly treated based upont he colour of their skin or their names. In one family a teenage brother also shared his ideas, which show us that there is much work to be done. The idea is to try and teach them to change this pattern and unfairness. In the book, the children pair up to help a new child feel welcome in their school. This child is named Omad. This is also timely as there are so many refugees in both Canada and the U.S. and are often targeted as terrorists. Even though the book is explaining the shooting of a black man, it is able to be used to show racism about any group. What a wonderful book to read to children in middle grades, especially when doing a unit on Social Justice. The youth will change the world and this is a good start to education them about the injustices that occur. This is not a book I would read to young children, I would use it with children in junior grades and up. The publisher, Magination Press, generously provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, opinions and ideas are my own.

[eo206 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a good book for a guided discussion about police shootings of Black people by police. It covers bullying, kindness, bias, police brutality, and individual action. I'm glad it is now a tool for adults and kids who want to or need to have a conversation about law enforcement violence and people of color. The authors were clear in not painting all of law enforcement as violent, and they don't gloss over that police brutality does happen. I appreciate the nuanced views. I also appreciate there are clear actions even kids can take in stopping age appropriate bullying to give kids clear ways to act and take agency in situations.