User:Unionvillehighschool/sandbox

Blackout, A Novel By John Rocco

Plot Summary
Blackout is a story about a busy family living in New York City, who have become so caught up in modern day life and technology that they have lost touch with their culture, and surroundings. When the electricity shuts down on a hot summer night in the Big Apple, the lights, air conditioning, computers, television, and video games are all powered off, cutting off people from their busy lives all together. A young boy and his family decide to hang out on their roof to cool off and play a board game, and while they're up there they notice that without all of the bright city lights, the stars become very visible and light up the streets. They can see families from all over the neighborhood engaging in fun activities, such as grilling, dancing, rollerblading and laughing with one another. An ice-cream truck comes around giving out free ice-cream, and a fire man has opened the fire hydrant so kids can cool off by running through the water URL. Once the lights come back on in the City, one little girl isn't ready to go back to her normal lifestyle, consumed by technology and electronics so she turns the lights back off, and leads her family to converse in more conversation and games in the dark.

About The Author
John Rocco is an American illustrator/written from Los Angeles, who lives with his wife Aileen, and daughter Alaya. He started taking illustration seriously when he turned 19 years old, and obtained his degree in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and School of Visual Arts in New York City. He went on to become an international art director, and the pre-production art director at Dreamworks for the well known film, Shrek. He has written five children's books including; Wolf! Wolf!, Moonpower, Fu Finds the Way, Blackout, and Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom. He has illustrated Whoopi Goldberg's Alice, cover's for Rick Riordan's multi-million copy internationally bestselling series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Flint Heart.

Awards
Rocco's natural talent has brought him many awards in the illustration and writing community today, including the 2011 Wall Street Journal’s Best Books, 2012 Caldecott Honor, 2012 New York Times Best Book of the Year, Borders original Voices Award for best picture book, Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators, and New York Times Best Book of the Year.