The Night the Lights Went Out by Don Freeman. Viking Press, 1958.

Published the year after I was born, this picture book is listed in my Picture Book Preschool curriculum list for Week 43 when the topic is Nighttime. The 1950’s were the era of Dan’l Boone and Davy Crockett on TV, and the coonskin cap, when little boys and girls played “Cowboys and Indians” unabashedly. And sure enough, in this book Thatcher, the main character, wears a coonskin cap, imagines “wild Indians” outside his house, and wants to be a pioneer like Dan’l when he grows up—or maybe a train engineer.

When a blizzard knocks out the power lines in Thatcher’s community, Thatcher gets a taste of what pioneer life might have been like as he and his parents eat stew cooked over an open fire and read by firelight and candlelight. And Thatcher loves pioneer life until . . . over the course of the story Thatcher realizes that there’s something he would like to be when he grows up that’s even more important than building a fort or running a train.

Big, bold illustrations with just a touch of (yellow) color give the book a nighttime feel—and a bygone era ambience. It would be fun to talk about pioneer life compared to life in mid-twentieth century (1950’s) America compared to life now. What would happen if the electricity went out at your house? How much do we depend on electricity for light and for warmth and for how many other seeming necessities? You could also talk about how Thatcher viewed Native Americans and where he got his ideas. Thatcher’s parents at one point tease him with reports of “Bolt the doors! Indians! Indians! . . . The redskins are closing in!” Why are Thatcher’s parents playing along with stereotypes of Native Americans? Is it harmless fun, or can such ideas hurt people and relationships?

As far as I’m concerned the book is a delight, worth reading for the story of a boy who gets to experience what life would be like without electricity and who learns from his experience. Some other books suggested in Week 43 of Picture Book Preschool are: At Night by Jonathan Bean, Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant, and Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel.