Who Turned the Lights Off?

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax.

Two friends are walking at night in the city when suddenly all the
lights go off. A glowing space ship appears and beams them aboard. The
captain, a time traveler, takes them back in time to the capital city of
Sri Lanka, the ancestral home of one of the children, to a time in its
history when that country was a powerful kingdom. After witnessing its
glittering greatness, they return home with a better appreciation of
what their own city has to offer. Christmas, Hanukkah, and a Hindu
festival are being celebrated, and the lights shining all over the city
recall for the children the splendor of the ancient city they have just
visited. The theme of light and its associations of warmth and richness
are contrasted with the black-and-white illustrations.

This book is very specific to Toronto. Several well-known Toronto
landmarks are mentioned and illustrated repeatedly. The glories of
ancient Sri Lanka are only touched upon in the text and detailed
somewhat further in a notes section. Conceivably the book could be used
to spark interest in the history and culture of both our own and other
cultures. The language is simple enough for young schoolchildren to
understand, but the starkness of the illustrations rather undermines the
richness of the light imagery and sometimes makes it difficult to
connect picture with text. Recommended with reservations.