What happens to a young boy when his whole world changes? In this subtle modern allegory, the narrator tells how "the colors were swept from our street," "the sounds became quieter," and "we were fading." A storm accelerates the process until all that remains is a black-and-white world of lines with nothing in between. The lines seem to isolate and divide people, although the narrator maintains a connection to a little girl across their suddenly divided street. The children embark on an effort to clean up the debris, helping to usher in a return of color and togetherness. Although intended as a parable of child activism, possibly against prejudice, the story is so vague that its specific lessons do not come through clearly. However, the illustrations more than make up for the ambiguity by bringing the atmosphere and ideas of the story to life. The depictions of both isolation and community in a dense urban neighborhood are poignant, especially after a year when COVID-19 forced people worldwide to forgo, and then to reinvent, community togetherness.

A vibrant neighborhood loses its color, literally, as the community becomes fractured.Color is not a subtle metaphor in this story of a time when "the colors were swept from our street," told by an unnamed boy with pale skin. Initially, loose-lined illustrations depict a lively city block in bright hues, but as the "sounds became quieter," the colors begin to fade. Then, after a violent storm of jagged yellow streaks and bursts of fiery sparks, the color is completely gone. Not only are the city and its residents now composed only of cartoony black lines, but on the ground there is a dark rupture (another line) that divides the neighborhood. In one illustration, the boy stands on one side of the split while a girl with dark skin stands on the other. Is the rift a racial one? The next illustration shows the same children indoors, waving at each other through their windows. Does this "empty sadness" that lasts a year represent the Covid-19 pandemic? Is the emphasis on lines a commentary on society's disconnectedness? Unfortunately, this year any of these interpretations could be true, and the myriad possibilities dilute a clear message. Nevertheless, the boy decides to do the hard work of clearing the rubble the storm left behind, and as neighbors join in to help, smiles and laughter return, bringing, predictably, the color back.Mixed metaphors cloud the power of this familiar message. (Picture book. 4-8)