No Bad News by Kenneth ColePhotographer: John Ruebartsch
Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company 2001
This book follows a young boy on his first trip to the barbershop without his mom. As he is walking to the barbershop, he notices all the bad things which surround him: graffiti, unemployment, alcoholism, crime, etc. He frets over all the sad and disappointing things he witnesses as he walks to his 'local' barbershop. The author brings up how the young boy sees everything he has heard mentioned that is negative on the news. Once he gets to the barbershop, he is down because he believes he is surrounded by such 'bad news'. However, the community, lead by his barber, comes together to help this young boy to realize that he is actually surrounded by many good things, it just takes time to notice them because good news is not what our culture is taught to focus upon all that is bad which surrounds us. They talk about family, community, and other aspects of city life that are often not focused upon. This book is really an uplifting book which could be used in nearly any classroom.
The "illustrations" of this book are photographs in black and white rather than actual illustrations. The lighting in all of the pictures help to shed light on many different aspects of life in the city. The choice of using photography make this book seem much like a personal story, a glimpse of everything that is real in life.
According to I am Good News, Dr. Kenneth Cole is an African American psychologist, author, and motivational speaker who focuses much of his work on the American tendencies to focus on bad news, rather than good news. Because of this book, he has gotten a lot of publicity relating to this cause.
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