Justine and Duane are excited to spend the warm October night in Mr. Roth's Sukkah, a hut made as part of the Jewish harvest celebration of Sukkoth. (Pilgrims got the idea of Thanksgiving from the Sukkoth celebration.) In the morning, the sky was red and smoke filled the air as the Firestorm grew from a small grass fire into the most damaging fire in California history. Justine and Duane are reunited with their families and, thankfully, all of their neighbors are alive. But Mr. Roth is still terribly sad. Where is his beloved cat, Tikvah? Read this beautiful story to find out.
The second graders recognized the places in Oakland that were portrayed in the pictures. I shared some personal experiences about that sad time in our city's history. We talked about how the children must have felt back then when this happened, and what we can do to prevent this tragedy from happening again. Next time you and your student are near the Rockridge BART station, take some time to visit the Oakland Firestorm Wall—2000 hand-painted tiles created by local residents that share their sad, thankful, and hopeful memories related to the Firestorm.
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