FEMA Pulls 9/11 Coloring Book

Today's lesson in what not to post on the internet is provided by our trusted friends at FEMA. For years the organization says it gave out thousands of copies of "A Scary Thing Happened" around the globe without a single complaint about the coloring book designed to help children cope with tragedy. But now FEMA has pulled it only a week after putting it up on its homepage due to complaints about color-in depictions of the 9/11 attacks. Upon seeing what the Daily News calls a "stomach-churning image," one local man told the paper, "I feel disrespected. I feel like I should punch the person who did this in the face." It turns out the person wants to deck is Marlys Jentoft, a 68-year-old grandmother of 10, who volunteers for the Red Cross, church and crime victims groups. She told The Smoking Gun, "I feel like it was happening in the world and kids saw it. It is life."

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By Billy Parker in News on April 30, 2009 5:55 PM

Comments [rss]

Dirk

Oh gimme a break. The first commenter posted a link to the entire book -- there's nothing wrong with it (besides the horrible illustration style in general). The single page about 9/11 is hardly "stomach churning" or disrespectful.

People need to stop complaining about every single thing related to 9/11.

KiljoyWasHere

This isn't about 9-11, this is about disasters. Katrina gets a major shout out as well. I don't see why it needed to be made, but I don't have a problem with it.

ramona

Better book:

I Don't Want To Blow You Up!

www.blowyouup.com

Global Wombat

"Local Man" sounds as though he needs to man up a bit.

Rocknrope

It's better than the book that was distributed to kids shortly after 9/11 that blamed Islam for it.

ides_of_march

Another waste of your tax dollars.

Kids don't need a government coloring book to "cope with tragedy." They're a lot more resilient than the bed-wetting bureaucrats who come up with these dopey ideas.

valeriob

The book isn't entirely tasteless. I feel awkward about the picture of the guy on the couch. It's all so casual.

A Scary Thing Happened

entire book here . . http://tinyurl.com/db83kg

non_sequitur

The drawing is awkward, but I guess the alternatives would have been worse.

Maybe there's something wrong with this, but if you don't think your kid would benefit from this, then don't bring it home for them to color in. It's not like they're doing this to make fun of disasters.