FEMA's "Scary Thing"

APRIL 29--The Federal Emergency Management Agency has removed a children's coloring book from its web site following criticism over its inclusion of drawings of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The coloring book, titled 'A Scary Thing Happened,' is geared towards helping kids 'cope with disasters,' and was prepared by a Minnesota crisis response team. Until yesterday, the coloring book could be downloaded from the FEMA web site.

As seen here, the coloring book's cover montage includes a drawing of one of the Twin Towers on fire as a plane approaches the second building. A similar image, which children could color in, appears on page 12 of the book.

If you'd like a copy of the entire 25-page coloring book, click here to download a PDF.

The coloring book was created in 2003 for the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team and was illustrated by Marlys Jentoft, a 68-year-old grandmother of 10. In an interview, Jentoft, pictured above, told TSG she was unaware of the recent criticism of the coloring book, but would redo the drawings if asked. Jentoft, who volunteers for the Red Cross and church and crime victims groups, said that she did not give much thought to including the 9/11 images since, 'I feel like it was happening in the world and kids saw it. It is life.' (2 pages)