A Federal Emergency Management Agency-endorsed coloring book produced by the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team was pulled from FEMA’s Web site last week, after the government agency received criticism about including drawings of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in the book.

The coloring book, titled “A Scary Thing Happened,” was created after the tornadoes in Glenville as a tool for children to use with a responsible parent or adult to help cope with the disaster, said Rose Olmsted, coordinator of the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team, on Wednesday. It has since been widely distributed across the country to aid children in other disasters.

Olmsted said she has not received a clear explanation from FEMA about why the coloring book is being taken down from the FEMA Web site, other than that the organization is redesigning its Web site and that there was a complaint from a parent about some of the images in the book. The cover features an image of the Twin Towers, with one tower already on fire and a plane approaching the other tower. A similar image is inside the book for children to color.

She said FEMA has not told her how many parents complained about the illustrations or the specifics of the complaints. An information technology person with FEMA has just asked that she put everything she’s shared with him in writing about the wide distribution of the coloring book and the compliments that have been received about it.

FEMA press secretary Clark Stevens said: “The coloring book, which was put online in 2003, was removed last week, and FEMA is currently reviewing all web content designed and posted by the previous administration.”

The decision is gaining national attention the same week that an Air Force One plane and a F-16 fighter jet escort were seen flying low over Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, sparking memories of 9/11 for New Yorkers and the rest of the country.

Olmsted said she thinks the book’s images have been taken out of context.

Olmsted said in October of 2003 she received a letter from the regional director of FEMA out of Chicago applauding her for the book, stating it was “an outstanding example of the dedication and the creativity of your team.”

The book has been used with children who have experienced disasters related to Hurricane Katrina, California wildfires, floods and even the Interstate 35 bridge collapse, to name a few instances. She’s even received international requests from the Australian Red Cross to use the coloring book as a model to aid Australian children.

“It was clearly made as a tool for parents to use with an adult to help children put meaning to what has happened because words are hard to come up with,” she said.

She noted she and the others involved with the creation of the coloring book were confident the illustrations and the words included were appropriate for children.

“There have been many children and families and professionals who have benefited from this,” Olmsted said. “I think this is unfortunate this is how it’s been handled.

“It is our reality today that disasters happen, and children are affected by disasters. No one was wanting to do any harm to children by this coloring book. It appears it was taken out of context.”

The coloring book also includes pictures of floods, tornados and fires, along with pages about the emotions that might come from the experience and the importance of talking to a trusted person about what has happened.

The Freeborn County Crisis Response Team, which is the group that created the book, is made up of volunteers who are trained to go out into the community to be supportive to groups of people who have been traumatized by disaster. The disaster could be natural or human-made.

The crisis response team is coordinated by the Freeborn County Crime Victims Crisis Center and is based on the model established by the National Organization of Victim Assistance.