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A Dark, Dark Tale
By Ruth Brown
The book starts off outside in a dark, dark moor and slowly makes its way to a dark, dark house. In the illustrations, the reader is greeted by a black cat who seemingly accompanies the reader on their adventure – one predictable sentence every other page at a time. This is a story that will have more impact on the audience if you read it to them in your scariest voice and then show them the pictures. The ending page is supposed to be a startling surprise but instead it comes off just cute.
Brown’s A Dark, Dark Tale is intended for readers, ages 4 through 8. As such, while I quickly got tired of the continuous repeating of the “dark, dark” phrase, it does serve as a good tool to build suspense in young readers without being over the top. Every sentence follows the pattern: “In the wood there was a dark, dark house. In the house there was a dark, dark…” and so on which allows the young reader to easily connect previous events, continue building suspense, and maintain the atmosphere. As a child, I remember reading this book and being very disappointed with it. At the same time though, as a child, I did like hearing it read to me and listening to it on audio tape. It holds much more mystique this way.
The illustrations were beautifully rendered with a touch of the macabre and gothic, but not over the top. I would recommend this book for a holiday read for your young children simply for the pictures. Simply beautiful.
Joana’s Rating: 
(3 out of 5 stars)
