A Dark, Dark Tale

The suspense slowly builds, in this dark, dark tale, as the simple, repetitive text, and intensely involving acrylic illustrations work together to draw the reader in. "Once upon a time there was a dark, dark moor," the tale begins, and each two-page spread that follows narrows the focus - there is a dark, dark wood on the dark, dark moor; then a dark, dark house in the dark, dark wood; and so on - until finally, we discover what is waiting for us, at the end of all this dark darkness...

Ruth Brown is a well-known British picture-book creator - her recent Gracie, The Lighthouse Cat, published earlier this year, is the only other one of her titles I have read, thus far - and A Dark, Dark Tale, originally released in 1981, looks to be one show more of her most popular. I can certainly understand why! I really liked the way the text and images worked together, in this one, and the way that Brown sets up her readers' expectations, only to pull the rug out from under them! I don't know if every child will really like the ending, but they will be surprised by it. All in all, this is a title I would recommend giving a try, particularly at Halloween time! show less

Gorgeous pictures and effectively suspenseful text. Ambiguous ending - I'd ask the children what they think happened next. I believe this is popular in the schools; I seem to recall the title from when I was in teacher-training at the university. Excellent for those of us who can't handle a steady diet of pretty, charming, and sweet.

The illustrations match gorgeously the discursive content of the tale, which, in my own opinion, tries to depict the stereotypes of the British thriller, but beautifully adapted for the infant reader. The story builds suspense along the illustrations to break in a derisory and surprising ending: who would think that a cute and inoffensive mouse was and the very end of a very dark and lugubrious story…

How scary that I look forward to scaring the hoo-ha's out of little kids each year with this book!

If I had this book, I would have it in a kindergarten classroom. Its not one of my favorite, so I probably wouldnt have it in my classroom.Theres not a good storyline to it.

This dark, dark story takes you on a spooky journey to find something surprising in the end.

In a dark, dark. . . . there was a mouse looking suitably terrified!