Review by Booklist Review
Tired of people shoving him away with lights and ungenerous thoughts, the Dark bids Earth adieu. In one celestial, amorphous blob, the Dark lifts off of the planet, taking his nocturnal wonders with him. A bright, golden light moves in in his absence, but, eventually, people begin to miss aspects of night and darkness. A redheaded boy realizes that he misses falling asleep to crickets' song, the swooping of bats, and the hooting of owls, so he ventures off to find the Dark and bring him back. On his journey, the boy is joined by others until they persuade the Dark to return. Stringer uses watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil to create impactful, folk-style illustrations. Her depiction of darkness contains multitudes of beautiful, nighttime elements that swirl together in the loose shape of the Dark and in the speech bubbles of people discussing the beloved nocturnal phenomena they miss, from night-blooming jasmine to lightning bugs. A lovely ode to the beauty of the night that can also help allay misplaced fears about the dark.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
"Night lights, streetlights, flashlights, and table lamps" often shine against a childhood fear: the Dark. Here gently curved indigo outlines form the Dark's broad hands and soft face as it hides from glaring lights and frightened people trying to ward it away. Tired of being shunned, the Dark disappears, leaving people with only the light. Slowly, though, a young boy -- who had been afraid of the Dark -- begins to realize that without it, many beautiful things have also disappeared: the song of crickets, the twinkling of the stars, the hooting of owls. Imbued with the sense of something missing, the young boy sets out to "find the Dark and persuade the Dark to return." Along the way, he meets a burglar who misses the Dark for the shadows it provides; a poet, too, joins them because "there is no mystery without the Dark"; a gardener longing for the scent of night-blooming jasmine falls in line. Their company continues to expand as others learn of their purpose. When at last the Dark hears the crowd's shouting and returns, everyone's previous fear transforms gradually into acceptance and welcome. Stringer's watercolor illustrations beautifully capture a world bathed in both stark light and soft darkness, and her lyrical text, with a storyteller's cadence, calls out for repeated readings. Grace McKinney November/December 2022 p.75(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After being snubbed by the public, the Dark leaves. It's hard enough being the Dark without having to constantly hide from the general populace. After all, everyone's afraid of the Dark, even a little red-haired boy who loves the sounds the crickets make. Taking the hint, the Dark leaves the world, and initially everyone rejoices. But soon, the boy misses the crickets' songs, the owls, the bats, and the stars--which, his parents explain, were "gifts of the Dark." So the boy takes off to find the Dark. Along the way he collects others who also wish to bring back those aspects of nighttime they miss, like a sense of mystery and night-blooming jasmine. The Dark and the world give one another a chance, and the boy learns to welcome and love the thing that scared him so much before. The visual pop between the velvety blue-black darkness and the canary yellow of daytime is one of the finer aspects of this gentle lesson in facing fears. Child readers with their own qualms about nighttime may find comfort in a Dark that hugs, smiles, and enfolds owls, stars, and flowers. All told, this is a decent companion to The Dark (2013) by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen, or The Night Eater by Ana Juan (2004). The boy and his mother are light-skinned, his father presents Black, and other characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Bedtime fears? Meet your match in this tale of a cuddly, anthropomorphized darkness. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
