Thornton, C.L. (2016). Scared of the Dark. Self-Published.
Children's Rhyming Picture Book / Facing Fears
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars
Cover Blurb:
Shadows dance on your wall
Curtains flap in the breeze
Floorboards squeak in the hall
The wind whips through the trees
The dark can be scary, especially when you don't know what you're afraid of. But you're not alone, most of us have felt scared at night and the dark's not actually so bad. Discover some of the reasons for our fear, meet friendly animals who play in the night and learn to think of the dark in a new way. Oh and just in case some monsters are real...you'll be reminded that you're braver than you may think!
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Hall Ways Review:
In
Scared
of the Dark, author Caroline Thornton uses rhyming and a
mishmash of interesting illustrations to help young readers who are afraid
when nighttime comes. The
author starts by acknowledging and being empathetic to the fears the readers may
have, and then she goes on to give some explanations and thinking strategies
that can help assuage any scared feelings.
Additionally,
there is a second-layer message that there are very real fears for some children,
and that when those "monsters" make appearances, screaming and
getting help from others are answers.
The
cover will definitely draw-in readers, but the images within the story are a
completely different style from the cover -- and from each other.
Many
of the illustrations are eerie and others are whimsical and interestingly
enough, according to the author, all but one of them were taken and
painstakingly modified from public domain images. Thornton said she was intentional about
choosing the base pictures so that they would have a “universal feel that is
neither overly traditional nor contemporary.” Thornton also said her childhood love of Peepo! (Janet and Allan
Ahlberg) influenced her illustration choices. Though there's not a single cohesive
style or theme for all the illustrations, they are interesting and will likely
be closely studied by readers, keeping them engaged in the book.
The
rhyming is well-done, with just a few lines per page to keep it manageable for
newly independent readers. There are some pages where the cadence changes and
it breaks the rhythm of the storytelling, so I would advise practicing before
any read-alouds. The twenty plus pages had only two pieces of punctuation (one
oddly placed), and this reader would have preferred to see the pages punctuated
properly as a model to young readers.
I
would recommend this book for kindergarten to second or third grade children.
Due to the subject matter, Scared of the Dark is
best as a read-along or read-aloud so that an adult is there to for the
sensitive reader.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Caroline L. Thornton
lives in Scotland. She loves animals, movies and all things vintage. She writes
rhyming picture books and her first, Scared of the Dark was inspired by her own
fear of the dark as a child. She wanted to write a book that she feels could
have helped her and which may help others who feel scared in the night.
CONNECT WITH
THE AUTHOR:
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