The King Who Banned the Dark

Product Information

When the young prince grows up to be King, he swears that he will remove that one thing that has always unsettled him: the dark. This video link is provided to help an adult assess the book's suitability for a child's situation before purchasing it. There's a nice dog companion in the story and the illustrations are lovely, I really like the style and the use of black, white and yellow is very effective. Woven into all of that is an appreciation that what we all have is already pretty special, too much of a good thing never really lasts or pays off.

Too much yellow can have a disturbing effect on people, causing a lack of focus, criticism and demands. Become a member by purchasing Single Teacher User Licence, Parent or Tutor, 1 Form Entry School, Small School, 2 Form Entry School, 3 Form Entry School, 4 Form Entry School or 5 Form Entry School! Having studied graphic design at art school in Aberdeen, I started my career by designing theatre posters and set designs before moving into marketing and advertising.

Haworth-Booth paces the story carefully with full-page and double-page spreads and is unafraid to let the colour and blank space aid in the telling of the tale alongside the words.

This is an outstanding first offering from the multi-faceted author/illustrator, undoubtedly a new name to keep an eye on. The predominantly yellow and black colour scheme emphasises the artificially created permanent day time in the story and contrasts with the colourful burst of fireworks at the end of the book. I only wish the redemption arc the king went through could be mirrored in real life by leaders who have made poor choices. A little prince who is afraid of the dark vows that he will ban it when he becomes king in this original fairy-tale from British author/illustrator Emily Haworth-Booth.I thought this was a brilliant story, a king who decides to ban the dark as he was scared of it when he was younger.