It Was a Dark and Stormy Night - Hardcover

Ahlberg, Allan; Ahlberg, Janet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670846201 ISBN 13: 9780670846207

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 1994

Synopsis

After being kidnapped by outlaws, Antonio, an eight-year old boy is asked to tell them a story which he makes up as he goes along.

About this title

About the Author:

Allan Ahlberg, former teacher, postman, plumber's mate and gravedigger, is in the super-league of children's writers. He has published over a hundred children's books and is the author of the prize-winning Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman. He has also written prize-winning fiction and poems for older readers. Allan lives in Bath.

From Publishers Weekly:

Meticulously meshing words and pictures, the Ahlbergs ( The Jolly Postman ) present an unusually witty yarn-within-a-yarn. Dozing while tending his family's goats, eight-year-old Antonio is kidnapped by a band of brigands and their bored chief, who demands that the boy tell a story to pass the time during, yes, a dark and stormy night. A rather rude bunch, the rogues keep interrupting Antonio (whose tale features these very brigands), heavily editing his narrative ("No crocodiles or sharks--no jaws!"; "No Brussels sprouts!"). With a good-natured "Right-o!," the lad repeatedly starts over. Eventually Antonio tells of a "Thingy" lurking in a castle moat who is about to do in the chief and his cronies. As this distresses them greatly, the boy wisely switches his plot to "something pleasant": a lavish banquet followed by a treasure hunt. But when Antonio's tale has the chief demanding all of the booty, the fictional brigands protest loudly--much to the chagrin of the real brigands, who fear their master's wrath. Mayhem ensues, leading to a very clever finale. As always, Janet Ahlberg's delightfully detailed art offers youngsters lots to look at--and to laugh at. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0670846201
• ISBN 13: 9780670846207
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32