PeterBoy & his Grandpapa live in an underworld, called the DARK , "a sorry spoiled place.” Peterboy longs to help his beloved Grandpapa recapture some glimpses of the "wonderfulness" that he has lost . One day on an expedition to the "finding fields" Peterboy rescues a wounded duck and carries her home. Despite Grandpapa’s strong reservations about forming an attachment to the new arrival, he and Peterboy lavish love and attention on her. Their devotion is eventually rewarded and hope for a brighter future for all the darklings is restored.
Over the coming days & weeks I will continue to re-read and savour Glenda Millard’s exquisitely lyrical prose featuring skillful use of alliteration, personification and metaphor eg
“his spiderling fingers crept into cracks and crevices, corners and crannies. He wished for more than crumbs and crusts.”
“..so Grandpa turned the rusty latchkey of his magnificent remembery and set free a symphony of stories”
The book is stunningly illustrated. At first glance, the artwork seems somewhat surprising and atypical of Stephen Michael King. Stephen creates a forbidding atmosphere to represent “the land of Dark” using free-flowing splotches & bizarre shapes in blacks, greys and purples to create a surreal, bleak underworld. On closer inspection though, the wonderful characters of Peterboy, Grandpapa and the young darklings are instantly recognizable, created in Stephen’s typical cartoon style - minimalist line drawings, enhanced with simple colour accents. Viewers will find them instantly appealing and readily empathise with their plight.
A further remarkable feature of the text is the creative use of font and layouts. The designer has skillfully used lots of variation in font size to create some interesting effects.
All in all, this is a unique and wonderful picture book which is sure to become a firm favourite of many young (and not so young) readers. View Stephen at work or visit his website
