Traditional Literature Book Review #3

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schwartz, Alvin. 1984. IN A DARK, DARK ROOM, AND OTHER SCARY STORIES. Ill. by Dirk Zimmer. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060285370

2. PLOT SUMMARY
IN A DARK, DARK ROOM, Alvin Schwartz retells seven scary stories especially for children. The stories include The Teeth, In the Graveyard, The Green Ribbon, In a Dark, Dark Room, The Night It Rained, The Pirate, and The Ghost of John.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
IN A DARK, DARK ROOM is a numerous award-winner including ALA Notable Children’s Book of 1984, School Library Journal’s Best Books of 1984, and Library of Congress Children's Books of 1984. It is also a part of the I Can Read Series published by Harper. An I CAN READ book typically has simple vocabulary in large type and chapter-like divisions. This particular book is a 2nd Reading Level book for children ages 4 to 6.

IN A DARK, DARK ROOM is based on traditional folktales from various countries. The book contains a Contents page listing each story and what page they are found on. There is a Foreword addressed to the readers, in which Schwartz tells the reader when and how to read the stories in order for everyone to have a good time.: “The best time for these stories is at night—in front of a fire or in the dark. Tell them s-l-o-w-l-y and quietly.” On the last page, Schwartz includes an excerpt about “Where the Stories Come From.”

Each of the stories has different styles. For example, a couple of the stories use repeated patterns and sounds. The Teeth is a repetitious story about a little boy that keeps running into men with longer and longer teeth. The following dialog is continuously repeated: “Why are you running? the man asked. “I just met a man with teeth this long.” I said. “It scared me.” In The Graveyard, the phrase “Ooooh!” is repeated after every line, until the very end in which the woman scared the corpses by going “AAAAAAAAAAAH! All the As and use of all capital letters makes for a dramatic effect. This also makes it fun to read aloud. The Ghost of John is a short little rhyming poem. A few of the stories have climaxes. For example, The Green Ribbon ends at the climax when Jenny’s head fell off. Finally, others, like The Pirate, start off sounding stilted and unnatural. However, The Pirate is a good story filled with prepositional phrases like under, in, behind. The words are also repeated: “She looked under the bed and under the rug.”

Dirk Zimmer provides both spooky and funny illustrations that go along with each story. However, the illustrations start even before the stories start. On both the front cover, and a double-page spread on the title pages, we see characters from each of the stories going into “a dark, dark room.” There is the pirate, the man with the teeth, the headless woman, the ghost, and the skeleton. Then, on the dedication page, we see the back of a black cat, as he sits in an open doorway. Finally, my favorite is the illustration on the page facing the Contents. It is of a skeleton reading a book by the light of a candle (which is sitting on a skull). At the end of the book, we see the scene again, but the skeleton is gone, the book is sitting on the stool, and the candle has melted into a puddle of wax.

Zimmer does a great job of depicting the images of each story. For example, he starts and ends the story In a Dark, Dark Room with double-page spread. In the first one, Zimmer creates “dark, dark wood.” Then, to create a dramatic effect at the end of the story, he makes the two pages with an all black background, with a box in upper left corner of one page and the ghost coming out across the centerfold, heading towards the reader!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
School Library Journal
“Now all second graders have their own collection of spooky stories— seven traditional tales retold in simple language. The colorfully dark illustrations add a comic touch. Not a ghost of a chance of keeping this one on the shelves.”

5. CONNECTIONS
This is a great book to read during the Halloween season, sharing it along with doing other fun Halloween books.

*Activities with this book:
-Have the children each pick their favorite story out of the book to retell it in their own words to the class.
-Read other 2nd Level I CAN READ books especially for Halloween, and compare with IN A DARK, DARK ROOM.:
THE CASE OF THE SCAREDY CATS by Crosby Bonsall
THE CASE OF THE HUNGRY STRANGER by Crosby Bonsall
AUNT EATER'S MYSTERY HALLOWEEN by Doug Cushman
GHOSTS! by Alvin Schwartz
-Share “In a Dark, Dark Wood” which is an extended version of the story In a Dark, Dark Room, found at http://www.jackolanterns.net/inadarkdarkwood.htm and have the children draw each of the things found in the box.

“In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house; And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room; And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard; And in the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark shelf; And on the dark, dark shelf there was a dark, dark box; And in the dark, dark box there was a....ghost!

In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house; And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room; And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard; And in the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark shelf; And on the dark, dark shelf there was a dark, dark box; And in the dark, dark box there was a....mouse!

In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house; And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room; And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard; And in the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark shelf; And on the dark, dark shelf there was a dark, dark box; And in the dark, dark box there was a....elephant!

In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house; And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room; And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard; And in the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark shelf; And on the dark, dark shelf there was a dark, dark box; And in the dark, dark box there was a....skeleton!

In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house; And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room; And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard; And in the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark shelf; And on the dark, dark shelf there was a dark, dark box; And in the dark, dark box there was a....nothing!”

Happy Reading!
Lonnie