More down to earth is Ten Nasty Little Toads (Zephyr), Steve Cole’s compendium of cautionary tales about repellent children. Intricate and strange, the illustrations have a hint of Aubrey Beardsley in their sweeping curves and twining vegetation. Here a hibernating fox called Freddie Foxglove is joined by many other curious creatures inspired by the house’s atmosphere, they immerse themselves in artistic pursuits before celebrating at the Annual Ink House Extravaganza.

Gorgeous gowns, wild dreams, transformations and galloping moonlit freedom are also thrown into the mix.įor five and up, the elegant curlicues of Rory Dobner’s The Ink House (Laurence King) usher the reader into an abandoned artist’s mansion, built over a reservoir of magical ink. Jane Ray’s jewel-bright illustrations shine like the flourishes of an illuminated manuscript in Saviour Pirotta’s The Unicorn Prince (Orchard), featuring a crumbling castle, a dauntless heroine, industrious fairies and an enchanted prince. The King Who Banned the Dark by Emily Haworth-Booth. The miniature sepia scenes of her house, filled with cardboard furniture, are gradually brought to life by washes of colour as her small visitor begins to dispel Elise’s anxious loneliness. Reclusive Elise is so scared of the world that she never goes out but one day a paper plane drops through her window – and a little boy appears, desperate to use the bathroom. Haworth-Booth’s pencil-shaded artwork is pleasing, while her text warns gently but firmly against responding too readily to fear.Īntje Damm’s The Visitor (Gecko), translated from German by Sally-Ann Spencer, is another absorbing riff on fear, shadow and colour. With the help of advisers who whip up a popular panic about the threats lurking in darkness, he installs an artificial sun, prescribes anti-dark hats and appoints light inspectors to reign over a perpetually sleepless nation – until his people rebel. A little prince, frightened of the dark, grows up into a king who wants to get rid of it altogether.

A s autumnal darkness gathers, Emily Haworth-Booth examines the night’s fears and beauty in a thought-provoking picture book, The King Who Banned the Dark (Pavilion).

Astrid jane ray books