Lily is scarred of the night. There is a storm raging outside and the noises seem to be far worse than they have ever been before! She does not like the noises that somehow, sound so scary in ‘the dead of the night’.
With a lovely use of language, Arthur McBain has perfectly captured the fear many children experience, when the noises of the night really do sound like perhaps a sock monster eating all the socks, or maybe a ghost out to gloom about the room, or even a monster with horns, who rather fancies moving in under the bed with all the toys and things.
But as the noises keep on, Lily is beginning to think that perhaps it is time to do something about them; to be very, very brave. Just perhaps, it is time to sneak out of bed and tackle these very naughty, scary monsters, once and for all. After all, she’s not afraid, not really, is she?
So, Lily creeps out of bed, arms herself with all sorts of things to fight scary monsters, but ends up scaring her little brother!
The bold, bright illustrations from Tom Knight add a certain spookiness to the storyline, especially when it comes to Tap, Tap, Tap and when it does eventually work out well, his cheerful illustrations change the mood immediately.
In the Dead of the Night is also a book that is written to have the most immense fun reading it out loud to a group of little people and asking them to join in with the Tap, Tap, Tap, Step, Step, Step, which simply begs to be used in a loud and noisy manner, as they learn to chase out the ghostly monsters who do delight in arriving In the Dead of Night!
Anyone who has ever been afraid of the dark will immediately relate to this charming and what could be a very noisy, very funny, tilt at facing your fears.
