It Was a Dark and SIlly Night

Spiegelman, Art and Francoise Mouly, eds. 2003. It Was a Dark and Silly Night. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 00602862881.

Though each of the thirteen short graphic stories begins with the words, “It was a dark and silly night...,” the vignettes take readers on many different adventures. With contributors ranging from Lemony Snicket to Neil Gaiman, the styles of writing and illustration are different. While some follow a traditional story arc, others, like Tony Millionaire’s, asks the reader to rearrange the six mixed-up panels to create a chronological story. In it, an owl wakes up at twilight to do his night’s shopping. His car takes on one new item in each panel, so readers must place the frames accordingly. The illustrations are whimsical and use exaggeration (the owl’s eyes are as big as dinner plates). All the other pieces in the book use fantastic elements, ranging from space travel to anthropomorphism to made-up chemical elements like giggle-illium. With so many to choose from in this delightful collection, young readers are certain to find an engaging story, and may end up reading through all of the sillies late into the night.