One Dark Night

by Edna Mitchell Preston, Kurt Werth (Illustrator)

Book by Preston, Edna Mitchell

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Childrens

29 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1969

Reviews

[Hilary]

A simple story in the style of The House that Jack Built. Some children set off on a nighttime adventure and although it doesn't say so we can see it's Halloween by the costumes. Although I'm not a fan of stories that use repetitive text I really enjoyed this one and the vintage artwork is beautiful and atmospheric.

A great Halloween read!

Read on open library

[Melki]

Some shady characters are all scared by a noise. There's a cute, surprise ending in this oldie-but-goody.

[Abigail]

A robber, a ghost, a witch, a scarecrow, a skeleton and a jack-o-lantern all go sneaking down the road one dark night in this deliciously spooky Halloween picture-book. Then they are stopped in their tracks by a suspicious and scary squeaking noise, and beat a hasty retreat to their homes, leaving the street to the creature that frightened them...

Although Edna Mitchell Preston's rhythmic text never explicitly spells it out, the spooky and charming artwork from illustrator Kurt Werth makes it plain that One Dark Night occurs on Halloween. The ostensible robber, ghost, witch, scarecrow, skeleton and jack-o-lantern are revealed as trick-or-treaters in the final illustration, and their flight is made humorous by the source of the squeaking: a tiny mouse. Although I wouldn't describe this one as a personal Halloween favorite, from a narrative perspective, I did find it entertaining, and the delightful artwork from Werth lifted it from a three to a four-star book. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for Halloween stories that are both spooky and humorous.

[Kelly]

Simple, cumulative tale that little-bitties would love. (Pause while reading and see if they remember which character comes next in the repeated list.) Any creepiness is soon dispelled when the various goblins are revealed to be trick-or-treaters.

[Patrice R]

A treasured classic from my daughter’s childhood as she learned more about Halloween and what the costumes and characters were. It is an old book but I located one and she still enjoys it for Halloween as an adult.

[Peacegal]

Fun and humorous cumulative story about trick or treaters who get a scare.

[Cheriee Weichel]

This is a cumulative Halloween tale with rhythmic, repetitive language. It follows a group of Halloween trick or treaters as they head off into the night. Then they hear a terrifying squeak. In their haste to get away from the sound they fall over each other scaring each other even more.
I wish more teachers would work with books like this. I wish we had more books like this. I brought it along with me to read to individual students when I was substitute teaching. I listened to one girl read from the levelled text she had been assigned. Then we read this together. Well she mostly read it and I helped out if she needed it. The difference between the two readings was profound. The first was stilted, dry and boring. Not long after she started the second she was into the pattern of the language and reading with expression.

[Lindsay]

halloween, dress up, repetition of sequences

[Cheryl]

Simple, but awfully cute; I would have loved this when I was little. Definitely a Halloween story, thrilling but not too scary. I love that it starts with a 'this is the house that Jack built' cumulative format, then changes things up, and then has a twist.