Given the quality of the work in the previous two Little Lit
books, Little
Lit and Strange Stories
for Strange Kids, readers will have high expectations of the new
publication, It Was a Dark and Silly Night.  Those expectations will be
increased knowing that the contributors include the writers Lemony Snicket and
Neil Gaiman, and the artists Richard Sala, Gahan Wilson, and Joost Swarte.  So
maybe it is not surprising that this latest book in the series is a slight
disappointment.  Like the previous two books, it is a strong collection of
short pieces with distinctive artwork and writing, but very few of the pieces
really shine.  For example, Lemony Snicket’s piece has some of the quirks of
his novels A Series of Unfortunate Events, but his tale of an abominable
snowman falls rather flat, mostly because his young heroine Lucretia has less
character than the children in his books.  Most of the other pieces are
moderately funny and eye-catching, but they don’t stand out so much.  There are
some pieces where the artwork is very strong: Gaiman and Wilson’s piece is
dominated by the very distinctive and creepy pictures, which makes the text
irrelevant, and William Joyce’s old fashioned pastiche is memorable.  The
strongest contribution is from Carlos Nine, who delivers a comic tale within a
comic, with very different styles.  Overall, this is a good collection, and
fans of the featured artists will want to see their work here, but other
readers should start out with the first two books in the Little Lit series.

Link: Little
Lit Web Site

© 2003 Christian
Perring. All rights reserved.

Link: Publisher website