The Lake That Stole Children by Douglas Glenn Clark (Book Review)

Title: The Lake That Stole Children
Author: Douglas Glenn Clark
Publisher: CreateSpace
Available: Now
ISBN-13: 978-1438243580
Genre: YA
This ARC was provided to me by the author and Bostick Communications.

First sentence: The fisherman led his small son and daughter to the river's edge and handed each a fishing pole for their first lesson.

This was a short story/book (only 40 pages) written very much like a fairy tale. It would be a good story to read to an elementary age child or to be read alone.

My take on the story was this: A fisherman's family was living very disconnected - without much feeling for themselves or each other. They were referred to in the beginning of the book as the fisherman, the fisherman's wife, son, and daughter. They all seemed to be living their own lives and the son was especially sad. The sadness enveloped him - in this case as a large glass fish which took him down to the bottom of the lake.

This seems to bring the family to action - and as they become alive and actually "feel" - their names also become known. The father battles against his son's sadness to bring him and all the other sad children home.

This story had a good message and was simple to read and easy to understand. It was very descriptive - like the following example. This is were I interpreted that the girl was finally "feeling."

The girl was so afraid she couldn't move. She thought of running home for her mother. But home seemed too far away. She felt sick about disobeying her father again. But then her bones began to hum and fill her with an unfamiliar song - a song that made body tremble and caused a flutter in her chest that felt like the soft wings of a bird trying to escape. (p28)