Douglas Glenn Clark

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Children are disappearing throughout the village near Flat Horn Lake, rich and poor alike.

The stern Fisherman spends his days providing for and protecting his two children. One morning, he and his wife wake to find their son missing, lured to the river by a desire to escape his father's restrictive ways.

Though the villagers publicly deny their childrens' absence and declare their son dead, the Fisherman refuses to agree. He has heard his son's voice and the voices of the other children crying out from the lake.

To save them, the Fisherman will have to face his greatest fears.

A fable is loosely defined as a short narrative with a strong central truth at its center; in essence, what we now know as fairy tales. Douglas Glenn Clark's THE LAKE THAT STOLE CHILDREN adheres to the traditional "moral of the story," but he adds an intriguing twist with the story's events rooted more in the mystical than the mundane.

This is a sophisticated, ambiguous narrative which allows readers to draw their own conclusions rather than laying everything out for them.… (mehr)

The Lake That Stole Children begins with a fisherman who is out fishing with his son and daughter. The fisherman is quite strict on his children when it comes to fishing in the lake - as he knows how dangerous it can be for a child with its cold and strong currents. He will not allow them to cast their lines too far into the lake for fear of them falling into the water. The daughter is respectful and obedient but the son feels that if his father weren’t so strict about his casting the line far into the lake he would be able to catch all the fish that his father does. So the boy sneaks out of his home while his family is sleeping and is finally able to cast his line far into the middle of the lake. Lulled by the lake, the beautiful night and his dreams of bringing home fish, he isn’t aware of the danger that awaits him. A huge glass fish resides in the lake that drags him into the water and eventually swallows him into his big glass belly. There he finds other children who have also been imprisoned by the big fish. Fortunately, the fisherman hears the boy’s crying - but will he be able to free his son along with the other children of their glass cage? You’ll have to read this magical story to find out.

I don’t know if it was because it was late at night when I decided to read this short story, but I found it to be quite spooky. It definitely isn’t something I would read to my little one’s, but a 6-8 year old might enjoy it. I’ve read some mixed reviews about this one - but I found that it got the right message across. Listen to your parents - they’re usually right.
Many thanks to Author- Douglas Glenn Clark for sending me an autographed copy.… (mehr)