‘Twas the Night by Marin – Book Review
‘Twas the Night by Marin – Book Review
‘Twas the Night
Christmas dream-like story
Author – Marin
Publisher – Fontreal
Pages – 32
Released – 16th January 2021
ISBN-13 – 978-1775378792
Format – ebook, paperback
Rating – 4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
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Synopsis
‘Twas the Night is the only wordless children’s book in the 2GETHER picture book collection. The setting is dark, urban, and the streets are sprinkled with Christmas lights. A boy in a wheelchair finds an injured white dove on a sidewalk and brings it home.
The entire book has no other people, cars, or creatures. This reinforces the uniqueness of the two protagonists and adds a dream-like atmosphere to the publication. One of the illustrations shows a framed picture of Peter Pan’s shadow on the mantle, and readers realize the boy’s dream: he wants to fly with the dove.
‘Twas the Night is a real Christmas wonder that encourages readers to apply their own imagination, verbalize their own feelings, and interpret their own emotions while following the illustrations. The subliminal message? Dream big. ‘Twas the Night is a remarkable book in which dreams and reality mix, and imagination takes flight – just as the dove and the boy in the wheelchair do.
Review by Stacey
‘Twas the Night is a children’s wordless picture book reimagining the classic Christmas story via the life of a young disabled boy and an injured bird. After helping the injured bird the boy who is confined to a wheelchair dreams what it would be like to fly like a bird, plus he meets Santa on his journey too.
Children have vivid imaginations, they enjoy creating and making up stories and here we have a wordless book filled with dark illustrations that only feature the scenery, the young boy, and the bird. There are no other people or animals, etc in the images.
Each picture gives the reader enough information for them to create in their minds what is happening. Each reader may come up with a different story, it doesn’t matter as long as they use their brains and their creativity to form what they think the book is about. It is very poetic and freeing.
I did enjoy the story and the illustrations, though a word of warning if you are planning on downloading the Kindle version and only have a black and white Kindle, the illustrations are too dark to view so you would be better with the paperback version.
‘Twas the Night is a book that engages the reader. You could say that it is interactive because it does get children to interact with each page. To some, it might take them a little while to understand, especially if they are used to having words and a story created for them, but give them time to get their creative spark. It would also be a welcome book for those who can not read yet.
As well as a book to have at home, this would be the perfect story for a class project, getting the children to write their own words to accompany the pictures. I am willing to bet that there would be some amazing creative stories emerging from their imaginations.
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A long time ago Marin was a child. He was one year old when his father passed away. His mother remarried and Marin was raised by his loving (but strict!) grandparents. He learned to read and write long before he went to school. Books became his imaginary parents and his fictional friends.
Marin studied nuclear physics, art, and literature. He owned an advertising agency for many years.
Oh, a few more things: he does not drive, he does not drink carbonated beverages, he had never consumed food from fast-food restaurants, he does not have a mobile phone, he had never used legal or illegal drugs, and he had never visited his GP (much to the disapproval of his wife). He started his small publishing house FONTREAL (children’s picture books) in 2016. Marin lives with his family on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean – in St. John’s, NL, Canada.
