Story for a Black Night
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2017) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Clayton Bess |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Set in | Africa |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Company, Lookout Press |
Publication date | 1982 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 0618494839 |
| Website | http://webpages.csus.edu/~boblocke/bess/story.html |
Story for a Black Night (ISBN 0618494839) is a 1982 family drama novel by Robert Locke, under the pseudonym Clayton Bess,[1] set in Africa.[2] It won the 2002 Phoenix Award Honor Book award.[3][4]
Plot[edit]
A 40-year-old man tells a story of his childhood, when he was ten, living with his sister, mother and grandmother.[5] When strangers left a baby with smallpox at the house, the family is affected by the disease.[6][7]
Reception[edit]
The book was included in the University of Chicago's Center for Children's Books' volume "The Best in Children's Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children's Literature, 1979-1984", which called it "a stunning first novel", "taut and tender, deftly structured, vivid".[7]
There is also a link to the efforts of Rose-Marie Vassallo-Villaneau in her two translations into French. After the English version won the Phoenix Honor Award in 2002 for a book that has endured, she decided that she wanted to do a second translation, this time attempting her own French West African dialect.
Awards[edit]
- 1982 California Book Awards - (silver) First Novel
- “A Contribution of Cultural Significance” - the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People
- Family Circle - Best Book for Kids
- 2002 Phoenix Award Honor Book
Play[edit]
Also from this main page is a link to the 2014 one-act play "PURE HEART in Black of Night" with the author now using his playwright's name Robert Locke.
References[edit]
- ^ "Tomorrow's Authors are Turning It Out Today". Los Angeles Times. 30 September 1985.
- ^ Spencer, Patricia (1990). "African Passages: Journaling through Archetypes". The English Journal. 79 (8): 38–40. doi:10.2307/818823. JSTOR 818823.
- ^ "Press Release for Graphia Books published by Houghton Mifflin Company". Houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
- ^ Nancy Huse. "Re-Membering Broken Cultures in Story for a Black Night" (PDF). Childlitassn.org. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Prof. Kirti Y. Nakhare. "The Role of Faith and Ideology in African Fiction for Children and Young Adults: An Analysis of Achebe's Fiction for Children, Purple Hibiscus and Story for a Black Night" (PDF). Standrewscollege.ac.in. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction". Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ a b Zena Sutherland, The Best in Children's Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children's Literature, 1979-1984, U of Chicago Press, 1986
