The King who banned the Dark by Emily Haworth-Booth

"There was once a little boy who was afraid of the dark."

The problem is this little boy was a Prince who one day becomes the King and on that day he decides to ban the dark.  His advisors tell him the people won't understand and that they will revolt but ...

"If you make them think it's their idea ... it might work."

So the advisors spread rumors - the dark is scary, the dark is boring, the dark is stealing your money and taking your toys. The propaganda works and eventually the people themselves demand a ban on the dark. Here is a wonderful opportunity to have a deep discussion with a group of older students about the role of propaganda and the way the King manipulates his people to follow his beliefs.

The authorities achieve 24 hour sunlight by building an enormous artificial sun. Here is another opportunity for a discussion with a group of students - what will happen to the people if it is always daylight. There is no night.

At first everyone enjoys the endless days. They even make special light hats but after a day or two everyone becomes so exhausted and so a few brave souls turn off their lights.

This is not allowed. To enforce the new daylight laws the king appoints Light Inspectors. People have to pay a fine if they dare to switch off. Of course even the King cannot sleep. The advisors suggest a big party might distract the people so they plan for a giant fireworks display.

"But the people weren't as silly as the King's advisors thought they were. Whisper by whisper they hatched their own plan."

I think you will have made the connection here - fireworks need darkness. The people unite and everyone turns off their lights and some daring citizens climb a wall and switch off the artificial sun.

"The sky went dark. The King shuddered.
'We must turn the sun back on, Your Majesty!' shouted the advisors. 'We must crush the upsrising! We must punish the people!"

I will leave you to read this book to discover what happens next.

Take a look at this review from The Bottom Shelf.

Emily Haworth-Booth has created a bit of a masterpiece here:an intriguing and compelling story that is complimented by delightful illustrations. Little Parachutes

This is a really fantastic and original story, that offers a fantastic moral lesson about balancing things out - after all how can we appreciate the light without darkness and vice versa? ReaditDaddy

You can see some of the preliminary drawings by Emily Haworth-Booth on the Klaus Flugge web site.

For younger students I would pair this book with The Emperor who Hated Yellow by Jim Edmiston.