BBAW Giveaway #2: The Lake That Stole Children (A Fable) by Douglas Glenn Clark

To wrap up Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I'll be giving away two copies of The Lake That Stole Children by Douglas Glenn Clark. In this fable-style tale, a village has been losing its children. After a stern and overbearing fisherman refuses to let his young son cast a line into the river, the boy sneaks out at night to try it on his own. He is pulled into the water and swept downstream to the ominous and forbidden Flat Horn Lake.

The fisherman tells a gathering of villagers of his son's disappearance and begs for help searching for him, but the people dismiss him by saying that his son has surely drowned. But the fisherman knows better, for he hears the voices of the missing children when he weeps for his lost son. The only people who respond are a husband and wife who recently lost their daughter. The two fathers head to Flat Horn Lake and discover that the missing children have been swallowed by a giant glass fish, guarded by schools of smaller, vicious fish. Unwilling to accept defeat, the fisherman sets about crafting special lures, designed to capture the glass monster.

I won't spoil what happens, because the end is well-crafted and well-written. As a fable requires, lessons are learned by all parties, but it never comes across as preachy or overly trite. Some of the language is downright lovely -- my favorite line describes the assault of the guardian fish, who rise to the surface of the lake with the "smooth aggression of a mushroom cloud." A slim volume, The Lake That Stole Children would be appropriate to share with young adult readers and maybe even kids. As always, I'd recommend reading it for yourself first.

For a chance to win a copy, leave a comment on this post by midnight on Sunday (September 20th) and tell me what your favorite fable or fairy tale is, either now or from childhood. Open to readers in the US & Canada!