A timeless tale of courage, consequences and unexpected wonder with quirky, lively illustrations.' - INIS 2018-19 Reading Guide

Having studied graphic design at art school in Aberdeen, I started my career by designing theatre posters and set designs before moving into marketing and advertising. Fast forward 25 years and I have now worked on major campaigns for some of the biggest UK and international brands as well as high street retailers. This is sophisticated and compelling storytelling about the machinations of politics and manipulating the populace ... The illustrations provide a feast for the eyes complementing the story with comical and delightful touches.' - Armadillo MagazineAlongside her children’s picture books, Emily is currently working on a long-form graphic memoir for adults. Her short comics have previously appeared in print in the Observer and Vogue and her first children’s book, The King Who Banned the Dark, was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Klaus Flugge Prize and IBW Book There was once a little boy who was afraid of the dark. There's nothing unusual about that. Most children are afraid of the dark at one time of another. But this little boy was a Prince, and he decided that when he became King, he would do something about the dark. He would ban it. When the King bans the dark completely, installing an artificial sun, and enforcing anti-dark laws, it seems like a good idea. The citizens don't need to worry about any of the scary things that might live in the dark. But what happens when nobody can sleep, and the citizens revolt? Will the King face his fears and turn the lights off? A beautiful picture book with a hopeful, rebellious message and effective illustrations using a limited colour palette. A young boy who is scared of the dark grows up to become King and bans the dark...yet even the dark has its uses and its beauty. The people of his kingdom decide to take matters into their own hands after a life of constant light begins to have a bad impact on people's lives. A challenging experience can make a young child feel as if they are in emotional free fall. As a parent, you can’t stop them falling, but you can offer them a softer landing:

This is rather a clever and unusual story which follows a King who was afraid of the dark as a child and decides to outlaw it. A King, who has been frightened of the dark since childhood, decides he wants to ban it. His advisors suggest that the best way to get his people to accept the ban is to make them believe it was their idea. So they set about spreading negative rumours about the dark. The plan works, and the people embrace the King’s ban wholeheartedly. But soon the novelty of all-night partying under artificial lights (including an enormous electric sun) begins to wear off as the people realise they can’t sleep under the glare of all those lightbulbs. When the young prince grows up to be King, he swears that he will remove that one thing that has always unsettled him: the dark. Initially his advisors ask him to reconsider but they begin to see how propaganda and fake news could sway to public into believing that they would benefit from losing the dark. It is only when the people begin to suffer that an underground resistance rises and plots to show the King that the dark is not to be feared and is, instead, something we cannot live without. We need the dark to be able to sleep properly; the perfect balance of day and night that marks out time. Wonderful book about overcoming worries/fears and finding the beauty/positives in things we were once scared of! An important message to get across to children, especially in KS1.This debut is wonderfully political & thought-provoking...A brilliant story of the abuse of power & the strength of protest. Perfect for schools.' - Rhino Reads Although it offers various topics you can discuss with children, The King Who Banned the Dark is very much a story for adults. Its plot is set in feudal times, but it is essentially about the nature of power. It can be read as a story about totalitarianism, a political system that does not tolerate individuals, freedom of thought or any kind of criticism. It deceives its own citizens for the purpose of achieving its objectives – real truth is unimportant, the goal being rather to convince the people via the media and other means of an illusion that is usually aimed at creating or maintaining some division. In this story, light and dark are a universal metaphor of the division into us and them, into those who belong and those who do not, the dangerous ones who need to be eliminated for our well-being. More than once in history has this kind of manipulation and indoctrination led to the exclusion of Others with terrible consequences. It's not often that you get a children's picture book that perfectly sums up prevailing social and political attitudes, how power works to corrupt, and how easy it is to get worked up over nothing. This is a brilliant book, which does not need to be read as political satire.' - Early Years Educator Magazine Discussing the rumours might lead to a discussion of fake news – eg the suggestion that the dark is stealing your money

I thought that the illustrations were absolutely beautiful and did wonders for my Imagination - the way the dark and dull Would be an excellent book for introducing speech to children in English - all of the dialogue in the story uses speech bubbles. This makes it very clear which parts are narration and which are spoken. But this is also a story about the importance of truth and knowledge and the harmfulness of manipulation and indoctrination. Fears have to be understood; we have to enlighten ourselves with knowledge. The ancient Greeks, who did not understand the laws of physics well enough, thought that lightning was sent by the gods when they were angry. In the Middle Ages, when there was too little understanding of medicine, it was thought that people who healed others (often women) had some supernatural power and should be burned at the stake for it. This is particularly important today, when the phenomenon of post-truth, coupled with irrationality and receptiveness to conspiracy theories, has led to basic scientific premises being called into question. The King ultimately learned to face his fears, trust his own instincts (he stopped listening to the advisors) and admit he had made a mistake. He showed forgiveness (he did not punish the people for rebelling against him). He learned to appreciate the dark, turning a negative view into a positive one. There was once a little boy who was afraid of the dark. There's nothing unusual about that. Most children are afraid of the dark at one time of another. But this little boy was a Prince, and he decided that when he became King, he would do something about the dark.Together you could role play a scene from the story with one of you being the king and the other one of the advisors. We read the book a few times over the summer and enjoyed it each time. After a camping weekend at a festival, we were able to chat about all the different ways light was used for safety, for fun and for spectacle and think about all the beautiful lights we had seen. The children had chosen a fairground ride in the dark as their last treat so they could see the lights and view the festival from above in the dark. We were also given new torches in our tents and decided to set up an experiment for the king when we got home to test which torch he could have used. We created a den in the wardrobe and got to work. We also decided he would much prefer our festival hat to his crown as it had built in lights. The King Who Banned the Dark is also a story about the importance of diversity and contrast. When the dark was first banned, people liked it, because they could stay awake and celebrate all day long. But they got very tired soon because, naturally, people need the dark to value the light and to be able to recognise it at all. This is illustrated by the effective metaphor of the firework display at the end of the tale. The royal advisers put on the fireworks for the people, but the huge artificial sun created such a bright light that the fireworks could not be seen at all. The message is clear: we need the dark to be able to see the light, and to sleep, and to rest. Life under the constant glaring sun can literally be interpreted as a method of torture – prisoners are sometimes driven to insanity with the constant bright light in their cells that makes it impossible for them to focus, losing their sense of time, and being incapable of thinking and resting. But this constant illumination can also be considered as a metaphor for excessive staring into dazzling screens. For normal functioning, and particularly for creativity and thinking, people need moments of silence, nature, contemplation, reflection and being alone. Yet today it really seems increasingly hard to find them. A little prince who is afraid of the dark vows that he will ban it when he becomes king in this original fairy-tale from British author/illustrator Emily Haworth-Booth. His ministers concoct a plan to convince the people that a world constantly lit is a good thing, and all goes well at first. But soon the king's subjects grow weary of never having the peace and comfort of the dark. They in turn concoct a plan, complete with fireworks display, to demonstrate to the king that the dark can be a good thing... It creates some ridiculously funny scenarios of what it would be like if the lights were kept on the whole time.

This picture books starts with a boy who is afraid of the dark, like many children are sometimes. Except this boy became King and decided to ban it. His advisors said that would never work, well, unless he made his people think it was their idea. So they started a campaign about how the dark is scary and stealing people's money. The people believed it and started to demand to ban the dark. Soon everybody was tired as they couldn't sleep with all that light on, yet it was difficult to break free of the King's tyranny. When they finally succeeded, they celebrated with fireworks that lit up the dark sky. And the King? He decided to use a night light to be able to sleep. But the book has an uplifting end. An active member of the Extinction Rebellion, Haworth-Booth shows us that power need not lie in the hands of those at the top. Instead, grassroots movements can collectively take action and change the state of their own future: something that we are seeing happening across the globe at this very moment. And as with such movements, The King Who Banned the Dark has within it the seeds of such change. It invites readers to question those in power and invites them to consider revolting against a regime in which only those at the top benefit. As I stated at the start of this review, great books invites multiple reading and interpretations; The King Who Banned the Dark is one of the books and it is no wonder that it found itself shortlisted for the prestigious Klaus Flugge prize. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments

This is a gorgeous picture book and its only possible downside is that your kids, like mine, might start banning things willy-nilly.' -- Robyn Wilder - The Pool This book works on two levels: first of all, as a great story, and secondly, as an interesting modern fable.' - Juno Magazine We could talk about the negative aspects of having your greatest dreams come true and why we need both the good and bad to be happy. Also as a post discussion, we could make some cross curricular links! Yes, no dark means no sleep! But what else would