The dark is rising

The Dark is Rising

By Susan Cooper.

This book is a Newbery Honor book.

As ten year old Will Stanton prepares for his upcoming birthday, the seventh son of a seventh son discovers a world of mystery and magic he had never even imagined. When things around him become strange and somehow threatening, he is helped by the advice and friendship of a group of people who call themselves the old ones. His turning eleven is his introduction into their midst. The old ones guard the earth from evil so that normal people can live out their lives in peace. Based on stories and characters from Welsh mythology, this first book in the series named after it is both exciting and mysterious. As Will realizes his destiny as one of the old ones, he fulfills the prophesies about the victory of good over evil, ancient and malevolent evil that seeks to destroy the whole world.

Because this story is centered on the week before Christmas, I have adopted the ritual of reading it every year at that time. The ancient stories of Welsh mythology and Christian mythology blend well together and complement each other, bringing back my own past and the joy of winter to this displaced Northerner. The author’s ability to describe winter in magnificent detail is a path into the majesty of the season.

The other stories in this series continue the work of the old ones to protect the earth and reclaim the ancient sources of power that evil has tried to use to its own ends to destroy the earth. Welsh mythology intertwines with Arthurian legend to make a satisfying whole.

Cooper, S. (1973). The Dark Is Rising. Fairfield, Pennsylvania: Atheneum.