Darkness in the Caves

Author Yao-Hung Tung

Illustrator Pei-Yin Shih

Award A-khioh Award for Picture Book

The picture book is about “darkness”. It tells the story of Amomos, who have lived in the cave for a long long time. They have no idea what “light” is. In their mind, the world outside of the cave could be really scary and there are evil spirits everywhere. One day, when Donmomo was on the way to a “mushroom finding” adventure, Donmomo accidentally saw the Sun and brought the “brightness” back to the cave. Most Amomos in the cave were curious about the adventure, but some others just didn’t believe it. They said that Donmomo was a liar Donmomo, who finds something different, is being considered as “different one” in the group. The story tells about the darkness and trust. The author built up the story with relatively colloquial Taiwanese lexicons and phrases. The title of the book “暗mi-moo” is a very common expression of“darkness”in Taiwanese. Children learned this word in the very young age, so the keyword help them to get into the story easier. The colorful pictures make the book more attractive to read. Parents and their children can take an adventure into the world of darkness and brightness together.