Bob Robber lived alone in an old cottage down an isolated lane. He only came out at night and the night had got into him. His hair was black as bats and his eyes were the colour of the new moon. Bob Robber could stand so still that spiders didn't notice him and spun webs across his clothes.
Then one summer night he sees Dancing Jane - "Her feet were light, her eyes were brown and her dress was white as winter snow" - and he begins to envy her happy dancing. But Bob Robber cannot dance and so he does the only thing he can, he steals. He steals Dancing Jane's shadow and takes it home. But the shadow cannot dance without its owner and Jane is bereft without her shadow.
Bob dreams about her sad face and resolves to give the shadow back. The next night he waits by the road and steps out to return the shadow. Then, for the first time in his life he asks for something instead of stealing it - he asks Jane if she can teach him to dance. She takes his hand and dances the cobwebs off his coat and the darkness out of his soul. She leads him through the night and into the morning sunshine.
This is a striking, poetic text matched with magical illustrations. It offers an older picture book audience a thought-provoking allegory of how simple goodness can overcome the darkness that can be in all of us.
