‘Dark’s Tale’ by Deborah Grabien

Whenever I visit San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and see signs warning of coyotes, my thoughts turn to Dark’s Tale by Deborah Grabien, which I re-read every few years. I want to share it as a commemoration for Black Cat Appreciation Day, which is observed each year on Aug. 17.

The first time I read Dark’s Tale, in March 2010, I was living in a rural community that was surrounded by woodland. Few sounds were more chilling to me than the shrill yips and howls of coyotes in the nearby hills.

Dark’s Tale tells the story of a former house cat abandoned in Golden Gate Park. She finds herself in a complex new world that is subject to changes in season and to rules that keep the peace among species inhabiting the park. Every animal knows its place and survivors earn an unquestioned respect.

The coyotes’ arrival threatens this balance. They don’t merely kill to eat, but to take down potential competitors. Dark and her friends find themselves under siege from this new danger.

Dark and the other animals view humans according to their potential as allies or as threats. One of the most poignant aspects of this book is that many humans want to protect the cats and other animals from the coyotes but their complaints to city government go unheard.

When writing Dark’s Tale, Grabien sought to draw attention to a real-life threat posed by coyotes in Golden Gate Park. She and her husband fed stray and feral cats with the Trap-Neuter-Release cat rescue program, and the character of Dark was modeled after one of the cats that Grabien and her husband fed.

“Of course, cats aren’t the only animals in the park: we have raccoon families who recognize our car, run up and wait for us, knowing they’re going to get fed. The park is home to possums, who keep the wasps’ nests under control, and skunks, owls, and rabbits” (Grabien, 2010, p. 303).

The coyotes’ arrival, in 2006, was outside the natural rhythm that had existed in Golden Gate Park and their impact was felt immediately.

Foxes — formerly the park’s top predator — began to disappear. Skunks and birds went into hiding. Possums vanished and without them, nothing controlled the wasps’ nests. “Then one night, we drove up to feed Dark and her new buddy, an old, smart feral named Ivy. We were just in time to see a young coyote charging straight at them” (Grabien, 2010, p. 306).

Grabien admitted during a Cat Fancy interview that the most difficult part of writing her book was “Trying to tone down how furious I was at how the situation with the coyotes was handled by the local animal control department and city officials” (Hackett, 2010, p. 40).

With my sweet little void — my precious Starfire — at home, I’m sympathetic to the character of Dark. And I think Grabien’s book has a lot of insightful things to say about the ways that humans co-exist with wildlife — especially in urban spaces.

Dark’s Tale was published in 2010 by Egmont USA. Kirkus Reviews (2011) placed the book’s readership at ages 10 and older while reviewers for Booklist and School Library Journal identified the book’s readership as Grades 4-6 and 4-7 respectively (Phelan, 2010; Jonker, 2010).

References:
Grabien. D. (2010). Dark’s tale. Egmont USA.
Hackett, S.N. (2010). Catch up with author Deborah Grabien. Cat Fancy, 53(9), p. 40 (September 2010).
Jonker, T. (2010). Review of Dark’s Tale by Deborah Grabien. School Library Journal. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1606840371
Kirkus Reviews. (2011). Dark’s Tale by Deborah Grabien. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/deborah-grabien/darks-tale/
Phelan, C. (2010). Review of Dark’s Tale by Deborah Grabien. Booklist. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1606840371