When the Lights Went Out

A cosy picture book about finding warmth and connection in community from the award-winning creative team behind Ella and the Ocean.

The night was frosty dark but we were snug and cosy in the kitchen. Then SNAP! The lights went out.

In the dark of night, a neighbourhood becomes a new country to explore, and an ordinary winter evening turns into a family adventure.

A reassuring story about finding comfort in community from the award-winning creators of Ella and the Ocean.

Lian Tanner has been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. She once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left over from the Second World War. She likes secrets, old bones, and animals that are not what they seem. Lian Tanner has worked as a teacher, a tourist bus driver, a freelance journalist, a juggler, an editor and a professional actor. She has been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. She once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left over from the Second World War. It took her a while to realise that this was all preparation for becoming a writer. Nowadays Lian lives by the sea in southern Tasmania. She is the author of the internationally bestselling The Keepers series, the award-winning junior fiction A Clue for Clara and the picture book Ella and the Ocean, which won the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
As a little boy, Jonathan Bentley liked football and drawing. When he was eight years old, he realised he wouldn’t be good enough to play football for Leeds United - so he concentrated on drawing instead. He is now one of Australia’s most treasured illustrators. Jonathan has worked with authors such as Margaret Wild and Andrew Daddo, as well as writing and illustrating many of his own titles. His award-winning picture books - including Windows, A House of Her Own, Pink, The Second Sky, Where is Bear? and Cat and Dog - have been published all over the world.