• Age: 8
• Grade: 3

The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Borrowed Black tells the story of an imaginary creature who lives on the coast of Labrador. He borrows everything from his surroundings -- even the wind fuels his very existence. When his greed spurs him to borrow the moon, which he shatters, the land becomes veiled in darkness. Luckily, local sailors come together, return the wind to the air and the moon to the sky, and show us how courage can overcome greed. Borrowed Black has been printed in eleven countries, and has been translated into seven languages, including Innu and Innuit. It has also been used in the Labrador school system. Breathtaking, full colour illustrations by Jan Mogensen perfectly complement this classic tale.

Labrador is the setting for most of the fantasy, poetry, and natural history of children's writer, Ellen Bryan Obed. Borrowed Black - A Labrador Fantasy has been translated into seven languages and appeared in thirteen different editions including a 25th anniversary edition in 2005. Her poetry has appeared in Chickadee magazine and on city buses as part of the project Metroverse. Obed spent ten years (and many more summers) in Labrador where she taught school, researched the flora, and raised three children. She presently lives with her husband in the company of fields and woods in, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, where she writes on subjects of natural history and the north.

Ellen Obed Bryan's profile page

Jan Mogensen's profile page

“In Borrowed Black by Ellen Bryan Obed the setting, the wild and isolated shore of Labrador, is supremely important.” -Books in Canada

“The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Borrowed Black is beautifully illustrated with subdued watercolour hues of blue, gray and brown highlighted with white. Borrowed Black is an engaging folk tale.” –Canadian Review of Materials

Borrowed Black: A Labrador Fantasy

This rhyming legend is a classic ballad from Labrador. It tells the tale of Borrowed Black, a fantasy being who lives on the coast of Labrador. Borrowed Black borrows everything to create himself and his home from the local environment. He borrows so much of everything that he even decides to take the wind from the air and the moon from the sky. Regrettably he breaks the moon and plunges the land of Labrador into darkness. Fortunately, a group of courageous sailors take back the wind and the moon and show how bravery can overcome greediness.

Borrowed Black has been translated into seven languages. It is a Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Our Choice title. Obed published Blackberry Land and Crowberry Sky, books that mix science, natural and cultural history for young children.

Caution: The illustrations may frighten younger children.