A fisherman with a stern manner has a young son and a daughter. Both look up to their father, but while the daughter accepts her father's love of obedience and rules, the son resents them and eventually rebels.

The rebellious son sets out one evening, alone, to fish as his father does. Sick of dangling his child-sized fishing line in the shallow waters at the river's edge, he uses his father's fly rod and casts far out into the river. He wants to catch the big fish in the deep water. The power of the river terrifies and at the same time calls to the boy, and soon he finds something tugging on his line. Whatever it is has too much strength for the boy, but being afraid of losing his father's rod, he hangs on and finds himself pulled in and dragged along the river and into Flat Horn Lake.

When the fisherman's family discovers the missing boy and the missing fishing gear, they fear the worst. The fisherman goes to the river, but he knows his boy has ended up in the lake. He can hear the cries of many children, and he sets out to save them and his son.

This is an entertaining fable with the feel and the appeal of the classics we have all grown up with. I read this story one evening and then went back to page one and read it all over again to my son. Like most fables, The Lake That Stole Children has an important lesson and it weaves it into the compelling prose and story. This is definitely a tale that begs to be read aloud and that can be enjoyed by the whole family and by all ages.