The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson is a gentle classic for 5 year olds about a baby barn owl who will not go out at night.

What happens

Plop is fat and fluffy with enormous round eyes and very knackety knees. In every way but one he's a perfectly ordinary baby barn owl. The one way is this. He thinks the dark is nasty, and he isn't going out in it.

His mother is having none of that. She points out that he doesn't actually know anything about it, he simply doesn't like it, and those are two entirely different things. Then she sends him down out of the nest to go and find out.

That's the shape of the whole book and it's a lovely shape. Plop falls off his branch, lands badly, meets somebody down there, and comes home with one new thing to say about the dark. Dark is exciting, says a little boy waiting for the fireworks. Dark is kind. And on he goes.

He's such good company. He bows when he says goodbye. He worries that he might spill himself when he lands. Told to go now, he asks "Now?" every single time (and then goes anyway).

What I love is that his mum never once tells him not to be silly. She just keeps sending him off for a bit more evidence, then sits beside him on the branch while he watches the fireworks, because he asked her to.

Each chapter is one meeting and one new idea, so it's easy to stop at the end of one and pick it up tomorrow night. It reads aloud beautifully, which matters a great deal at this age, and the words are a pleasure in the mouth. Knackety knees. Plop.

If your child is the one calling down the stairs about the landing light, this is the book for them. It never argues with being afraid. It just quietly hands over reasons not to be.

Nothing here will frighten anybody. The saddest moment is Plop wishing he could be a day bird instead, and his mother telling him firmly that you are what you are.

What to read next

For another young animal who decides he won't be the thing everyone expects, The Sheep-Pig is a good next step. Babe is a piglet on a sheep farm who asks the farm dog to teach him to herd, and she does.