Review: The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark

For tonight’s bedtime story, T picked out a book that used to be in his mummy’s classroom library – The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard.

This is the story of a little owl called Plop who doesn’t much fancy being a night bird. With a little encouragement from his mum, Plop sets out to find out more about the dark and see if he can overcome his fears. There are encounters with lots of people who have reasons for liking the dark, from the boy excited for fireworks to the old man looking through his telescope. Will these encounters help Plop get over his fear of the dark and embrace his night bird status.

First things first, this is quite a long text and it does read like it was published 50 years ago (because it was – 1968). Its sweet but a little repetitive in a dull way, and I have a feeling T was bored listening. The redeeming feature here is the illustrations, which are superbly realistic and full of detail – we both loved the fireworks reflected in owl eyes! T told me, “I liked the cute little owl because I used to be an owl in Owl Class!”