Who isn’t afraid of the dark? Most kids are and create quite a fuss at sleep time. Night lamps, glow-in-the-dark stars & moon (Asha used them for Aarini 🙂 ) and of course books to the rescue! This is a #kbcquery often asked so we curated a post to help all of our #kbcChildoos!
The Night Monster – Aparajita recommended this book on our thread. When Achira got it and shared a read aloud – many other parents ordered the book immediately. That’s how peer-to-peer recommendations rock! In her words,
Such a great book to address the fear of dark. We ended up drawing our own night monsters and then we put them inside a locked box (our piggy bank came handy). We have written to the night monster and are waiting for his reply! We read this book 4 times since it arrived yesterday and we are happy that tonight we will only have sweet dreams! No more scary ones with monsters.
The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark – Kausar recommends this one and we just love her recos! In fact, all of the POUT POUT FISH BOOKS address different issues young toddlers face.
Who’s Afraid of The Dark? for 2-4/5 years (24 pages). Priyanka Rai has shared some inside pages of this book in the fb group here.
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
There’s a Nightmare in My Closet
Orion and the Dark Sharadhi has shared a mini review in the fb group:
Children are gifted with incredible imagination and this is imaginative book with darkness personified is our absolute favorite bedtime story. The best way to conquer your fears is to face it and that’s what the main character Orion does. When the Dark outside his window comes alive, he goes on a super-duper adventure to explore every nooks and crannies of the house, that frighten him. Dark also takes him out to explore the night sky. Orion realizes dark could be magical and the Dark could be his friend(nobody is scared of their best friend). Dark being a friendly character, rounded, warm, cuddly, and filled with stars makes depiction of the Dark lovable. The book is so beautifully illustrated with a humorous touch, that in every read, you discover something you’ve not noticed before . The two cut out folds that form a physical illustration embraces Orion and the reader’s imagination.
Sleep Tight, Little Knight (No More Worries) – to help shoo away bad dreams for 3+ – Sowmya has this one and has shared a review in the fb group with an inside page here. In her words: “Nightmares can trouble young children and blur the line between imagination and reality. The story revolves around a child who is frightened by bad dreams. He is soothed by his father who likens the child to a brave knight.
The author provides valuable grounding techniques that parents can use to calm their children. With bright and beautiful pictures to compliment the story, this is a perfect guidebook for parents and children, to deal with nightmares! 
“
The Berenstain Bears In The Dark – for kids who are afraid of the dark while sleeping
The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream – about getting nightmares
Dragon Night by J.R. Krause. In Sharadhi’s words:
This book is about an extraordinary journey and a heartwarming friendship between a boy(Georgie) and a dragon that came out of a book, trying to overcome their fears by helping each other. Georgie is afraid of the night and the Dragon who sometimes tears up is afraid of the knight. They receive each other’s fears with kindness and reassure with their own creative ways. They fly above the carnival sparkles, endless blanket of city lights, baseball game and Dragon shows him that without darkness we wouldn’t see the stars. Georgie draws a new book with a friendly Knight for the Dragon. This book encourages discussions around- how looks could be deceiving and the need of sharing/expressing their feelings .It is a clever book with play of words(night-Knight) which might not be clear when it’s a read aloud.
Franklin in the Dark (Sabah & Namrata recommend this one). Akanksha got it and it helped her childoo.
We read the book “Franklin in the dark” where Franklin and other animals had their own way to face their fears. After this my son came up with his own solution to face his fears… He now sleeps with his cuddle buddy (Arlo).
Fright Night: I’m Not Afraid of the Dark – this is by SCHOLASTIC and you can order it via our kbc special Scholastic affiliate link. Click and type the name of the book in SEARCH. We have a detailed review shared by Punidha here where she mentions this book has helped her child be not afraid of the dark anymore!
Bedtime for Monsters
Max at Night
Afraid of the Dark: 1 (Our Town) (32pages) – this is great book for kids who have just moved house and are feeling scared of their new room and surroundings!
Bear’s Moon Magic – Divya recommends this one.
What was I scared of by Dr Seuss – This has a glow in the dark cover and Divya has it! Excerpt from Sharadhi’s review in the fb group:
This glow in the dark book is very effective in tackling the fear of dark and the fear of unknown. It has a hilarious storyline of Seuss’s character meeting a pair of green pants with nobody inside them, takes us running through the woods. Only to realize the pants are just as afraid of him, as he is of them. It makes the young readers chuckle throughout and you’ll be surprised to see the little one’s running to turn off the lights or finding the darkest room to check glow in the dark.
I’m not very afraid of the dark by Usborne – another book recommended by Divya.
The knight who was afraid of the dark – Asha and Aarini have this funny book and they love it to bits – still!
Books On More General Fears And Being Brave
Llama llama Red Pajama (helped Sabah and her kids). All books in the LLAMA LLAMA series help toddlers in more ways than one!
There’s No Need to Be Scared (Dealing with Feelings). The DEALING WITH FEELINGS BOXSET 1 AND BOXSET 2 by Sonia Mehta come highly highly recommended by all of our parents for 3-7/8 years. They not only make kids understand what they are going through but make them realise what is cool and what isn’t. Very helpful to address behavioral issues especially during the pandemic. There’s no need to be Shy is equally effective.
USBORNE I’m Not (Very) Afraid of Being Alone
USBORNE I’m Not (Very) Afraid of the Dark – Sharadhi has this one. Quoting her:
Starting from the title, through out the book you know that the narrator is afraid of the dark, which instantly makes you empathise with him. Convincing one self that the dark need not be scary is very hard, and that debate in the mind is exactly what the author has put across in the book. Narrator’s journey from trying to over come his fears to discovering that the dark in magical, gives a positive vibe, that it’s ok to be afraid of the dark. It is a good reminder that fears are only as powerful as we allow them to be. With a deep message of do not give up, this book is beautifully illustrated with many cutaways that little one’s enjoy running their fingers through, or put in their tiny fingers or peep. A very good book to talk about fears, worries and to see good in the things that scare them.
Be Brave Little Penguin – Sabah has included this book in her BOOKS WITH HEART series.
I have a cautious little soul in my older one, and he is often plagued by the ‘I can’t do this’ and the ‘I can’t do this well enough’ feeling. Be Brave Little Penguin is how a little, slightly bullied, penguin trusts his mama and takes a leap of faith to try something that scares him. And then discovers just all that he can do! I love that this book shows support from a parent. And while it made me sad that the words used for name-calling in the story weren’t make believe but real for my boy, it helped him connect to the story and believe it was true! He could really do anything!
Miss Hazeltine’s Home for Shy and Fearful Cats – Asha and Aarini adore this beautiful picture book with the most stunning illustrations. It is all about gathering all your courage to overcome your fears. Very inspiring.
There’s a Monster Under My Bed! (Picture Flats Portrait) by Igloo for smallies (24 pages)
There’s a Monster under My Bed!: And Other Terrible Terrors
What to Do When You Dread Your Bed: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Problems with Sleep
Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave by Jessica Hische THIS IS AN INSPIRING BOOK which can be read by 5 years+ and is relevant here: Quoting Achira:
“This lovely book was suggested by this group itself. A simple book but powerful beyond words. I can’t put in words how much we have loved reading each page in this book. And we have read it over and over again because you just can’t get enough of this. At one point when Divit was pretty demotivated, this book uplifted his spirits and most importantly made him happy.
“I won’t be scared, but if I am, I know that I have you” has stayed with us.
A must have for each one of us.”
Thank you Kausar, Sabah, Aparajita, Achira, Divya, Akanksha, Namrata, Sharadhi, for sharing your awesome recommendations.
Shout-out to our 14yo Intern-In-Residence (Aarini – The Chief Childoo) for posting this.
RELATED READING: Books on Sleeping Independently
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