The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark (Jill Tomlinson's Favourite Animal Tales) Paperback – Picture Book, April 7, 2026

Almost 30 years ago my mother read this to me, when I had a paralyzing fear of the dark. Now I read it to my son. This book is not just a fun story and well written, but a wonderful way of helping children with their fear. My son now likes to pretend he is Plop (which usually involves falling off his landing branch) and is into all things Barn Owl. He is not into the dark yet, but this book gives us great things to talk about. This book is designed for kids probably kindergarten-elementary age. There are minimal pictures, and it is about 99 pages of story. My son is 4 and a book worm and loves listening to it. The way it is written with some fun humor, means I love reading it!

A lovely book that my four year old son has not tired from yet. It is a chapter book with the occasional illustration (b/w) that needs to be read to him. Each chapter is a story in itself and is a joy - a great little book that will be loved by child and adult reader.

A great chapter book, which I read to my boys (5&8), a chapter a night. Such a sweet sorry about a baby owl who meets someone new each night and learns another reason not to be afraid of the dark. They were enthralled and also loved "The Cat who wants to go home" #chezMoi

I absolutely loved this book as a child, and couldn't wait to share it with my children. I had been disappointed so far to only find a shortened picture book version of it, but this is a reissue of the original text, albeit with new illustrations. Amazon seem to have mixed the reviews for both this new reissue and the shortened (less good) version. Rest assured, this is the proper one! My 7 year-old twins find it just as funny and entertaining as I did.

I’m like so many other reviewers who fondly remember a book from their childhood, with wonderful language, and then order a copy to share with their children and find it’s now been abridged. And the beautiful language is gone. For this book, to be sure you get the full chapter version with b&w illustrations, check the number of pages. I ordered the version which had 112 pages and it was the correct one. The abbreviated picture book version is listed as having 32 pages.

A very interesting little children's story about an owl who was afraid of the dark, and he visited other animals and people who loved the dark. Finally one night he got to see the dark as beautiful, and was ready to hunting with his Daddy Owl.

I received it in excellent condition. it is a popular book in our second grade class.

Our lovely little owl tumbles through the air and the little boy below thinks it looks like a Catherine Wheel. I’m in the U.S. and was unfamiliar with the term. I looked it up and learned that in Great Britain this is spinning sparkling firework. How lovely. Except…The origin of the name is a spinning Medieval torture device. A horrifying, cruel killing machine. I will leave out the details.Granted, we are a family of readers and word lovers and perhaps many reviewers are not concerned with this, especially if Catherine Wheels already exist in your culture as festive fireworks the children recognize as such. However, I can’t risk our kids learning about this as I did. I wish I hadn't.