Light and Dark Topic

The Darkest Dark tells the true story of how Chris Hadfield conquered his childhood fear of the dark after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing, thus paving the way for his own journey to become an astronaut. The foreword and afterword from Chris add excellent context which makes the story even more inspiring.

Children will be able to empathise with Chris’ fear of night-time monsters which he overcomes through his realisation of ‘the power and mystery and velvety black beauty of the dark’ in space. The expansive artwork on the pages conveying the awesome majesty of space contrasts beautifully with the earth-bound portraits of a warm and loving human family. The uplifting message of this book inspires the reader to dream big; as Chris says ‘Your dreams are always with you…Big dreams about the kind of person you want to be. Wonderful dreams about the life you will live. Dreams that actually can come true’.

For story times on starry nights with the blackest skies – comfort and warmth will be readily found in Yuval Zommer’s Northern Lights inspired picture book The Lights that Dance in the Night. Completing Yuval’s ‘winter trilogy’, this is a lyrical celebration of the Northern Lights. From tiny specs of dust to gleaming rays in the dark, the Northern Lights travel across the Arctic, uniting every creature in a celebration that reverberates through land and sea. Illustrated in Yuval Zommer’s compelling style, this is a dreamy and gentle story poem that is perfect for bedtime with little ones or cosy classroom story sessions inspiring children to want to seek out the wonders of the sky at night.

This beautiful story about a little barn owl who struggles to fight his fear of the dark is a true classic story book for children.

Plop the barn owl is afraid of the dark. To help him overcome his fear, Mummy Owl sends Plop on a mission to seek out the opinions of others about the dark. He finds out from children, adults and a cat that they all have things they love about the dark. In the end, Plop decides he can embrace the night time darkness like a true nocturnal creature.

This is a joyful short chapter book, tenderly told by Jill Tomlinson, whose animal stories are highly recommended for Key Stage 1.

A joyful, eye-catching picture book about a little fire-ball of a boy!

Til tries to play with his friends, but he’s different and somehow he always seems to upset them and ends up feeling angry and alone – until the day he meets a star, just like him. Til and the glowing star play through the night, on high mountains and in forests, glowing into the sky and playing hide and seek in the shadows. They meet a band of fireflies; Til watches them twinkle and flicker and learns how to glow at will and how to become quiet and calm as he wishes. Saying farewell to his new friend, Til returns home a different person and playing becomes a happy, new adventure where everyone wants to glow, just like him!

We love this primary picturebook about a tiny spark discovering its place. As Little Glow observes various festivals and celebrations, it witnesses diverse traditions and finds itself able to join in radiating light and community joy.

This book offers wonderful classroom opportunities for exploring community festivals and celebrations, especially celebrations of light. The warm narrative and luminous illustrations lean into different traditions positively and encourage discussions about community and belonging.

A beautifully illustrated book with just the right amount of words and phrases to help children understand the science behind why there might be sunshine at bedtime.

After reading this with my own small child who struggled to sleep because of the light, it was a quick snapshot into the scientific reasons behind why light seeps through the curtains at bedtime. Taking you through the lens of a small child, it journeys through the world to explain how the Earth is tilted and spins on its axis which causes our summer and winter alongside other fantastic scientific facts about the topics of Light and Dark, Earth, Seasons, and Space.

This well-crafted book is definitely one to purchase in schools. The gentle, illustrated story with a Scientific basis is a great book to add to a KS1 library.

Hello Star tells an adorable story of the awe and wonder that can come from discovering the wonders of our universe.

Finding out that a hypnotising bright light was, in fact, a dying star, the little girl admiring it from her bedroom window was instantly hooked. Keeping her promise to keep it company until the light was no more, her fascination grew. It led to a lifelong passion for the stars, space and science and a journey to something special.

This lovely story is perfect for encouraging children to reach for their dreams but also provides a platform to inspire girls, in particular, to venture into careers in science and space.

This book follows a group of animals as they prepare to spend the night camping as part of their Forest School work. The animals have to work together to complete a range of activities for Mrs Owl, who is the Forest School teacher. They learn the different wood needed to build a fire, how to cook popcorn over a fire, some of the names of the constellations and how our eyes adapt to see in the dark.

Squirrel is a little scared of the dark and Mrs Owl explains why there is nothing to be scared of. They finish the night with a cup of warm hot chocolate around the fire before snuggling up in their sleeping bags.

This book would be wonderful for EYFS or KS1 children that were taking part in Forest School or thinking of camping out, or those who wanted to introduce the topic of night time. The book has little side notes that provide detailed information about some of the technical words used in the story. The book also has suggestions of other activities children can complete, if they are part of a Forest School or just exploring the great outdoors. For example, there is a guide to Mrs Owl’s campfire bananas and how to improve your sight at night.

For a read-aloud with the extra wow factor, we recommend The Rabbit, The Dark and the Biscuit Tin, guaranteed to produce ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at storytime.

Any child who has ever tried to prolong bedtime will relate to Rabbit. In a bid to not have to go to bed, Rabbit decides to capture the dark and hide it in a biscuit tin. If it doesn’t get dark, he won’t have to go to sleep! But hiding the dark has knock-on effects, and he hasn’t thought about the nocturnal animals, his body’s need for rest and recovery, or the joy of waking up to a delicious breakfast!

With an impressive fold-out page that we just love, this is one of our go-to story choices for preschool and younger primary children.

Owl Babies is a classic book for preschool that has been entertaining children for generations. A favourite preschool choice in both classrooms and homes, Owl Babies is the story of three baby owls – Sarah, Percy and Bill – who awaken from their daytime sleep to find that mother owl is missing. As the baby owls huddle together on their branch to wait, the night gets darker and the noises get scarier. Will mummy come back soon? This is a beautiful storytime favourite with a cosy ending, and one that anyone who has ever longed for a parent to return will immediately relate to.

Ray is a spectacular picture book which explores a story of adventure, while addressing fears of the dark and the unknown.

Throughout the tale, Mouse takes a lovely walk outdoors when time escapes him and the sun begins to set. He quickly becomes ‘terrified’ and sobs by himself until a helpful firefly appears and asks Mouse to follow him. His reassuring words ‘I’m Ray and I’ll light your way’, are repeated throughout the story as different creatures join Mouse on a quest back home through the darkness. There are many simple, yet fun opportunities for children to retell the story. For example, a story map is used to tell the way back home: ‘My house is past the woodpile, around the cactuses, up by the pond and just beyond the rocks’.

Alex Latimer’s illustrations beautifully capture a contrast between dark and light. On each page, the animals confuse a shadow for something frightening, only for the firefly to reveal that things are not always what they seem. The silhouette of a snake turns out to be just an innocent log pile. Similarly, a frightening shadow of a bear transpires to be just a cactus- phew!

Children can both enjoy and identify with the fears cleverly alleviated through this story, with many opportunities to join in. Latimer creates the story through rhyming couplets, reminiscent of many classic children’s stories. With a clever twist at the end, this story can be enjoyed by children, teachers and parents as a bedtime story or teaching tool.

Meet Fergus. He has two eyes, a swishy little tale and an adorable little mouth . . . or has he? During our brief tour of the ocean’s depths, Fergus is determined to stay out of the light. He stays out of sight as we meet the fearsome-looking angler fish, the bizarre-looking spookfish and a scary pair of vampire squid. These amazing creatures disappear from view as quickly as they appear. But where do they go? And could the mysterious Fergus have something to do with their hasty disappearances?

This is a beautifully illustrated picture book, set in the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean with bright, colourful illustrations on an inky black background. It is a great early introduction to some of the fantastic and unusual creatures which lurk in the deepest oceans and contains a fabulous, unexpected twist at the end. At the back, there is a double-page spread of facts about the creatures which live deep under the surface and information about deep-sea exploration and bioluminescence. This is a brilliant read-aloud picture book with broad appeal to both young children in general and those with a more specific interest in sea life and the science of light.

Follow a mother and her daughter on an exploration of the natural world to find out more about light in nature…

What a beautiful book! Julia Kuo introduces young readers to the amazing kind of light called bioluminescence, the light created within the bodies of living creatures. This book contains an introductory text in larger font with additional explanatory text in smaller font so the book works well with both older and younger primary school children. This also makes it easy to read aloud and share with a class using the images as the stimulus.

Throughout the pages with the luminous illustrations you are introduced to a variety of creatures that produce bioluminescence, including foxfire (fungi), glowworms, deep-sea anglerfish and the crown jellyfish. It’s fascinating to consider all the remarkable ways that creatures have found to use the light their bodies create; distraction, hunting, and camouflage.

The digitally created illustrations follow a mother and daughter as they explore the natural world. The dark background allows the light emanating from the creatures to stand out wonderfully. This book gives us a brief reminder of the dangers of light pollution whilst reminding readers to take the time to enjoy the natural world. A stunning picture book for children who love animals and great read to gain science knowledge for age 7 and beyond.

This is a rhyming non-fiction book with flaps to lift and oodles of details to spot. The concept of the book is about people who work at night time. It could fit well with topics about People Who Help Us or Light and Dark. Children enjoy the peek-inside nature of the flaps, gaining insights into a world that is not normally accessible to us because we are sleeping!

The simple language, gentle rhyme and warm illustrations make this a good choice of non-fiction to share with Nursery, Preschool and Reception aged children.

This is a non-fiction book with flaps that take the reader on a night-time journey around the world, including through habitats such as the Arctic tundra and Himalayan mountains. Split pages allow readers to explore each landscape further by seeing which night-time wildlife can be found out in the open and which stays hidden within its shadowy habitat. Though the book focuses mainly on the animals found in different habitats and biomes, there are references to some plants and other organisms too.

Each page features a paragraph that explains more about each habitat and what happens there during the house between dusk and dawn. The choice of language pitches the book to be accessible for a primary class, with just the right amount of new, challenging and subject-specific vocabulary to stretch more confident and independent readers.

The use of flaps in the book adds a real element of fun to each page. When lifted, they reveal the surprise of further illustrations and information. Any young reader interested in animals, habitats and nature would be enthralled in this book and it is one that I would certainly recommend for school libraries and classrooms. This non-fiction book could also be used to support curriculum learning in the subjects of geography and science.