Review: Afraid of the Dark by Sarah Shaffi and Isabel Otter, illustrated by Lucy Farfort

Amy is nervous about moving to her new home. Everything feels big and strange, especially her bedroom, but when night-time comes things get even scarier because Amy is afraid of the dark. As she wishes on stars, will Amy ever get used to her new surroundings and forget her shadowy nightmares?

Afraid of the Dark is the first title in Little Tigers' timely 'Our Town' series, specifically commissioned to showcase the work of diverse illustrators. I don’t tend to review books without a Black protagonist, but this particular picture book is the debut of Lucy Farfort, an exciting illustrator who's also mixed-race of Caribbean heritage. 

Farfort's digitally finished, mixed-media illustrations, in watercolour and pencil, are soft, fluffy, and comforting in style, perfectly matching Sarah Shaffi and Isabel Otter's gentle text that addresses common childhood fears. The story is told from Amy's point of view, making it easier for young children to relate to her, and normalise their own fears. That said, Amy's worries are quite specific so this text might be best shared with individual children who are experiencing worries over the same issues (PSED).

On the starry-blue front cover, a bed is illuminated by a shaft of moonlight which immediately draws your attention to the small girl peeking from under her duvet. This wonderful image will stimulate talk with children in the EYFS about how Amy might be feeling, and what might happen in the story (CAL).

The illustrations offer further opportunities to develop comprehension skills. For example, after a terrifying first night’s sleep, the text suggests the 'monsters' have gone, but the image shows lingering monster-like shadows, and Amy clutching her transition toy, which is evidence that her worries are far from resolved. Later, Amy almosts leaps off the page to escape her night-time 'monster', which gives readers a real sense of the tension and enormity of her fears, despite this not being referred to explicitly in the adjacent text.

Farfort uses different perspectives to portray the little girl's emotions and coping strategies. We see a huge new house compared to Amy's tiny stature which effectively magnifies her worries. Meanwhile, a bird's-eye view of the local library gives insight into Amy’s methods of dealing with unfamiliar/scary environments. For her, reality blurs into fantasy — castles and dragons magically appear at the ends of the library bookshelves. Amy, like many children, chooses to escape to imaginary worlds, and this is exquisitely understood by the illustrator and the authors. 

Shaffi and Otter have represented a diverse single-parent family with Dad, not Mum, successfully supporting Amy in managing the transition and her mild anxiety. This is such a positive message about male role models for children learning about similarities and differences between families (UW). 

Amy eventually makes friends with charming, supportive twins Sofia and Bilal, and her story feels as much about settling in to a new multicultural community as it is about moving to a new home. Hopefully, the twins and other Black and brown characters will be even more prominent in future 'Our Town' stories. 

There are so many more wonderful details I could share about this adorable picture book as you notice more during every re-read. It's a lovingly illustrated tender story for children, with worries, to treasure. It will enable them to explore their specific worries and find ways to overcome them with the help of family, friends and, perhaps, a sprinkling of stars.

Notes for teachers and parents

Lucy Farfort's website 

Afraid of the Dark is now available at Bookshop.

Guide for teachers and parents

Genre	Narrative: stories with dilemmas
Child-led interests (EYFS)	role play (home), my family, light and dark, shadows, space (stars)
Age group (EYFS, KS1, KS2)	EYFS
Curriculum links/topics (EYFS/NC)	EYFS: CAL PSED UW
Suitability	home/school library – shared read with parent/adult mainly for anxious children with specific worries about moving house, new environments and night-time/bedtime fears
General features	illustrations support deeper understanding of the text; first-person narration; strong themes about change (moving house/unfamiliar settings) and fear of the dark; dialogue

All the Black children's books that I review are checked against my Jericho Benchmark.