XLeptodactylous

My copy of this book is probably as old as I; it is bashed, bruised, torn and tattered and there is cellotape holding the pages in, as well as some of the pages together as a whole.

It is, quite delightfully, a wonderful children's tale about a Barn Owl named Plop who is afraid of the dark. He simply hates it, but his mother and father are tired of him always waking them up during the day (when they are, of course, fast asleep) and asking them to feed his never-ending appetite.

"So Plop shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and fell off his branch."

Plop is no good at landing, so he mostly just falls. He visits various people and animals and asks them about the darkness and in turn, they each give him a reason why the darkness is not a foe but instead a friend. It's beautifully written and it's quite a rare thing to come across a children's book that is quite as lovely as this one. Definitely a childhood favourite; definitely.