When Small Blue wakes up in the dark of the night, she “thought of creepy… sneaky things” like gremlins and goblins. Spooked, she calls out to Big Brown for help.

A reassuring authority figure, Big Brown patiently shows Small Blue that there’s nothing hiding in the dark; yet, at the same time, he also encourages Small Blue to entertain other, less frightful — and more humorous — possibilities when it comes to creatures lurking in the dark, such as doggies on unicycles or smiley spacemen having a party.

Thus, Small Blue and the Deep Dark Night is a gently-paced, heartwarming story designed to help children who are afraid of the dark, by encouraging them to similarly channel their imagination more positively. After all, a fear of the dark is usually not caused by the fear of darkness itself, but our imagination getting the better of us as a result of the vulnerability that comes with not being able to see what’s around us — it’s all in the mind.