The Elephant that Ate the Night

This is a reassuring and sweetly surreal tale of a Dark Mushroom Forest, where all the baby animals are scared of the night. Duoduo the little bear cub clings to mummy bear. Taotao the baby monkey cries and Zhazha the little porcupine rolls into a ball. They are afraid that the darkness might swallow them up. But of course, it will not – as their parents explain, the darkness has no mouth or teeth...

Even better than that, along comes Awu the elephant, who doesn't eat leaves or grass or bananas – but only the night. 

But when he sucks all the darkness away, the baby animals of the Dark Mushroom Forest discover they miss the night-time and the deep, sweet dreams it gave them...

Children and families will enjoy this calming lullaby of a book, with its gentle refrain, muted colours and fairy tale-like charm. It's a great one for children who are scared of the dark, as it reminds us why we need it for bedtime and settling down for the night.