Things That Go Bump...: Tiny T. Rex And The Very Dark Dark by Jonathan Stutzman

WHEN I AM INSIDE, THE DARK DOESN'T SEEM SO DARK.

OUTSIDE THE DARK IS VERY VERY DARK. THERE ARE NO NIGHTY LIGHTS TO TURN ON.

AND WHEN THERE ARE NO NIGHTY LIGHTS TO TURN ON, THE GRUMBLES AND NOMBIES COME OUT.

Tiny T. Rex and his brother Pointy are new to this sleeping out business. Mom had told them that if they were brave, they would find a light out there somewhere, but they are not so sure about that.

Is there light inside the stomachs of the Crawly-Creeps? Yikes! They need a plan.

While Dad in his chair is nodding over his newspaper, they sneak back inside and get a string of Christmas lights out of the closet. They hustle back out, put up a tablecloth tent, hang up lights all over the backyard trees, and huddle together, hoping their PLAN works.

WE HAVE MADE A SUPER-BRIGHT NIGHTY LIGHT!

But even Dad's snoring and Mom's crunching a celery snack inside sound like the Crawly Creeps and the Grumbles and Nombies coming after them. Are they brave enough to huddle together and look around for those lights Mom promised?

And the two little dino brothers discover that Mom was right. The stars always come out and the moon always rises, in Jonathan Stutzman's not-too-scary scary story about the things that don't quite go bump in the night, Tiny T. Rex and the Very Dark Dark: (Read-Aloud Family Books, Dinosaurs Kids Book About Fear of Darkness) (Chronicle Books, 2020).

Author Jonathan Stutzman's text builds tension cleverly as illustrator Jay Fleck's adorable T-Rex brothers, Pointy and the wee Tiny T., tough it out and fight the fright in their first night sleepout, and young readers will be find reassurance as well.

Share this one during the scary season with Stutzman and Fleck's just published Tiny T. Rex and the Tricks of Treating (Chronicle Books, 2021).