When I was little I was scared of the dark. I imaged creatures lurking in my closet or under the bed. I hated descending alone to the shadowy basement with its oil burning furnace that sometimes whooshed to life unexpectedly with a fiery gasp and made me jump. Whenever I came home late from my friend’s house down the street, I raced from one streetlight to the next, taking brief comfort in each puddle of orange light before plunging once again into the dark.
But as I got older, the way I felt about darkness changed. I learned more about its essential role in ecosystems and the health of living things. I read about the real dangers of light pollution. I also experienced for myself the beauty, consolation, and coziness of darkness.
One year during Advent, a season usually devoted to singing the praises of light, I spent an afternoon lying on the couch, felled by a migraine. Since even a sliver of light stabbed at my brain, I drew the curtains, covered my eyes with a towel, and curled up with my sympathetic cat. Unable to read or watch a movie, I began to compose a poem naming all the things I loved about the dark, starting with the fact that it didn’t hurt my head.
When I finally felt better, I wrote the poem down and, just for fun, sent it to Jennifer Stokes, Editorial Director at Owlkids Books. Jennifer suggested I both simplify the text and expand it to show how other living things (besides people) benefit from darkness too. The result is Who Needs the Dark? The Many Ways Living Things Depend on Darkness (Owlkids, 2025).
Illustrator Risa Hugo rose to the challenge of depicting not only darkness in the natural world, but also some rather abstract concepts, like how the brain solves problems as you sleep! Risa has done a spectacular job, sprinkling the book with surprises, and creating spreads ranging from intimate to breathtaking.
This love letter to darkness is coming your way in September 2025 but is available now for preorder.
Laura Alary 