I read this to my boys, one of which is having a very hard time with the dark lately. I have to say, this book did not help the situation. Although in the end, it is happy and not scary, most of the book is tense and leads the reader into thinking something bad is going to happen. I think this would be fine for kids who aren't afraid of the dark themselves or like the anticipation. My son, however, said half-way through "I don't like this book" with round eyes. I finished it, to show him it wasn't really scary, that the dark was actually nice and helpful. But I won't be reading again.