I'M ONLY AFRAID OF THE DARK (AT NIGHT!)

How an Arctic owl named Harold Tribune--a typical Stren touch--deals with his fear of the dark. Harold is even afraid to close his eyes to sleep, and with the long winter night approaching he is apprehensive. Then his friend Gert takes him in hand and engineers a cure along conditioning principles: Harold shuts his eyes for a longer and longer period each day, then graduates to covering his head with ever larger boxes. The surprise comes on the night set for Harold to try the ""real thing"": alone in the dark, Harold hears a noise, sees a light, and discovers that it is Gert, shaking and holding a flashlight. ""I've never told this to anyone before, ever,"" Gert confesses, ""but I'm afraid of the dark too."" Yet neither is as afraid when with the other, so both resolve to ""get through this together."" Their solution may not be available to everyone, but StreWs gentle ridicule might elicit some response. Her drawings, as usual, give a loose, free look to a stiffer story that needs the lift.