Families who loved Emily Brown and the Thing by Cressida Cowell often look for books with a similar feel. These 20 recommendations were selected for their similarity in style, theme, and reading level.
Reach for this book when your child's bedtime routine has turned into a marathon of 'one more thing' requests and hidden anxieties. This clever story follows Emily Brown and her toy rabbit as they help a giant, crying 'Thing' who keeps waking them up with bizarre demands for green medicine, a certain blanket, and a crunchy snack. Underneath the whimsical adventure and humor lies a profound lesson about the nature of childhood fear: that the things children ask for at night are often just distractions from the worries they don't yet have the words to describe. It is a warm, witty, and deeply empathetic tool for parents of children aged 3 to 7 who are navigating the complex transition from day to night. By the end, Emily discovers that what the Thing really needs isn't a snack or a toy, but a conversation about what is actually bothering him.