“If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow” by Cooper Edens

There are few books in print today that have garnered the levels of critical praise and popular enthusiasm as Cooper Eden’s 1979 classic “If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow.” Part whimsy and part practical advice, it is a fantastical treatise on the power of thinking “outside the box” while coping with the universal human emotions of fear, uncertainty, loss and grief. I first read it when I was going through a very difficult time in my life, and I have re-read it with as much wonder and enjoyment as I experienced that first time many times since.

“If you have butterflies in your stomach, invite them into your heart”

Written in a signature “If…then” style and illustrated with bold, colorful, antique-looking graphics (originally drawn in crayon on cardboard), “Remember the Night Rainbow” doesn’t tell a story, it simply invites the reader to imagine different endings to the stories of his own life. Delightfully silly yet at the same time quite profound, Eden’s quirky advice seems to leap off the page and grab you by the heart. His words and illustrations invite hope in the face of adversity; acceptance in the face of fear; and a brand of wisdom that allows imagination to take over when intellect and logic just won’t do the trick. In a very tangible way, they offer a perfect antidote to the grasping, outcome-oriented thinking that causes so much suffering in our lives. 

“If your heart catches in your throat, ask a bird how she sings.”

“Remember the Night Rainbow” is a wonderful book for a friend or loved one who is going through a rough patch or dealing with a significant loss. It is probably not the right choice for someone who is newly bereaved — it is a bit too lighthearted to provide much solace to someone in the throes of raw grief. But for those times when it seems that life is handing us nothing but lemons, it can serve as a delightful reminder that we can always make lemonade — or, as Edens suggests, a happy ending out of cookie dough.