Mil!erFobie Friends

DID MY OWL JUST GROWL?

Finding fun in facing your fears!

Leslie & Brian Mil!erIl!ustrated by Ales"ia Girasole

A Rhyming Book

OWLDID MYJUST GROWL?

© 2012 Fobie Friends, LLC. All trademarks, copyrights, characters, and content are owned, or are used with authorization, by Fobie Friends, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012937834

ISBN 10: 0985526009ISBN 13: 978-0-9855260-0-9

Cover and illustrations by Alessia Girasole

Printed in the U.S.A. by Prisma Graphic Corporation, a firm dedicated to green practices and technologies and certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) standards. Inks used are vegetable based and contain non-toxic linseed oils low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to help leave a smaller footprint on our world.

Published by Fobie Friends, LLC.Scottsdale, Arizona 85260

www.fobiefriends.com

writ!en by Leslie and Brian Mil"eril"ustrated by Ales#ia Girasole

DID MY OWL JUST GROWL?

Scottsdale, Arizona

My mom pecks my che$k and she closes the do!r…

“For our children and grandchildren. May you always sleep well.” — !"#$%&'(#$%)*(+,“To L.B. my guiding light in the dark who helped me to be fearless.” — -+#

Dedications

Under my bed, they whisper and moan. The darknes# might eat me! I’m stil" as a stone.

then out come the gremlins who hunt from the flo%r!

“We love you, sle$p tight?” Yeah right, I should say! My parents don’t se$ how the dark shadows play.

The noises, the monsters, the wig#les, the growls, the sounds of black bats, big snakes and great owls.

But escape from my ro%m wil" help only for now.

Where should I go? Oh, what should $ do?I beg them to leave to go scare someone new!

If I jump from my bed, at the do%r I might landand run straight to my dad for a much ne$ded hand.

It’s falling asleep that I need to learn how.

My very brave blanket is holding me tight,

but I know that I won’t sle%p a wink here tonight.

I lie stil" in blacknes# as though in a hole. The end of my bed — it is starting to rol"!

Have I rol"ed to the wo%ds, so cold and alone, with no sign of help, not ev%n a phone?

The wind sends its rustle way UP to the tre$s.I sit here so quietly sque%zing my kne%s.

An awful sound scre$ches so close to my ear —if I run fast, then maybe it won’t find me here.

Now the rustle’s behind me and ready to swo!p. I think of excuses… “I have to po!p!”

It shrieks and it cries, a cal" quite unknown.Should I cry out for help, or face it alone?

Its giant wings flut&er, then sing as they wave. I wish I was strong. Oh, I wish $ was brave.