Have you ever been afraid of the dark? A long time ago, you didn't have much choice, even if you were indoors. If you were poor, you couldn't just light a candle. They cost money. You certainly couldn't afford a lantern. If you were rich, and lit candles, or allowed your servants to have them, they still only lit corners of a room, and were so dangerous because of fire. Living in the time before electric light was a different kind of living, filled with danger.
Among other books for kids, I have recently started a book I've had for a while because I read an excerpt of it somewhere, and was interested. It is At Day's Close: Night In Times' Past by A. Roger Ekirch, a long and densely researched history of the night before the industrial revolution.
Some of the stories still touch us, because there are times when our lights go out, or we are driving far out into the country with only the car's headlights to give us comfort. but imagine what night was like long ago with only candles or lanterns to show the way. There were unpaved streets, uneven roads, fairies and haints, thieves and murderers. I've hardly begun the book, but it is fascinating.