Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: The association of the fear of the night with the animal was treated as a literary challenge by Kenneth Oppel , who created a best selling series of novels , beginning with Silverwing , which feature bats as the central heroic figures much as anthropomorphized rabbits were the central figures to the classic novel Watership Down .
Simplified: Kenneth Oppel , wrote a series of novels , beginning with Silverwing , which feature bats as good characters .