Tuesday Storytime: Owlets

Not just owls, my friends, but Baby Owls!

The Littlest Owl
Caroline Pitcher, illustrated by Tina Macnaughton
ISBN: 9781561486144
Fluffy oversized dry-brush watercolor? and colored pencils.  Adorable and fuzzy.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna DIE!"  So the story isn't the most amazing thing, but you guys - these little owl babies are so fluffy and fuzzy and downy and adorable with their teeny little beaks and quizzical expressions.

Ahem.  The story is straightforward; a quartet of owl babies are born, but the smallest is always too tiny.  Still, it's determined (no genders here) and by the end of the story perseverance and hard work pays off and it finally manages to fly.



Little Owl's Night
Divya Srinivasan
ISBN: 9780670012954
Stylized oval owl-baby with enormous green eyes spends a happy evening exploring the night woods.

This was on the list today mainly for the artwork, because I like to have as many different styles and presentations of art as I can.  These are graphic and streamlined and very dark, but still perky and upbeat.  It's an impressive feat.  Again, the story itself takes a back-seat to the art.  Little Owl is going through his regular night, visiting friends and seeing the sights, until dawn approaches and Mama tells the bedtime story of "how night ends."  I do love that possibly-spooky animals like bats and foxes are dealt with as friends and as normal, soothing parts of the night.  



Owl Babies
Martin Waddell, illustrated by Patrick Benson
ISBN: 1564021017
A classic, with a trio of frightened-looking fluff-balls prominent on each spread.

Owl Mother is GONE, and Sarah, Percy, and Bill are not happy about this.  They venture outside to look for her, but stay miserably perched on a branch together, imagining terrible things that might have happened (while baby Bill simply moans "I want my mommy" over and over again) until the magic strikes and in a glorious spread, Owl Mama flies in, wings in full spread.  It's a beautiful and dramatic solution to the baby owl's worries, and after a quick reassurance, the story ends with them all safe in their nest again.  Lovely finish.  This is another brilliant example of how dark pages don't have to be slow or dreary - the texture work is simply stunning, and the intricate backgrounds and surfaces are a delightful contrast to our other two stories today.