Owl Sees Owl

Reviewed by: Deidre Walsh - Goodall Library, Sanford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 13, 2016

Review

One night little Owl leaves his nest in the tree to bravely go exploring. Owl flies over the tree tops, houses, forest creatures and ponds. It is in one of these ponds that owl sees owl in the reflection. Thinking it is another owl, Owl is frightened and heads back to the safety of its own nest and family. Thus repeating the simple text in reverse order. The layout of the text was inspired by reverso poetry. (I learned something new.) There are four words per page except for where the owl and the story turn around and head for home. The text is beautifully constructed. It starts off with home mama brother sister and it ends with sister brother mama home. And in between the text reverses itself once the owl sees its reflection and heads for home. The illustrations are done in watercolor, colored pencil, ink, collage and digital media. The story is set at night so the illustrations are dark. Blues and black dominate with splashes of white, gold and green. With very minimal text and repetition of all the words, this could work as a beginning reader. It would work well in any setting - small and large group and one on one sharing. It could also be used in a poetry unit for older children as an example of a particular kind of poetry. Pair with "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell and "Little Owl's Night" by Diva Srinivasan for an owl-themed story time. A first purchase for all libraries.

Overall Book Score: excellent