Owl sees owl

Laura Godwin

Book - 2016

A baby owl leaves the nest one night, explores the world around him, sees his own reflection, and then returns to the safety of home.

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jE/Godwin
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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Godwin Due Apr 17, 2024
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
New York : Schwartz & Wade Books [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Laura Godwin (author)
Other Authors
Rob Dunlavey (illustrator)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 27 cm
ISBN
9780553497823
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

A little owl forays out of the nest in this charming book with only four words on most pages. But pay attention: It's a reverso poem, the kind that reads the same forward and backward. Godwin, a co-author of the Doll People novels, has the owl glimpse himself in a pond ("owl sees owl") before he, and the words, turn back. Dunlavey's ("The Dandelion's Tale") lovely art marries midnight blues and bright fall leaves, making this a rare nighttime adventure that's both restful and playful. FARAWAY FOX By Jolene Thompson. Illustrated by Justin K. Thompson. 32 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) What starts as a sad tale of a young fox wandering a newly built neighborhood, separated from his family by a highway, becomes an uplifting story of humans helping wildlife adapt to shrinking habitats. Turns out the "strange creatures" are digging a tunnel under the road to a wildlife preserve. There the fox and his kin joyfully reunite. The art is warm and modern, and an author's note explains efforts to build more such crossings in this country, welcome news for kids disturbed by roadkill. POND Written and illustrated by Jim LaMarche. 40 pp. Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) When Matt sees a spring bubbling out in a place called "the Pit," he tells his sister, Katie, and a friend, Pablo, "I think the Pit was once a pond!" They dam it up and haul away junk. Grown-ups help, but this is a story about kids who make something good happen. It's immensely satisfying to see them create a little paradise, with fish, wildlife, even a boat they fix. With soft acrylic and pencil art evoking an idyllic mood, LaMarche ("Albert") finds the shimmering hint of magic in the natural world. GIANT SQUID By Candace Fleming. Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. 32 pp. Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $18.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) We have fewer photos of giant squid - creatures that swim deep in our oceans - than of the surface of Mars, and this clever book renders their mysteries thrilling and creepy. How fast are they? Where are their babies born? The Caldecott medalist Rohmann's art reveals only bits of its subject until a stunning gatefold gives a fuller, if still tantalizingly incomplete, view. Fleming makes the beast's odd anatomy truly monstrous: its "bone-hard and parrot-like" beak, its eyeballs "big as soccer balls." THE TRAGIC TALE OF THE GREAT AUK Written and illustrated by Jan Thornhill. 46 pp. Groundwood/ House of Anansi. $18.95. (Middle grade; ages 8 to 11) Extinction stinks, as any dinosaur lover knows. But it's also complicated, and in the case of the great auk, humans are not entirely to blame. There's also the creature's flightless wings and clunky feet. Thornhill gracefully melds history and science, offering both detail and wit, as well as stirring illustrations that convey both the vast scale of oceans and the delicate patterns on an auk egg. There's even a happy ending of sorts as she shows how the auk's plight gave birth to modern conservation. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 13, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* One night, a small owl ventures out of its nest. Like a curious child seeking adventure, the owl leaves the safety of home and family to explore the larger world. Using only four well-chosen words, which resemble short poems, on each two-page spread, a whole story is told. Tree / Nest / Hop / Look and the owl is poised on a branch. Jump / Flutter / Flap / Fly and the owl is on its way. The full moon is ever present, lending enough light for the owl and the reader to see details such as fall leaves changing color, pumpkins on the ground, and mice scampering away from the owl, which is more intent on exploring than hunting. In a climactic scene, the owl's trip takes it to a pond. There, in the water, Owl / Sees / Owl, or at least owl's reflection. The amazing discovery sends the owl scurrying back into the sky. Furthering the theme of a mirror image, the text reverses itself. The same four words reappear on each page, but this time in opposite order, and the circular trail of words and pictures leads the little owl safely back home. Luminous blue-and-black-toned multimedia illustrations, rendered in soft shapes and rich colors, convey the quiet, dark beauty of an autumn night. Simple yet stirring, this is perfect for preschooler bedtimes.--Whitehurst, Lucinda Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A small barn owl embarks on a solo journey by night in this quietly enchanting reverie. Godwin (One Moon, Two Cats) traces the owl's explorations in a single poem composed of four-line, four-word stanzas: "Home/ Mama/ Brother/ Sister/ Tree/ Nest/ Hop/ Look." Midway through the owl's travels, after it has flown past "Fall/ Leaves/ Red/ Yellow" and mice scampering over pumpkins, it spots its own reflection in a stream ("Owl/ Sees/ Owl"), and the poem's mirrorlike structure is revealed; as the owl returns to its sleeping family, Godwin inverts the stanzas that appeared in the first half of the book, to almost palindromic effect. Working in a variety of media, Dunlavey (Over in the Wetlands) creates a sleepy rural landscape for the owl to traverse, shifting between close-ups of the bird, its white face aglow in the moonlight, and more distant views from above and below. It's a story that finds a lovely balance between the joys of independence and the comforting security of home. Ages 3-7. Author's agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Illustrator's agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 1-One autumn night, a young owl awakens and goes for a brief moonlit flight while his parents and siblings slumber. Godwin's text-a spare reverso poem comprised of a few sight words per page-and Dunlavey's breathtaking illustrations, dominated by lush hues of blue, combine for a serene, lyrical tale that's bound to instill a love of poetry in children. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

In this elegantly simple picture book, a little owl leaves its nest and flies out into the deep blue night of the forest. Each double-page spread has just four words, each on a separate line: Home / Mama / Brother / Sister. As the owl flies along, some phrases describe the scene (Stars / Twinkle / Mice / Scamper), and other words convey the sensation of flying (Soar / Glide / Swoop / Swoosh). The very middle spread of the book changes the pattern, with just one word (owl), as the owlet lands on a branch hanging over water with the moon reflected below. On the next page, the sentence continues as the owl peers into the water: Sees / Owl. As the little owl flies back home, the words return to the previous four-word pattern, but are in reverse order: Swoosh / Swoop / Glide / Soar, all the way to the end: Home. Mice, deer, and richly colored autumn leaves and pumpkins enliven and add variety to the dark pages. The moonlit nighttime scenes are luminous and peaceful, with the endearing little white owl shown against a never-frightening night sky dotted with stars. This book, with its reverse text, has great bedtime appeal for younger children. It might also be enjoyable to new readers (who would gradually realize that the words were repeated). susan dove lempke (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.