Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Book Genre: Realistic Fiction

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 40 pages

Awards or Honors Received: The Caldecott Medal

Summary: This story takes place on a very cold winter night. A little girl and her father go owling (searching for owls). This is the first time that the little girl has gotten to go owling, and she knows that you have to be very quiet and very still to find the owls. She has learned about owling from her father and her brothers. The story is told from the girl's point of view, and she describes in great detail the sounds of the night and the events that take place while she and her father are owling. Even though it is very cold outside, and she is a little uneasy about how dark it is, she knows that in order to go owling, you have to be very quiet. Although there is very little dialogue between the characters, the illustrations and words used to tell this story depict the special bond between father and daughter on their very first owling experience together.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ***Good. This story is a good read and sends a message about the special bond between a father and daughter. The reader can see the excitement that this little girl is feeling because she has waited so long to go owling with her father. The story also builds suspense for the reader because the setting is so quiet and still, and the reader wants to find out if the characters will find an owl. The illustrations in this book are more realistic than cartoon-like, and I am not sure that I agree that the interest level of this book is K-2. I could see it being more like an interest level of 1-3. This book would be good to use with students (1st or 2nd grade) to work on descriptive sentences and suspense during writing.

Reading Level: 2.9

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): This story would be great to use as a brainstorming activity for writing about a time that students have participated in a special and meaningful activity with a family member. This story would also be good to read prior to Father's Day to get students thinking about their own dad and ways that he is special to them. Afterwards, the students could write a story about their dad or make a card for Father's Day.

This story could also be used to talk about the characteristics of winter. A word web could be created using the students' ideas of various aspects of winter-weather, temperature, activities, or winter clothing. Students could then compare/contrast winter with the other seasons.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: At this time, I can not find any problems or difficulties with this book.