Owl Babies

see above

This book was loved by my kids so much! Our copy has been on airplanes, boats, sleepovers at Nana's, etc. I can read it with my eyes shut. I took it out of a box to read to my granddaughter, but after being restapled and taped together so many times all those years ago it's finally too far gone. I came here to order another and this time I'm getting a hard cover!!

The editorial review and the aunt without children miss the point of this charming book -- Mommy may not always be right there, in sight, where you want her to be, but she will always return to you and your siblings. Turning to your siblings for comfort and support during this time away from Mommy is a good thing. Mommy doesn't "sneak out" -- Mommy Owl, like every other Mommy, must go and do things without her children at times, and they are not always aware of when she leaves. Hey, leaving the room to go make dinner constitutes "sneaking off" by my kids when they are too busy coloring to notice that I've left the room. My 5 year old loves this book -- the repetition allows him to read parts of the story himself -- he has great delight in repeating Baby Owl's lines throughout the story. Trust the reviews from parents with children who read this book together!

I bought this book over two years ago, when my daughter was around 14 months and was just starting to visibly enjoy being read to. Two years later she still pulls it off the shelf sometimes and asks me to read it (usually around bedtime).The plot is appropriately simple: Mama Owl goes out hunting for the night, and the three owl babies get progressively more worried and scared. When they have almost sunk into despair, mom comes home.The illustrations are beautiful. Benson does an excellent job of evoking the fear of the wee owlets as they wait, and their exuberant joy upon mama's return. They are a perfect companion to Waddell's writing.Waddell makes good use of parallelism. After a couple of readings, if you're child is verbal, expect her to be wailing "I want my mommy!" right along with you and baby Bill. Also, despite the brevity and simple vocabulary, one gets a real sense of the different personalities of the owl babies. As children's literature goes, this is a masterpiece.Concurring with several other reviewers, I would agree that this is a great book to share with your kids if any of them suffer from separation anxiety.

This is a terrific children's book. While the subject appears to be about baby owls, and it does cover a few interesting facts kids will like, there's more going on here. The book really addresses every child's greatest fear, being separated from a parent. The baby owls wake up and Mommy Owl is GONE!!! They confer with each other on where she could be, and they get more and more worried. But she returns at the end of the book, and assures them she will always come back.The pictures are wonderful. Unlike most other birds, owls lay their eggs 2-3 days apart so the babies hatch on different days and thus are different sizes. My kids love how there is an oldest, a middle, and a youngest owl. They also like how the oldest tries to reassure the younger ones, and how the youngest always says the same thing.The pale-yellow type on black is also neat, reminding kids that owls are nocturnal birds. The information says this book is for ages 3-7 but we read this to our kids before they were 2 and they loved it then and still love it now.

This is one of those "special" books that you won't mind reading to your little one over and over again. I find that a great children's book is a lot like a great children's movie; both the parent and the child enjoy it yet at different levels. Such a tender story of a little one's fear that their parent won't come home. However, the beautiful and touching illustrations almost steal the show! You can see the worry in the little owl's eyes and hear little Bill's anxious "I want my Mommy!" My two year old daughter loves the part when it's "dark" outside because the artwork truly conveys the dark; but not in a scary way! I loved when the oldest owl, Sarah, suggests that they all sit on her limb together. My favorite illustration is when the mother owl returns and the 3 little fluffy baby owls are jumping up and down. You'll snuggle a little closer to your child when you read this one together. Just the sweetest little book you and your special one will ever read!

When we first received this book as a gift, the cover made me think we had yet another not-so-well-written book about animal babies. But once we read it I saw that we had received a treasure. A wonderful story, with a soothing rhythm and predictable words that our almost-3-year-old is learning by heart. A favorite bedtime read.