Owly, Vol. 2: Just a Little Blue

We have the 1st 3 Owly books, and my 4 year old daughter loves to "read" it to her 2 year old sister, who asks for it every day and night. They even play Owly games at the playground. Very sweet.

So booklist says grades 3 to 5, and instincts say "for kids and maybe young girls" but I can't help but love Owly. I bought this book for both my daughter and wife and I swear I almost shed a tear while reading it. Especially for kids, it teaches an important lesson about friendship and sacrifice, as Owly and his little companion give up something they love to try to help a little forest friend out. Even when rebuffed they still try to do the right thing and help. OF COURSE everything turns out well in the end and everyone learns a little lesson about how to be a good friend. And somehow it manages not to be too corny or silly. This book is perfect for ANYONE with a heart and I'm sure Mr. Runton's next book will be just as beautiful. I plan on buying it the day it comes out!

...these books are incredible. I literally started crying.

My initial reaction to the first "Owly" volume was no fluke: this second volume demonstrates Runton's unique talent for telling GOOD all-ages stories. It's just a nice, heartwarming story, as Owly and Wormy try to extend a helping hand to a family of blue jays, who are naturally suspicious of the normally predatory owl. I will conclude with a quote from my review of the first volume: "Go read it. If you don't like it, you may have no soul."

The second volume of Andy Runton's Owly has all the charm, wit, and soft moral messages of the first book. Told without benefit of any text, Andy Runton instead uses word balloons with pictures as his method of dialogue to convey his character's words and emotions. Owly is joined by his new friend from the first book "wormy" in their quest to make new friends. This time he's attracting a young bird with birdseed. But when the mother bird sees Owly, she immediately goes on the offensive, knowing that owls are predators. Owly and Wormy decide to build the birds a birdhouse and even sacrifice their wooden wagon to make one large enough. They are proud of their work but still the mother bird is having none of it. Owly then thinks he's figured it out and paints a small little welcome sign on the front of the birdhouse. But Owly and Wormy are disappointed when they find the sign lying on the ground, broken in half and mother bird again going on the attack and driving Owly away. The friends are distraught and take the birdhouse back to Owly's tree and put it away in the closet, seemingly for good. But now the poor bird family finds themselves shivering and wet from the cold. A nice house sure would be great! When a storm blows three new baby birds out of the nest, Owly comes to the rescue but the third is still missing. Can Owly and Wormy locate the missing baby bird? How will mother bird treat them now? Owly is not so much a graphic novel in the traditional sense but truly a wonderful children's book told solely through cartooning. We see the value of friendship and never giving up when it comes to helping others. And we also see the pitfalls of judging people too hastily. Andy Runton's unique cartooning style drives the book. At once very simplistic and yet able to express such a wide range of emotions from all his characters. This book is pure charm and shows the incredible talent that is out there among the smaller press community. Another winner!