Book 242

Owl At Home, by Arnold Lobel, HarperCollins 1975.

For the past few weeks, my almost-five-year-old little boy has been having nightmares about owls.  The only way he will go to sleep is if our youngest cat, Molly Kitten, will curl up on his bed with him.  She will stay awake until my son falls asleep.  We thought these nightmares were imaginary because neither my husband nor I had seen an owl... until one night.  My husband was just putting my son back into bed and telling him there are no owls when he heard, "Whooooo.  Whoooo."  He looked out the window and saw two glowing owl eyes.  Molly jumped up to the window, tapped on the glass with her paw, and the owl flew away.

The other day, I took my son to the bookstore and let him pick out any book he wanted.  He picked out Owl At Home, so we bought it and took it home and read it.  Owl At Home is a very likable owl, as likable, in fact, as Frog and Toad.  He just doesn't get the same attention that Frog and Toad do.  It's a pity, really, because apparently owls do need a positive mascot when it comes to kids. 

This book, like the Frog and Toad books, is written and illustrated with scads of charm that holds up well to repeated, and often very slow, readings.  Sometimes the "classics" really are the best.