| Owl Moon | 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Yolen
Publisher: Philomel
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $7.08
You Save: $9.91 (58%)
New (49) Used (37) Collectible (4) from $7.08
Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 2340
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Baby-Preschool
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 32
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.5
ISBN: 0399214577
EAN: 9780399214578
ASIN: 0399214577
Publication Date: October 23, 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ex-Library. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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| Customer Reviews:
Truly A Caldecott Classic September 21, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen in my opinion is one of the best Caldecott Award winning books. This story of a young girl and her first owling trip with her father on a cold winter night is one that will touch the hearts of all ages. Excellently written the reader is led into the exact place the author had intended. The emotions and hopes felt by the young girl are transferred from the pages into our own minds.... Readers feel and see as if we too were on our very first trip. Booklovers and others alike are captivated by the outstanding illustrations in each page created by John Schoenherr. The love of a family, the innocence of a child, and the respect for nature all come to life on these short pages in an excellent piece children's ofliterature. Owl Moon truly is a deserving book to be had of any young reader and will remain a classic for generations to come.
I LOVE this book! August 29, 2004
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
This is the story of a young girl who goes "owling" with her father (seeking out owls in the forest to return an owl call).
As they walk along, I can feel the snow under my feet, the stillness in the air, the cold as it bites me. I can feel the sense of a time gone by, simpler, quieter. How can you not be drawn into this story?
I read this often to my kids. Yours should experience it as well!
Owling owling through the night July 27, 2004
41 out of 43 found this review helpful
I think it's entirely possible that Jane Yolen may be the most prolific children's author living today. Don't believe me? Try clicking on her name to pull up a list of the books she's written. Then take a gander at the literally hundreds (if not, dare I say it, thousands) of books alive today because of her. It's a bit of a relief then that at least one of them won the Caldecott Medal. "Owl Moon" deserved it too. It is a sweet yet not overly sentimental tale about a nighttime owling trip taken by a girl and her father.
In this tale we first get a spectacular view from above (owl's eye view, I should say) of a small farm in the country. Two figures leave the warm home to tramp in the snow. The moon is brightly lit above so that (as the book says), "the sky seemed to shine". The girl has never been owling before but she understands the rules intrinsically. One must be especially quiet on these occasions. Once in a while the girl's father calls a deep, "Whoo-whoo-who-who-whooooooo" into the woods, but he does not receive a reply. They walk on through the cold until they come to a clearing in the woods where the snow is so clean and pure that it looks like a bowl of milk. The father hoots again and this time receives an answer. An owl comes closer and closer, finally landing on a nearby branch just as the father shines his flashlight on it. There, the reader sees a magnificent two page spread of an owl, its large wings open beside it, regarding the girl and her parent. Then it's off and the adventure is done. Says the girl, "I was a shadow as we walked home".
A couple remarkable occurrences marked the creation of this book. Jane Yolen's husband would often go owling with their three children, and she felt (quite rightly) that it would make a great picture book. By coincidence, illustrator John Schoenherr was an owling fellow himself. And though he had given up book illustrating in favor of his own personal paintings, Schoenherr was convinced to try his hand one more time with "Owl Moon". The fact of the matter is, it's a very good thing he did. Though the story in this book is lovely and telling, the pictures really bring it to life. You can read a sentence like, "I could feel the cold, as if someone's icy hand was palm-down on my back", but its only going to strike home if the accompanying picture is appropriate and evocative. Here, fortunately, Schoenherr excels. It must be very difficult to paint nighttime scenes that are lit by snow-reflecting moonlight, yet the book displays this very particular style perfectly. Now to be perfectly frank, I found myself grumbling for about half this book about its medal. I thought the pictures were lovely but I hadn't yet seen anything that really stood out or took my breath away. Then I came to the aforementioned two-page spread of the owl sitting on a branch. In that single picture Schoenherr completely gives away how talented he is. The owl is completely realistic yet overwhelmingly majestic. There's energy and life to this bird as it crouches in the unfamiliar light. For the girl and her father, the simple act of seeing this animal as close as this makes the entire trip worthwhile. Schoenherr understands this, and so the picture makes reading the entire book just as worthwhile as well.
The text is quiet and elegant, the watercolors evocative and intense. For the bedtime story that is realistic while retaining fantastical elements, this book is an excellent choice. Consider it highly recommended all around. Two enthusiastic thumbs way way up.
 Remarkable illustrations and almost poetic narration November 23, 2003
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Owl Moon is a delightful story of the family tradition of Owling, Owl watching. The reader is taken on a winter journey through the woods as a father and daughter go Owling.
Beautiful illustrations by John Schoenherr help the reader experience this journey from a unique perspective. Schoenherr places the reader in the air, looking down on the journey. By using this technique, the reader becomes one with the Owl, experiencing the quiet togetherness of man and nature.
This story provides a moving narration, inviting the reader to experience the quiet solitude of a winter walk in the woods. The reader also feels the warmth of the special relationship shared by this father and his daughter.
Yolen instructs the reader that the only thing needed to go Owling is hope. Hope that just maybe if youyre quiet enough, or lucky enough, you will spot an Owl. This wonderful story delivers much more than just the sighting of an Owl.
Owl Moon is sure to delight readers of all ages. The remarkable illustrations and almost poetic narration make it easy to see why this book is deserving of the Caldecott Award.
Wonderful Story for Any Age November 10, 2003
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first read this book when i was a junior in college. At first I didn't like it very much. Then two years later I picked it up again and found the beautyful. It was like reading poetry. Each word was carfully chosen. The story of a little girl having the chance to stay up late and go owling with her father. Yet, it goes beyond that. Here is a little girl who feels like she is doing something wonderful and exiciting, becuase she is doing something with her father.The way this stroy is constructed is wonderful. Although the book says that it is for children between the ages of 4-8 I have read this story to 6th graders and they have found interested and they thought it was "cool." This is a wonderful book for young and old, because of language and the way the words flow. It is just one of those books that are just plane fun to read.
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