Owl Moon

 

Title- Owl moon
Author/Retold- Jane Yolan
Illustrator- John Schoenherr
Genre- Caldecott Medal 
Grade level- Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

The story begins with the main character and his father outside in the middle of the night. They are about to go owling. On their walk there heard the sounds of dogs barking a the train and the crunching of the snow beneath their feet. They didn’t talk because Pa said to never make any noise because you have to be quiet while owling. Then the father stopped and cupped his hands around his mouth and started whooing like a great horned owl. He called out many times but now answer. The main character remembered that his brothers told him that there are sometimes owls and sometimes not. They continued to walk in the cold and the son starts to remember to be brave even thought it was dark. The son heard a rustle and made a gasp/sigh and his father listened intently and he started to whooooo again. Before Pa started another round of Whoo’s they heard a who back from an owl. Pa smiled backed and answered the owl. The sound of the owl came closer and then they saw the shadow the owl in the moon light over head. The shadow hooted again and pa turned on his flash light and saw a big owl land on the branch above their head. The owl stared at them and without a sound he flew back into the forest. The father and son then walked home and the son realized the important lesson of hope. 

This is a great story about having hope and being brave when times seem like they aren’t yielding any fruit. I would use this book to introduce the letter O to students. I would read this story in front of the class, pointing out the letter O throughout the whole book and having students say the same word with me. 


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