25 September 2016 OWL SEES OWL by Laura Godwin and Rob Dunlavey, ill., Schwartz & Wade, September 2016, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-553-49782-3

“Moon

Beam

Eyes

Gleam

Stars

Twinkle

Mice

Scamper

Soar

Glide

Swoop

Swoosh”

OWL SEES OWL is delightful tale about learning to spread one’s wings juxtaposed against the always-there comfort of mom and home.

I love how OWL SEES OWL begins by showing how night is the owls’ morning.

With the rest of the family still asleep, a young owl just learning to fly leaves the nest and heads out into the night to go exploring. Rob Dunlavey’s luminous, visual rendering of the youngster’s nocturnal adventure is accompanied by Laura Godwin’s Marilyn Singer-style reverso poem. Godwin employs just four words per spread to tell the story.

At the halfway point in the book, when the young owl is suddenly frightened by seeing its own reflection in the water--“owl sees owl”--it turns around and flies back home. It’s right at this point (“Owl sees owl.”) that the second, reversed half of the poem takes over.

There is a wonderful comfort in the way that the mother owl momentarily opens her eyes when her young explorer returns. Then, as her baby settles in with its siblings, the mother owl closes her eyes and they’re all back to sleep.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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