Poetry...poems...say those words and many a groan can be heard. Some people and that includes children and grown-ups just don't get poetry. What they need is someone to introduce them to poetry in just the right way and happily, we now have an owl named Otto who is primed to do just that.
Otto, an owl, loves poetry. He'd rather stay up at night and read poems than hunt or snuggle into a nice tree cavity. "Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky....." (T.S.Eliot)
The other owls catch on to Otto one snowy night, "The cold wind burns my face, and blows Its frosty pepper up my nose," (Robert Louis Stevenson) and decide to make fun of him because he is different. Curiously for me they seem to act as one voice, one mind. They laugh at him and call him names. Not one owl seems to see it differently or at least they aren't willing to fly up and say so. (In these days of anti-bullying stands this could be a poignant example of running with the herd or flying with the flock. I WALK WITH VANESSA would be a great companion book to share about another way to handle the situation.)
Otto decides to run away and find a better place where he can be himself and enjoy his poetry. He finds new friends and shares his poetry much to their delight and thoughtful bliss.
"I'm nobody! Whooo are you? Are you nobody, too?" (Emily Dickinson)
Poetry weaves seamlessly into the story and claims its place in our world, in our thoughts in our comfort.
Charming and clever on ramp to poetry for young and old.
32 pages 978-0399164408 Ages 5-12
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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An owl with an unusual passion learns to shine in this fresh, funny debut picture book introducing a poetry-loving owl whom kids will cheer for.
Otto loves poetry—Keats, Rossetti, Dickinson, even T. S. Eliot. He prefers reading to roosting and reciting to hunting. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a problem. But, you see, Otto is an owl. When the other owls begin to make fun of Otto, he embarks on a difficult journey, finding along the way both his inner poet and a community that accepts him for who he is. Celebrating courage and the importance of sticking with your passion, and incorporating an engaging mix of original and famous poems, Vern Kousky has created an enchanting and inviting world—a forest filled with the sounds of poetry.--from the publisher
