Book of the Week: Se7en Discover Owls and Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise…

Sometimes a book cries out for a little craftiness, not to mention a little actual factual discovery. Introducing the new book: Hoot Owl Master of Disguise, by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Jean Jullian.

This is the story of Hoot Owl, who is very hungry and flying through the night looking for something to eat. Now Hoot Owl has a very special talent, he is the Master of Disguise… and the story builds him up to be a great hunter with a particularly sharp beak. Hoot Owl observes a sweet rabbit, a tasty rabbit… and he is going to surprise the rabbit with his cunning disguise. And the tension builds… and (spoiler alert) he dresses up as a carrot. The rabbit is oblivious and walks away. After all the tension and the build up…”Nevermind.” Needless to say Hoot Owl is famished and the story provides a few potential victims. Each new victim presents the Master of Disguise, who is convinced that he can capture anything at all, dressing in a couple of somewhat less than masterful disguises. After more than one or two fails, he eventually tries to hunt a pizza… at least a pizza can’t run away. This book is funny, there are several twists and surprises. Hoot Owl’s subtle humility (not) and continuous understated failure leads the reader to pity him and his somewhat pathetic disguises. Ultimately he does conquer his prey and the world can sleep safely until Hoot Owl is hungry again. I had to read this book several times in a row, and then several nights in a row too. My guys loved it, because it is much cleverer than it first appears, you have to read the words and dwell on them somewhat. It has listening appeal, because it doesn’t quite rhyme… you are drawn to listen more carefully. There are some wonderful comparisons through out the book… “The night is as black as burnt toast,” and great use of descriptive words… “the enormousness of the night. This is a read again and again book and bound to be a classic. We can highly recommend that you follow the links and take a listen to Sean Taylor reading his Hoot Owl.

1. Cut an oval owl shape from a cardboard box.

2. Colour your owl, either paint it, or like we did, use some coloured paper to cover your owl.

3. Cut out a pair of wings and feet… just fold your paper over when you are snipping and you will only have to cut them out once… And attach them.

4. Outline your owl with a big black marker and add some features.

5. Ooops we forgot some big owlish eyes!!!

6. Not to worry, eyes are pretty easy…

7. And we were done…

8. We had a parliament of owls… that’s a collection of owls if you need to know.

We realised that we didn’t know much about our owls, and when you live with a couple of nature lovers, the first thing you do is quickly dive in and learn as much as you can…

1. Fun Facts about Owls from Audubon and more Fun Facts on Science Kids.

2. Barn Owls and Pellets… and a Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection.
3. Ranger Rick has heaps of interesting factoids about Owls. And a whole lot more about Snowy Owls.
4. The Barn Owl Trust has a list of fabulous Barn Owl Crafts… right down to making Owl Pellet Truffles and a Beautiful Owl Mobile.
5. On All About Birds: A List of North American Owls, heaps of details on how to identify them, their habitats and their sounds.
6. The Owl Pages has a page full of Owl Calls and Sounds. They also have a list of Owl Myths from around the World (interesting but not all of them are child friendly).
7. How to Make a Nest Box…
8. Imagine Childhood has some of the most beautiful nature related goodies ever: Here’s an Owl Whistle, Owl Mobile, and Paper Cut Outs Birds of Prey.

Our well disguised Hoot Owls went for a romp in the garden:

They quickly realised that they need a better disguise…

Unlike the Hoot Owl in the story, they were able to disguise their “owls really well:”

This post forms part of The Picture Book Party with PanMacmillan South Africa.

• Se7en Steps to Your Own Where’s Wally Colouring Page…
• I Am Henry Finch: And fabulous fingerprint activities…
• Aaron Becker’s Journey: And Magical Flying Carpets. And the sequel: Quest: With some Marvellous Maps.
• We Are Going on a Bear Hunt: Creating your own Memory Stories…
• Where’s Wally – The Mini Book Box Set: Make Magnificent Magical Magnifying Glasses.
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: And Chocolate Cake in a Mug.

Thank you so much to PanMacmillan South Africa for the copy of Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise for review purposes and the invitation to join the Picture Book Party. This is not a sponsored post, we were not paid to create it and the opinions expressed are, as usual, our own.