The Barn Owls

Written by Tony Johnston

Illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray

Scholastic Inc. New York, 2000

28 pages

Animal stories-General Fiction

 



                         I chose this book because I love books about animals. When I was in elementary school I was very interested in books about animals and was constantly reading one. One thing about this book that really caught my eye was the illustrations. This book talks about owls that live in a barn that is at least 100 years old. There are several owls that stay in the barn like a family. It tells about them hunting for food, when they sleep, the details of the loft they stay in, and their young. The story also has good descriptions about things around the barn such as bees buzzing around flowers, and snakes sunning and shedding their skin. The story tells how owls wake at night to do their hunting and how the glide over top of the wheat fields. It basically describes the day to day life of a barn owl.

                         The illustrations in this book are done with transparent watercolors and watercolor pencils. The illustrations in the story depict the perfect picture of owls in their natural habitat. The illustrator was also good at using the right colors and blends to capture a gorgeous view of the rural area including the wheat fields and the barn. The colors bring out the beauty in the owls and give you a realistic feeling. The illustrations are a full page and the text is placed in random places on each page.

                        This book would be good to use during a science lesson about different animals habitats or learning about animals in different parts of the country. It could also be incorporated when talking about predatory animals. I like this book because it describes where owls stay and what exactly they do. This may be helpful to a lot of students who know what owls are but do not know that much about them.