Owls may not have very much in the way of facial expression, but the owl characters in this book manage to convey a lot of emotion through dialogue and illustration, providing rich material for dialogic reading. For example, you could ask:
Where is the Owl mommy? Why do you think she left? Do you think she'll come back?
Why did the baby owls decide to sit together?
When their mother came back, why did the owls bounce on the branch?
Discussing and understanding the owls’ motivations, emotions and actions helps kids build narrative skills
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Also, the simple text is leavened with interesting , often well illustrated in the pictures or characters’ actions: hunting, ivy, brave, swooped, flapped, fuss.
Parent message: You can help your children figure out what’s happening with the baby owls by asking how they think the owls feel (like when they discover Mom is gone) and why the owls do what they do (like why do the owls decide to sit all together on one branch?). Talking about it helps kids understand how stories work, building their narrative skills, which will help them learn to read.
Parent message: There may be some words in this story that will be new for your kids. For example, "swooped." There are lots of ways to help kids get the hang of new vocabulary : you can "swoop" with your voice, demonstrate it with your hand, and point out the swooping owl in the illustrations. Building vocabulary will help kids learn to read.
Also, in talking about the story, you might help your kids learn new words to describe how the baby owls feel, building their vocabulary to describe their own emotions.
Deborah Gitlitz
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