Author and Illustrator: Divya Srinivasan
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication Date: September 2011
Genre/Format: Fantasy-Animal/Picture Book
GoodReads Summary: It's evening in the forest and Little Owl wakes up from his day-long sleep to watch his friends enjoying the night. Hedgehog sniffs for mushrooms, Skunk nibbles at berries, Frog croaks, and Cricket sings. A full moon rises and Little Owl can't understand why anyone would want to miss it. Could the daytime be nearly as wonderful? Mama Owl begins to describe it to him, but as the sun comes up, Little Owl falls fast asleep.
Putting a twist on the bedtime book, Little Owl's Night is sure to comfort any child with a curiosity about the night.
What Jen Thinks: Don't you just love this little owl? Owls are super cute in general, but this guy, with his super round eyes, is adorable. In this story, Owl is up all night (naturally - he's an owl) wandering the forest and visiting other animals who are up at night, too. It's amazing all the nocturnal animals there are. This book would pair really well with a non-fiction book about nocturnal animals. I just finished reading a book about nocturnal animals with my older son. His preschool class studied nocturnal animals this year. They could have read Little Owl's Night before their quiet time during that week!
This book reminds me so much of A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na. Both of them are wonderful bedtime stories and have a somewhat similar plot. Having students compare and contrast these two books would be perfect. Little Owl is very inquisitive while the owl in A Book of Sleep is much more reserved and stately. The words and the illustrations work together to develop differing moods in each of these books. Older students could notice what is similar, what is different, and how text and illustrations interact together. Then they could read the books to younger reading buddies or even to young siblings at home. Both are perfect bedtime books. Sometimes the simplest sentences are needed to show how these work initially so I'm always on the lookout for books that are examples so clearly. I love to take short mentor texts like these and then pull out simple sentences. Kids aren't muddled by other parts of the sentence, there are words they know and can relate to because they are embedded in the story but then as a teacher, I can show them how a sentence expands and how we can add more to a sentences and change it by adding different parts.
In terms of being a mentor text for grammar, the two snatch of text pieces I chose stood out to me because they illustrate prepositional phrases and adverbs.
What Kellee Thinks: The first thing that I connected with was the super cute animal illustrations. All of the animals had a cartoon-esque characteristic to them, but still were realistic enough for a child to connect with the actual animal. I also loved the colors in Little Owl's Night. The color scheme is perfect for a nighttime books. Check out the book trailer here to see the illustrations. Lastly, this book is a perfect addition to any child's library to teach them about nocturnal animals and what happens after we fall asleep.
Read Together: Grades Preschool - 5
Read Alone: Grades Preschool - 3
Read With: A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na, Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Book by Will Hillenbrand, non-fiction text about nocturnal animals or owls
Snatch of Text:
"By the river, beavers gnawed at trees.
Turtle hid in her shell as fireflies danced all around." (p. 13-14)
Turtle hid in her shell as fireflies danced all around." (p. 13-14)
"Frog croaked softly.
Cricket chirped smartly." (p.25-26)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Asking Questions, Making Connections,
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository, Personal Narrative Writing Prompts: After reading this book, choose a nocturnal animal and do more reading about that animal. Write a paragraph to tell others about your animal. Little Owl describes his "day" and shows us all the animals he visits. Write about your day. Who do you visit or see during your day? Take note of who you see, where they are, what they are doing everyday, then write a story to share your experiences.
Topics Covered: Nocturnal Animals, Night, Sleep
Jen and Kellee *heart* it:
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