View source for The Silent Owl by Clemency Pearce and Sam McPhillips

{{infobox2
|title=The Silent Owl
|sort= Silent Owl
|author=Clemency Pearce and Sam McPhillips
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=3.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1849564243
|pages=32
|publisher=Top That! Publishing
|date=September 2011
|aznuk=1849564248
|aznus=1849564248
|cover=1849564248
|website=
|video=
|summary=A fun, rhyming story which is great to read aloud.
}}

Owl is silent.  Not a hoot.  Not a twit or a twoo.  Nothing.  The other forest animals are worried about him, and try to provoke him into saying something, but Owl remains silent.

Some are questioning, wondering if perhaps Owl can't hear, and others are huffy and dismissive.  Some react grumpily, and others are concerned.  And through it all, Owl remains silent!  It is only right at the end that suddenly Owl surprises everyone by pulling out a trumpet and a drum and making a wonderful noise, followed by the bongos, a guitar, the piano and a flute!

Although there is little substance to this story it is still rather fun to read.  Being told in rhyme gives it a good pace, and the rhymes work well throughout the book.  I enjoyed putting on different voices for the various forest animals, especially badger who huffs 'How very rude' at Owl!  It would be a delightful book to share with a group of children in a storytime session, and being quite short it's an obvious candidate for a repeat read through which little ones love.

The illustrations are nicely done, with the animals made up of cut up bits of coloured paper, some with scrawly writing on, in a collage style.  They're all rather sweet, and Owl's large staring eyes remain silent and soulful throughout!

I would personally have liked more of an explanation about what Owl was up to rather than just a crafty wink from him at the end, but then I'm not really the target age group and my little one certainly enjoyed it!  Fun to share.

For another mystifyingly silent bird try [[Penguin by Polly Dunbar]]  Older children might enjoy learning more about owls in [[White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies]]

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[[Category: Clemency Pearce]]
[[Category:Sam McPhillips]]