Tony Johnston's THE BARN OWLS recalls in quiet tones the memory of a barn that has stood alone in a wheat field for one hundred years at least. The owls have nested there and have hunted in the fields and circled in the night skies as time slowly slipped by. Every night, as the moon rises, a barn owl awakens and flies out to hunt. Feathered against the endless starry night, he swoops and sails to the darkened wheat field below and catches a mouse in his nimble talons. With outstretched wings, this barn owl returns to his barn nest and his hungry family, repeating the ageless ritual his ancestors have practiced here, in this barn, for at least one hundred years. Following the life cycle of the barn owl, this gentle poem evokes a sense of warm sunshine and envelopes readers with the memory of the scent of a wheat field.
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 26, 2013 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781607342045
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PDF ebook
- ISBN: 9781607342045
- File size: 9414 KB
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 2.9
- Interest Level: K-3(LG)
- Text Difficulty: 0-2
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Reviews
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January 31, 2000
The hushed tones of this poetry book describe the lives of generations of owls, who have lived in a redwood barn for "one hundred years/ at least." Johnston (An Old Shell: Poems of the Galapagos) evokes the rhythms of an owl's life through repetition of words and lines, equating the duration of the barn's existence with the infinite expanse of wheat, echoed in a spread of golden sky and grasses ("where wheat and sky/ are one"). The circular text revolves around nature's cycles, as when "one by one owls/ wake up/ and blink/ and hunt for mice/ while moons swell/ and shrink." In watercolor and pencil art, Ray (Jackrabbit) contrasts the glowing, golden tones of the wheat-filled barn with the cool blues of night. Ray does not shy away from the owl's predatory instincts; two illustrations show the fowl firmly grasping a mouse. Among the warmest of paintings are those depicting newly hatched owls with the same enigmatic, masklike faces as those of the parents who gaze down at them: "Old owls watching,/ new owls born/ in the redwood barn/ in the whisper of wheat." Conspiring with the spare text's quiet rhythms, these tender images make this book a natural for easing children to sleep, just as real owls begin their nocturnal wanderings. Ages 4-9.
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