OWL MOON
Illustrated by John Schoenherr
Philomel 1987
ISBN# 0-399-21457-7 Philomel hardcover
ISBN# 0-590-42044-5 Scholastic paperback |
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This gentle tone poem about a father taking his daughter (yes--it's
a girl!) out owling one cold wintry night is arguably my best book. Certainly
it's my best known book. The 1988 Caldecott Medal winner for John Schoenherr's
beautiful, frosty, tender, exacting pictures, the book has been translated into
nine languages, been an ALA Notable Book, a Reading Rainbow book, a Junior Literary
Guild selection, and on dozens of state award lists. Though I envisioned the book
in the little woods near our house, Schoenherr used his own farm in New Jersey
as the setting. The father is my husband David, the child our daughter Heidi.
It's not an exact story of David taking Heidi out owling, but an amalgam of many
such trips he did with all of our children. I purposefully didn't mention the
child's gender, though the flap copy gives the secret away. Heidi is now an adult
with her own daughters, Maddison Jane and Glendon Alexandria. Their grandfather--Pa--has
already taken them out owling. The only paperback edition so far is the Scholastic
Book Club edition, not sold in bookstores. Publishers like to keep books in hardcover
as long as possible (read: as long as it's selling well). It will be some time
by that measure before "Owl Moon" goes into paperback. There are over
a dozen editions in foreign languages, including French, German, Chinese, and
Korean. I wrote an article for the New Advocate magazine called "On Silent
Wings" in the Fall 1989 edition that tells the complete story of the making
of the book and what happened on the day the Caldecott was announced. The book
was one of Yankee Magazine's 100
Classic New England Children's Books. It was also on the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass
Master List and a 1991 North Dakota Flickertail Award nominee.
Available
in Philomel hardcover.
See the models for the Owl Moon characters.
See Uses
of Jane Yolen Books for links to web sites describing how
teachers have used Owl Moon in their lessons.
Recording: There
is a video of OWL MOON from Weston Woods/Scholastic. John Schoenherr's
Caldecott Acceptance speech can be found in the August 1988 issue
of The Horn Book and on a Limited Edition tape made by Weston
Woods/Scholastic.
Recording: "Owl
Moon" song by Bruce O'Brien from his tape "Love is in
the Middle".