To See an Owl

Silent and wide-eyed, owls are hidden creatures of the night. Janie has always dreamed of finding one. She searches everywhere for signs of an owl – on the open prairie for short-eared owls, on the beach for snowy owls, and for great horned owls in the woods near her home. But months go by, and she sees no owls. She wonders, what will it take to see an owl? Her teacher, Mr. Koji, a fellow bird-lover, shares that he, too, waited a long time to see an owl. He assures her, “If you are very quiet and very patient, and if you look very close, you might just find them.” When the snow begins to fall, Janie and her mother head into the woods again, and as she looks carefully, hidden high up in the trees, what she sees is pure magic. From Matthew Cordell, the creator of Wolf in the Snow that was awarded the Caldecott Medal, comes this beautiful story about quiet perseverance that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the anticipation of discovering a rare treasure in the wild.