
I Know How to Draw an Owl
Hardcover – Picture Book, October 29, 2024
Candlewick Press · Hardcover · October 29, 2024
Belle draws the best owl in class, but she doesn’t say why: she sees them in the park, where she and her mother sleep.
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- Who it’s for
- A tender picture book meets housing insecurity with honesty, warmth, and an owl’s quiet companionship.
- Themes
- Housing insecurity, Care and companionship, Empathy
- Genres
- Homelessness & Poverty, Bird Stories, Art & Architecture
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Belle draws the best owl in class, but she doesn’t say why: she sees them in the park, where she and her mother sleep. Charlotte Zolotow Award Winner! Belle and her mother used to have a house, a table, and chairs, a home like any of Belle’s classmates’. But things changed. Now, they curl up each night in a blanket nest in their old blue car, with their things packed in around them.
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The first night was hard, but they’ve never been alone: their friend the owl has always been nearby, hooting in its tree, looking out for them. Belle longs to catch sight of it, and one night, she finally does. That’s how she learned to draw an owl. No one knows that story. But when a new boy comes to school, a boy whose car looks like Belle’s, a boy who looks lost and scared, it’s Belle’s turn to watch over someone. Hilary Horder Hippely’s soulful text pairs with Matt James’s atmospheric illustrations in a book all too relevant to the realities of many families. Neither flinching nor sensationalizing, I Know How to Draw an Owl is a deeply empathetic and age-appropriate portrayal of a family experiencing housing insecurity. A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year Winner of the Frostburg State University CLC Book Award Nominated for the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Quiet, Clear-Eyed Empathy
A tender picture book meets housing insecurity with honesty, warmth, and an owl’s quiet companionship.
Come here for
- A child’s perspective on losing a home
- The small, steady comfort of noticing an owl
Expect
- Atmospheric illustrations and soulful text
- An empathetic, age-appropriate treatment of a difficult reality
Where it sits
| Homelessness & Poverty | 98% |
|---|---|
| Bird Stories | 58% |
| Art & Architecture | 44% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Nature & Wildlife
- Homelessness & Poverty
- Self-Esteem & Resilience
- Authors
- Hilary Horder Hippely
- Publisher
- Candlewick Press
- Published
- October 29, 2024
- Format
- Hardcover
- Theme
- Housing insecurity · Care and companionship · Empathy
- Reading lane
- Nature & Wildlife