{"product_id":"the-barn-owls-isbn-9780881069822","title":"The Barn Owls","description":"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.From Johnston (\u003ci\u003eAn Old Shell\u003c\/i\u003e), poetic phrases that follow a ghostly barn owl through days and nights, suns and moons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Barn owls have been nesting and roosting, hunting and hatching in the   barn and its surroundings for as long as the barn has housed spiders, as   long as the wheat fields have housed mice, \"a hundred years at least.\"   The repetition of alliterative words and the hushed hues of the   watercolors evoke the soundless, timeless realm of the night owl through   a series of spectral scenes. Short, staccato strings of verbs describe   the age-old actions and cycles of barn owls, who forever \"grow up\/and   sleep\/and wake\/and blink\/and hunt for mice.\" Honey-colored, diffused   light glows in contrast to the night scenes of barn owls blinking awake.   A glimpse into the hidden campestral world of the elusive barn owl.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoft,  striking, double-page spreads focus on a family of barn owls that   lives in a century-old California barn, which is made of redwood and   surrounded by oak trees and fields of wheat. A few words of simple,   poetic text accompany each picture, stressing the ebb and flow of life   in and around the barn. Some of the pictures, such as the   impressionistic painting of an owl floating above a wheat field, are   cast in a golden glow. In others, the owls loom large as they care for   their young in the cramped space of the barn's rafters, or evoke the   silent flight of an owl hunting at night. The pictures match the text's   simplicity and understated tone making this a quietly eloquent nature   book.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohnston has created a tribute to the  common barn owl. Her creatures  doze \"in the scent of wheat\" and leave  \"the barn through a bale of  light.\" Golden wheat tones suffuse Ray's  watercolor-pencil and paint  art. Author and illustrator run lyrical,  but they don't lose sight of  the bird's daily bread--the mouse. The  center spread wordlessly depicts  an owl aloft, a mouse dangling  lifelessly from its beak, wings cutting  through a dark night lit only  with the merest sliver of moon. Elsewhere,  as grown owls bring the  newest offering to their loft-bound babies,  sharp eyes will pick out  the skeletal remains of previous meals. None of  this is gory, just  matter-of-fact: \"Owls have hunted in this place,  mice have hidden in  this wheat one hundred years at least.\" The poetry  and paintings will  make children wat to learn more about these  mysterious creatures. No  humans intrude on this venture into barn owl  life and the species is  different, but the book is a natural lead in to  Jane Yolen's \u003ci\u003eOwl Moon\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eTony Johnston\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of over 100 books for children,  including THE CAT WITH SEVEN NAMES and THE HARMONICA. Johnston has  worked at a children's bookstore, taught a course on  picture book  writing at UCLA, and studied poetry writing for children  with Myra Cohn  Livingston. Although she has published nearly  seventy-five books,  Johnston never stops working. Always juggling  several different story  ideas, Tony is grateful for the chance to work  at what has become her  life's goal-to be a good storyteller. She lives in California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeborah Kogan Ray\u003c\/b\u003e studied painting and printmaking at the Pennsylvania  Academy of the  Fine Arts. She is an award-winning author and illustrator  of children's  books, including \u003ci\u003eDinosaur Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and \u003ci\u003eThe Barn Owls\u003c\/i\u003e. She particularly enjoys depicting the natural world. Deborah lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The barn has stood in the wheat field one hundred years at least.","brand":"Charlesbridge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44885372043493,"sku":"NP9780881069822","price":7.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780881069822.jpg?v=1767738268","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-barn-owls-isbn-9780881069822","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}