Owl at Home

Summary

Owl at Home is a beginning reader of five short stories about Owl, a round, kindly, rather muddled bird who lives alone in a snug house with a fireplace, a kettle and a staircase. In The Guest, someone knocks loudly on a winter night. Owl decides it must be poor old Winter, cold outside, and kindly opens the door. Winter rushes in, blows out the fire, whirls snow up the stairs, frosts the rooms and freezes Owl's pea soup in the bowl, and Owl has to order the rude guest out before he can warm the house again. In Strange Bumps, Owl notices two bumps under his blanket at the foot of the bed. They move when he moves, and he cannot guess what they are, so he spends a fretful night watching them and finally goes downstairs to sleep in his chair. The reader sees what Owl never does: the bumps are his own feet. In Tear-Water Tea, Owl sets his kettle on his lap and thinks of sad things, such as chairs with broken legs, songs that cannot be sung because the words are forgotten, spoons lost behind the stove, books with pages torn out, stopped clocks, and mornings nobody saw because everyone was asleep. When the kettle is full of tears he boils them and enjoys a cup of slightly salty tea. In Upstairs and Downstairs, Owl worries that while he is in one part of his house he is missing the other, and runs up and down the stairs faster and faster, trying to be in both places at once, until he is worn out. In Owl and the Moon, Owl watches the moon rise over the sea, and as he walks home it seems to follow him. He tells it kindly that it cannot come into his little house, but when he climbs into bed the moon is shining in his window, and he is comforted. Lobel wrote and illustrated the book, which Harper & Row published in its I Can Read series in 1975.

Plot or Argument

• The Guest

  Owl lets Winter in out of pity on a stormy night; Winter wrecks the warm house, freezes the soup and is sent away.

• Strange Bumps

  Owl lies awake worrying about two bumps at the end of his bed, never realizing they are his feet, and retreats downstairs to sleep in a chair.

• Tear-Water Tea

  Owl fills his kettle with tears by thinking of sad and forgotten things, then brews and enjoys his tea.

• Upstairs and Downstairs

  Owl runs up and down his staircase trying to be in both parts of his house at the same time, until he is exhausted.

• Owl and the Moon

  The moon seems to follow Owl home from the sea; Owl says goodbye at his door, then finds the moon shining into his bedroom.

Characters

• Owl, protagonist of all five stories

  Good-hearted, solitary owl whose kindness and literal-mindedness lead him into gentle muddles.

• Winter, unwelcome guest

  The cold season, pictured as a blustering visitor who snows up the stairs and freezes the soup.

• The Moon, silent companion

  The moon over the sea, which seems to follow Owl home and keeps him company at his window.

Lessons

• Kindness needs good sense

  Owl opens his door to Winter because he feels sorry for it, and Winter ruins his evening. The story honours Owl's kind heart while showing that kindness must also look at who is knocking and what it will do.

  • Why did Owl let Winter come in?
  • What did Winter do to Owl's house and his soup?
  • Was Owl right to tell Winter to go away?

• Look closely before you worry

  In Strange Bumps Owl loses a whole night's sleep over his own feet. The joke lets a child see, from the outside, how fears can grow when we do not stop to look carefully.

  • What were the bumps really?
  • What could Owl have done to find out?

• You cannot be everywhere at once

  Owl runs himself ragged on the stairs because he cannot bear to miss either floor of his house. The story gently teaches that every creature is in one place at a time and does best to enjoy where it is.

  • Why did Owl keep running up and down the stairs?
  • Have you ever wanted to be in two places at the same time?

• Sadness and comfort

  Tear-Water Tea lets Owl be sad on purpose about small lost things, and he feels better afterwards; Owl and the Moon ends a lonely walk with a friendly light at the window. Lobel shows that sadness is part of life and that comfort often comes quietly.

  • What sad things did Owl think about to fill his kettle?
  • How did Owl feel when he saw the moon in his window?
  • What helps you feel better when you are sad?

Context

Owl at Home belongs to the flowering of the American easy reader that began when Harper published Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear in 1957 as the first I Can Read book. The series showed that books with a small, controlled vocabulary and short sentences could still have real characters, humour and feeling. Lobel was one of its finest contributors, and his Frog and Toad books had already won Caldecott and Newbery honours by the time Owl appeared.

Composition

Lobel wrote and illustrated the book himself, giving each of the five stories a single small situation and a quiet, often comic, ending. The pictures carry much of the humour, as in Strange Bumps, where the reader sees the feet that Owl does not. Harper & Row published it in 1975.

Reception

Owl at Home has stayed in print for half a century as a standard I Can Read title and is a common choice for children reading on their own for the first time. Tear-Water Tea in particular is often discussed by teachers and parents for its gentle treatment of sadness, and Upstairs and Downstairs has been used to introduce young children to simple philosophical questions.

Comparisons

• frog-and-toad-are-friends

  Lobel's Frog and Toad stories rest on a friendship between two characters; Owl at Home tries the same short-story form with a single character alone in his house, so Owl's companions are the weather, the moon and his own feet.

• mouse-soup

  Another Lobel I Can Read collection of five short stories; in Mouse Soup the stories are told by the clever mouse inside a frame tale, while Owl's are separate episodes from one quiet life.

• grasshopper-on-the-road

  Grasshopper travels out into the world and meets many creatures, while Owl stays home; the two books show Lobel's single hero in journey and at rest.

• little-bear

  Minarik's Little Bear began the I Can Read series in 1957; both books use a few short stories, a warm home and a closing scene at bedtime to comfort the beginning reader.

• winnie-the-pooh

  Owl at Home and Milne's Pooh both find comedy in a lovable animal's well-meant misunderstandings; Pooh's tracking of the Woozle, which turns out to be his own footprints, is close kin to Owl's strange bumps.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• What Owl thinks is knocking at his door in The Guest, and everything Winter does once it is inside.
• The pictures in Strange Bumps: the reader can see what the bumps really are long before Owl gives up and goes downstairs.
• The list of sad things Owl thinks of in Tear-Water Tea, and how he feels after drinking his tea.
• How the moon seems to follow Owl in the last story, and where it is when he gets into bed.

Key terms and names

Guest

A visitor invited into someone's home. Owl treats Winter as a guest, but Winter does not behave like a good one.

Pea soup

The hot supper Owl is eating when Winter comes in and freezes it in the bowl.

Bumps

The two lumps under Owl's blanket at the end of his bed, which are his own feet.

Kettle

The pot Owl holds on his lap to catch his tears, then boils to make his tear-water tea.

Upstairs and downstairs

The two floors of Owl's house, joined by the staircase he runs up and down trying to be in both at once.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Who was knocking at Owl's door in the first story, and what happened when Owl let him in?
2. Comprehension Where did Owl sleep at the end of Strange Bumps, and why did he go there?
3. Comprehension How did Owl fill his kettle with tears?
4. Interpretation We can see that the bumps are Owl's feet, but Owl cannot. Why is that funny, and do you ever worry about something that turns out to be nothing?
5. Interpretation Owl tried to be upstairs and downstairs at the same time. Why could he never do it, no matter how fast he ran?
6. Interpretation Owl lives all alone. Who keeps him company in these stories, and is he lonely?
7. Big Question Owl was kind to Winter, but Winter was a bad guest. How can we be kind and also wise about whom we let in?

Faith Connections

• Psalm 121:3-6 (Scripture)

  The One who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, and the moon shall not strike you by night. Owl, worried in his bed and comforted by the moon at his window, can help a child hear that God watches over us while we sleep.

• Psalm 56:8 (Scripture)

  The psalmist says God keeps count of his tossings and puts his tears in a bottle. Owl collects his own tears in a kettle; the psalm tells children that God notices every one of theirs.

• Matthew 10:16 (Scripture)

  Jesus tells his disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Owl has the dove's kindness when he opens the door to Winter, but not yet the wisdom to see what kind of guest it is.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Owl means well in everything he does, but his kind heart outruns his good sense: he opens the door to Winter, fears his own feet, and tries to be in two places at once. Because each mistake ends gently and he is comforted at the last by the moon, the stories teach that ordinary foolishness and sadness are part of every life and can be met with patience and a light heart.

Rhetorical device: dramatic irony. In Strange Bumps the reader knows from the pictures that the bumps are Owl's feet, while Owl spends the whole night afraid of them.

Debate: Resolved: Owl was right to open the door to Winter.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Pick one of Owl's mistakes and write what Owl should have done instead, and what he might have learned.

Comparison with Frog and Toad Are Friends: Frog and Toad have each other, but Owl lives alone. Compare one Owl story with one Frog and Toad story and tell how the stories are different because Owl has no friend at home.

Medical Lens

No medical content of note. Tear-Water Tea, in which Owl deliberately thinks of sad things until he weeps and then feels refreshed, and Strange Bumps, in which worry keeps him awake, are gentle pictures of ordinary sadness and childish night fears rather than of illness.

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write and draw a sixth story for Owl in which another season, Spring or Summer, comes knocking at his door.

• Classroom

  Act out Strange Bumps with a blanket: one child is Owl and wiggles his feet, while the class tries to keep from telling Owl what the bumps are.

• Essay

  Tell in a few sentences which of Owl's five stories you liked best and why, using one thing that happens in it.

• Poetry

  Make a list poem of sad little things, like Owl's broken chairs and lost spoons, and then a second list of small happy things to cheer him up.

Further Reading

• Frog and Toad Together, Arnold Lobel

• Fables, Arnold Lobel

• Days with Frog and Toad, Arnold Lobel