Being a bird of prey is difficult when you just want to be friends with smaller birds and insects who view you as a scary predator. But things start looking up for Owly when a friendship is formed with Wormy and then their friend group is extended to two hummingbirds named Tiny and Angel. But can friendship weather all the ups and downs of the seasons? Read this book to find out!

This is an adorably sweet book that I'm sorry I slept on for so long. I saw it circulating among young readers in my library but had no particular strong feeling about reading it myself until I heard the author speaking on a library podcast. It became obvious that the author is a person with great empathy skills and sought to imbue the book series with those. I particularly loved that he explained how he decided to make Owly a character who uses only pictures to communicate and not words so that Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and other nonverbal children could see themselves represented in books.

The story of friendship is evergreen and there are actual facts about hummingbirds interspersed in the text, which I appreciated. The adventures of the friends are compelling, keeping the reader wanting to turn the pages to see what happens next. The book is broken up into two stories so there is a nice logical place to pause mid-way through, but it is short and sweet enough to be pretty much read in one sitting if you have a little bit of free time to do so.

The illustrations are quite charming, especially with Owly's wide eyes inviting the reader in. ( )

This book is good for grades 2-4.
This is such a good book for comprehension given that there are no words. I would add this to a classroom library .

This book is one of many from a series. It is almost completely wordless and allows for an easy imaginative read for younger students. ( )

This graphic novel is incredibly adorable--and although it's not much more than adorable, it's still definitely worth a read. My husband had to put up with me reading it over dinner and saying "awwww!" Owly makes friends with a worm and two hummingbirds in his two debut stories. ( )

Sorry, but I just can't appreciate this. I've seen the messages of friendship done better before. This is just too simplistic, and too easy, even for the youngest independent readers. And a youth choosing friendship over family in the blink of an eye, with the parents' support no less, seems wrong. And it's ridiculous that the owl 1. can't fly 2. is a vegetarian. (Maybe he's some sort of mutant?)

I do have them all out from the library so I guess I'll try a bit more. ( )