cover image Owl Eyes

Owl Eyes

Frieda Gates. HarperCollins, $15 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-688-12472-4

Gates visits her Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) heritage for this pourquoi story about the habits and appearance of the owl. Raweno, ``master of all spirits and everything-maker,'' molds prototypes of all the creatures of the woodlands, then tells each bird or beast to decide on its colors ``and however else you wish to be.'' As Fox, Sparrow, Squirrel et al. take turns declaring their choices, Owl keeps up a steady barrage of suggestions (``Fox should be yellow like the sun''). Raweno is aggravated, but the reader will likely be amused, especially as Miyake supplies thought balloons that show Owl's envisionings (e.g., Fox as lemon-yellow, with a short, stocky torso). The effect is all the more comic given the sobriety of Miyake's full-spread illustrations, which demonstrate a clear reverence for nature. In the end, Raweno silences Owl: ``Because I work only by day, you will be awake only at night.'' He further punishes intrusive Owl by making his neck short, saying, ``You will watch only what is in front of you''-and thus strikes the only false note here. Owls, including the long-eared owl depicted, can rotate their heads through 180 degrees or more, a fact undoubtedly known by Kanienkehaka storytellers. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)