Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry

Kousky’s picture-book debut champions poetry and one passionate aspiring poet, in particular, but his sleepy story seems unlikely to hook many readers on the form. While other owls roost in trees and hunt, Otto recites poetry in the moonlight, to the taunts of his peers. Otto finds an appreciative audience in the smiling moon and forest mice, with whom he shares a poem of his own. Curiously, it is Otto’s owlish recitation of melancholy verse by Emily Dickinson (“I’m nobody! Whooo are you?/ Are you nobody, too?”) that finally wins over his fellow owls. (Otto also shares snippets of poetry by T.S. Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joyce Kilmer, and Christina Rossetti.) Kousky takes advantage of the story’s nocturnal setting, creating shadowy scenes in milky violets and blues, yet the caricatured style used to draw Otto and his fellow animals clashes with these backgrounds, making the animals feel dropped into their surroundings, not part of them. Otto often appears forlorn and mournful, which seems at odds with the message of the power of poetry to lift spirits and inspire. Ages 5–8. [em]Agent: John Rudolph, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Feb.)[/em]