The Book Review: Heule Eule by Paul Friester and Philippe Goossens.

Hello and Happy Sunday!

A couple of days ago, I visited a friend who has the most amazing book collection for her children. She reads to them every night as I do. Petit Joel and I have this little routine and he even asks me to read to him when he goes to bed and usually picks out the book he would like to hear. I think reading to children is so important. I started to read to my son when he was four months old. 

So my friends’s son came out with Owl Howl (Heule Eule) and this got me inspired to start a little series on the blog. What Petit Joel reads/likes/eats/loves and such. We sat down on the ground in the garden and my friend started reading Owl Howl. My son, who played a bit further away, stopped everything he did and joined us to listen. We actually purchased the book the next day because he talked about it constantly all day long. He wants to hear it twice every night and takes it to bed with him to “read” it again with his flashlight. 

What is this cute book about? 

The animals in the wood hear a loud crying sound but don’t know what it exactly is. They are frightened. They try to see where the noise comes from while they look through some bushes and try to see what goes on behind trees. “Maybe it is they wolf, ” they think and the bravest of the animals, a tiny hedgehog, walks through the bushes to see where the noise comes from. There, behind the bushes, the hedgehog sees a tiny owl who cries and cries and won’t stop. All the animals try to make the tiny Owl Howl stop crying but nothing works. A raven gave her beautiful, colorful rocks to play with, a beetle screamed at her to make her stop crying and a squirrel fed her some nuts because she might be hungry. Also, whatever the other animals did, the tiny owl kept crying. Until, in the end, the tiny owl flew back to her mom who took her in her arms and she instantly stopped. 

Owl Howl is a beautiful, imaginative, cute illustrated book for babies and toddlers. I think it is a lovely little story, even though why didn’t dad owl try to make baby owl stop crying, hah!? Well, this is how it usually works anyway, so stick to the mom owl for comfort, right.

I like the warm colors of the paintings that are not loaded with tons of details. All animals are easy to recognize and Petit Joel’s favorite are the beetle and the mole. Whenever I read this book to him it makes him comfortable in a way. He asks questions why the little owl is sad and so much more. He feels safe and secure, curls up to me and listens. What a nice way to end a crazy toddler day!

Sometimes it is just a lot of crying over nothing. Mom owl asked in the end,“What`s wrong, baby owl? Why are you howling like that“. Anticipation. What is the baby owl going to say? All the other animals wait desperately to find out why she finally stopped crying. She sniffed a little and then cheeped quietly: “I forgot”. 

I would recommend this book for babies and toddlers from 2 years-old to 5. 

 Get a copy here in English or in German. Enjoy and have a great week! 



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


Follow by Email
LinkedIn
Instagram