Owl

by William Service

Penguin Bks 1979 softcover 93pp.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Memoir, Birds

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

quirky little book about a quirky little bird, that i started reading years ago in a rented cabin full of quirky little books. loved it enough to track it down on amazon and just now found the time to finish it. sweet little story, told in a quirky, witty way that reminds me of lots of people i know.

[Dante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book about a family who takes in an owlet and raises him.

[Debbie M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical, charming, lovely, delightful, interesting, elegant and amusing. A must read for owl lovers and non owl lovers a like!

[John White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary. The writing is lean and tight, the author's sensitivity highly acute. I very much admire the author's writing, but deplore his actions. In his apparent benevolence, he makes a fatal mistake. Having nursed the foundling Owl to adulthood, Owl remains captive in the author's house, a member of the extended family, but not a member of his own kind. At times, Owl sits by the window watching the big world outdoors, no doubt perplexed at why he is denied his freedom. At times, Owl even hoots for a mate. The author takes Owl outside, in his cage, to hoot in hopes of attracting a mate, but that is inadvertently cruel, for after the event Owl is returned to live contained inside the house. Owl will never know freedom, Owl will never know a mate. After a year and a half, Owl stops mysteriously eating and dies. A post-mortem autopsy by the local vet provides no answers, but I know the answer. When all hope was dashed, and the prospect of loneliness Owls only future, Owl lost the will to live. Owl's spirit was broken, and it is, after all, only that spirit that drives us onward each day.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

it may take you considerable time and effort to find this book. or not. what do i know? i know TIME took a look when it first came out in 1970 (warning: spoilers)
[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art...]

it's written with a certain kind of wit that i found very appealing.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lyrical tribute to a screech owl who joined the author’s family as a baby after being rescued following its fall from its nest. The book is filled with charming, delightful and amusing anecdotes and tidbits about owl, his care, behavior and interactions with the author and other members of his human and animal family, and friends.

[Ana on the Shelves · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Service and his family have several animals but when a new addition, an owlet, comes to join the “menagerie” this book is born.
A small book in size, merely ninety two pages, nevertheless it packs a whole collection of funny and endearing moments mixed in with some facts about owls. With a bonus of amazing black and white illustrations by Walter Dubois Richards.(*)
From little “love bites” to the small altercations with the cat, this book is sure to put a smile on your face.
If you like birds this is a book that you should not miss.

You can easily find this book on Internet Archive.

(*) And now we reach the point where I have strayed from the book itself because I have spotted a topic of interest: illustrations.
Since not enough spotlight is given to my fellow artists and a lot of the older ones are falling behind on people’s memory I wanted to make sure to bring to the light this amazing talent that is Walter Dubois Richards.
A small schear online will almost certainly make you sure that you have already encountered his works seeing that he was a commercial illustrator during the 1920’s to the 1980’s. Since vintage advertisements are now in vogue as decor, chances are you have seen one of his Budweiser illustrations hanging in a pub or one of those shops that try to use everything “old” to make something new for you to spend your money on.
For more reading on the work of this illustrator I direct you to the blog that his grandson has made.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elegant, witty, perceptive, and charming.

An abandoned owlet is taken in by the author's family, and this volume recounts their experiences and observations. Owl (as the owl is named) eats moths, hides behind books, snatches items from guests' plates, hoots and whistles, and generally charms the family and most guests. In the end, the book becomes a meditation on the gulf between humanity and nature and the attempts we make to connect to and understand what may always be apart from us and impossible to truly understand.

As far as I know, William Service only wrote two books. He supplied the text for William Stout's magnum opus "The Dinosaurs," and composed this lovely, little book. I find that he wrote little else to be one of life's little tragedies.

[Lise Petrauskas]

Uzi loves this book as much as I do!

[Sean Fitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny little book. Well observed and wittily written. Serious feels at the end. This little bird nestled into my heart.

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short book about rescuing an injured owl and nursing it back to health. If you liked H Is For Hawk or The Goshawk, you will enjoy this poetic book.

[Ruth Rocap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slim book but a wonderful diary of a family that took in a small screech owl. The observations show that the author really studied his subject.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the rather various random books that have been collecting in my library so as a result since it seemed like it was a small enough book and one that may be interesting I chose to go ahead to read it.

Unfortunately Owl just didn't really hit home with me. There is the strange subtitle/description on the cover that on the older version of this book I have is hard to read unless you tilt it to the light in the right degree. This same cover decor statement is also not quite finished although at this point I feel that I can make a rather estimated guess on what the statement is meant to finish as.

Anyway the rest of the content is basically a combination of memoir of the author and how he lived with the non-creatively nor supposedly orphaned owlet named Owl, insights into the species in general and the random comments directed to the bird instead of to the actual reader. When combined with the formatting of the very brief but numerous chapters in which the majority use the title of the chapter as part of the text or starting without a whole statement, the reader may find themselves just a bit off balance.

The book cannot be deemed to be illustrated although there are some monochromatic plates, which in the worst of cases is hard to see while very sparsely placed in the book.

All in all it was an okay read if you don't mind the strange writing style but I wouldn't even really recommend it any birders that I may know unless they don't mind outdated rescue stories that go by the seat of the pants in their techniques used to provide for the animal in their keep.

[Ann Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brief, charming, observant, and engagingly well-written, this gem from 1969 is worth hunting for. (I found it on the library's discard pile, alas!!).

Yes, it is about an owl--a screech owl--and its (his) growth, habits, adaptations to a human environment. And about the humans and other animals, and how they respond to him.

Mostly it captures the gaps of unknowing that exist between species; an inquiry into those unknowns and, in the end, the author's acceptance that there are many things owl will not answer or choose to reveal about himself. And that is ok.

I really love this book.

[Rinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What could be better than raising an orphaned screech owl found by a well meaning dog and dropped into a busy household of children and pets? The author proudly tells the story of Owl through a series of anecdotes. It is a joy to follow the exploits of a curious young owl making his way in a mostly human world.

[Debbie Branch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love all animal books and enjoyed this too but was saddened by a few happenings with Owl. I suppose it was the best people knew to do at the time the book was written. I am glad I read this book as the Service family had insights of living with a wild owl we wouldn’t have today as the owl would likely (hopefully) be taken to a rehabber and released into the wild.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[VG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet paean to a tiny friend (wrapped in a slightly cynical style, which fools no-one), ‘Owl’ follows the life of the titular bird, who joins a menagerie of pets in the early 80s home of William Service and his family. Astute observations, witty asides and an obvious adoration of ‘Owl’ make this a charming little book, if nothing spectacularly memorable.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a 4.5 read

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny tales and practical advice on the raising of a screech owl. Having had two owls myself, I was happy to find that that there was still more to learn. And my first was named Owl as well.

[Patricia White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads like a charming instagram page, and I mean that as a compliment. It's full of little vignettes about Owl's life and each is descriptive enough to create vivid images.

[Tony O'Elgin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must re-read this gem of a book!
I was reminded of it when I came across the following "Owl and Pussycat" posting from THE DODO on Facebook:
https://www.thedodo.com/kitten-and-ow...

Time to dust this book off and read it once more, as I sit in my porch this August evening, the quietness interrupted only by an owl occasionally hooting outside, along with the incessant cacophonous insects ...

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute, quirky book. While it's rather short and prose ridden at times I liked the emotional depth and the snarky conversations with Owl. It's a sort of wonderful rambling narrative that finds its way and ties in family and love and loss and questions about the world. It's a good afternoon read.

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book today and read it straight through, a really nice and often witty story.