Little Owl’s Orange Scarf by Tatyana Feeney

MaryAnne Locher reviews Little Owl’s Orange Scarf

Whenever someone asks me, “What’s your favorite color?” I always give the same answer: ANYTHING but GREEN! I can’t imagine how I would feel if I didn’t get to pick out my clothes, or even worse, was forced to wear a color I didn’t like. This is exactly what many parents do when they don’t guide their children to make their own choices. In Little Owl’s Orange Scarf (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $16.99, ages 4-8), written and illustrated by Tatyana Feeney, it is precisely what mother owl does when she makes Little Owl wear an itchy, too long, very orange scarf.

Little Owl comes up with some creative ways to misplace his scarf, but mother owl is just as good at finding it. But, when Little Owl’s class takes a trip to the zoo, the scarf is left behind despite Mother’s efforts to recover it.

Mother, being a wise old owl, decides to include Little Owl when she makes him a new scarf. He goes to the yarn store with her and even gets to pick out the color. The finished product is soft, just the right length, and NOT orange. Little Owl and Mother are both happy. At the end of the story we discover that the orange scarf is being put to good use by a certain long necked creature at the zoo.

The sparse text and simple illustrations combine to make a great picture book. Parents and children alike should get a hoot out of Little Owl’s Orange Scarf.