I do hope you have already met Owl. After his victory over the dragon, he is now appointed as the Knight of the Night Watch. He has his nighttime routine.
"While the other knights slept, he lit the torches, patrolled the walls, and made sure the fires were burning. All night long, Owl kept the castle safe."
At the end of each night, Owl has dinner and then heads off to his bed. Of course, we know owls are nocturnal, so he works at night and sleeps all day. But, in the best of stories, there is of course sure to be a complication - something to disrupt this daily pattern and I am sure you have already identified the disrupter - it is that little gal on the cover - Early Bird. She is young, enthusiastic, keen to be a knight, and she has no volume control as evidenced by the way she talks in a larger font and capital letters. Oh, and notice all of those exclamation marks.
"Hi - are you awake? My name is Early Bird! I'm your BIGGEST fan! I want to be a Knight Owl just like you! You can teach me everything. I'm a super-duper learner. I KNOW that I can be a Knight Owl!"
Owl just cannot cope with all this enthusiasm - he needs to sleep. While owl is sleeping or trying to sleep Early Bird keep herself busy - busy and noisy. Wait until you see Owl's eyes later that afternoon. Owl begins to show Early Bird the patrol routine but before the sun set Early Bird falls asleep. After several days of constant chatter by Early Bird, Owl explodes - STOP.
"You are not an owl! You are not a Knight! You are a VERY early Bird. ... PLEASE GO AWAY."
If you were making a graph of this story - this is a very low point. Little Early Bird heads of into the dangerous forest. If I were to read this book to a group of children, I would most certainly slow down and perhaps even pause at the point so the listeners might think for themselves about what might happen next. Luckily Owl misses little Early Bird and so as darkness falls he sets off to find her. Remember she has that LOUD voice. Wait until you see how our new small hero is able to save the day and also win over the friendship of Owl. You will also want to mix up a batch of pancakes with maple syrup to celebrate this wonderful moment of acceptance and new friendship.
When I read Knight Owl I gasped at how wonderful it was. If I was still working in my school library Knight Owl would most certainly be a book I would have shared with groups of students. And now we have another treat - Knight Owl and Early Bird. Listen to a conversation with Christopher Denise (13 minutes). You can see other books by Christopher Denise here. And you might like to follow him on Instagram.
I suspected there would be a different (and significant) image under the dust jacket. I adore these tiny videos of when covers are revealed. Here is a still image showing the illustration under the Knight Owl and Early Bird dust jacket.
Check out my previous post about Knight Owl by Christopher Denise which won a Caldecott Honor.
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