Life Lessons
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. Illustrated by Patrick Benson.
🦉 Owl Babies by Martin Waddell & Patrick Benson
This beautifully told picture book follows three baby owls—Sarah, Percy, and Bill—who wake in the night to find their mother gone. Alone in the dark forest, they experience fear and uncertainty, each responding in their own way. Sarah, the eldest, tries to reassure the younger ones. “She’s gone hunting,” she says. Percy agrees. But little Bill is inconsolable—“I want my mummy!”
The emotion of the story is paired perfectly with Patrick Benson’s evocative illustrations. One memorable image shows “a big branch for Sarah, a small branch for Percy, and an old bit of ivy for Bill”—a visual metaphor for their personalities and age. The sense of isolation is powerful: three tiny owls perched in the vast green canopy, dwarfed by the forest around them.
Benson’s watercolour and ink work is exquisitely detailed. The owls’ downy feathers are so soft and luminous you can almost reach out and touch them. Their fear is captured in subtle facial expressions and tender close-ups. The dark, woodsy tones of the night contrast beautifully with the brightness of their white feathers, creating an atmosphere of suspense.
The text layout is child-friendly, with large, clear type that changes colour to match the illustrations. While ideal for reading aloud to toddlers, the book also suits children aged 3+ who are beginning to follow or read text themselves.
Martin Waddell, a prolific author from Belfast, is perhaps best known for his Little Bear books with Barbara Firth, but Owl Babies remains a classic. It touches on the common childhood fear of separation—and reassures young readers that, just like the owl mother, a parent always comes back.
📚 Highly recommended for: babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, and developing readers aged 3–6.
The O’Brien Press. Paperback. 1992.
ISBN 0862783925
Voices in the Park Written and illustrated by Anthony Browne
Winner of the Kurt Maschler Award 1998
🌳 Voices in the Park Written and illustrated by Anthony Browne
Browne’s Voices in the Park is a masterful example of layered storytelling. On a single visit to the park, four voices - two parents and their children- reveal contrasting social and emotional viewpoints. Browne uses gorillas to represent humans as his characters.
Every voice features a distinct narrative tone, typeface, illustration style, and colour palette. The rich, overbearing mother is painted in cold, autumnal colours. In contrast, Smudge (the unemployed father’s daughter) is represented in spring colours of joy and happiness. Her father’s battle with joblessness and depression is shown through muted artwork but his world brightens with his interaction with his daughter.
Browne’s illustrations are richly surreal. Through shadow, framing, and recurring motifs (such as the mother’s red Panama hat), he subtly introduces themes of class, control, isolation, and the transformative power of connection. Dancing paintings and surreal park creatures are among the subtle background details encouraging multiple readings and careful examination.
The two dogs, Victoria and Albert, unlike their owners, bond instantly, mirroring the developing friendship between the children, Charles and Smudge.
This book offers multiple layers of meaning, including a simple narrative about a park visit, an exploration of inequality and empathy, and a prompt for reflection on children overcoming parental limitations. A special picture book for shared reading at home or in the classroom, it connects meaningfully with children and adults alike.
Anthony Browne has received numerous awards for his work, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (twice), the Kurt Maschler Award (including for this book) and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award—the first British illustrator to win it since 1956.
📚 Highly recommended for: Age 6 to adult
Picture Corgi Books, 1999 (First published 1998)
ISBN: 9780552545648
I TALK LIKE A RIVER Written by Jordan Scott Illustrated by Sydney Smith
✨ I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith
A boy with a severe stammer moves through his day in silence and shame—his world made harder by the reactions of classmates, the pressure of speaking aloud, and the terror that certain letters (P, C, M) bring. His isolation is captured in Sydney Smith’s blurred illustrations, which allows the story to mirror the boy’s world.
After a difficult morning, the boy’s father takes him for a walk by the river. What follows is a moment of deep connection and metaphor: “You speak like a river,” his father tells him. The boy listens to the sounds of the river—bubbling, churning, crashing—and finds a way to understand his voice not as broken, but as natural. The metaphor becomes a lifeline, and the river a source of strength.
The text is lyrical and spare—Jordan Scott is a poet, and it shows. The language is elegant and deeply felt, perfectly paired with Smith’s fluid, expressive illustrations. The river scenes are breath-taking—each one could be framed as a painting. The muted palette and textures evoke the boy’s inner world, while the open water offers space and calm.
In an author’s note at the end, Scott reflects on his own experience of stammering, recalling how stuttering is often seen as unnatural or something to be corrected.
📚 Highly recommended for: Age 5 to adult
Neal Porter Books. Hardback. 2020.
ISBN: 9780823445592
Town is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz. Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Kate Greenaway medal winner & A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book
🌊 Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz. Illustrated by Sydney Smith
In Town Is by the Sea, a young boy narrates a day in his life in a small coastal mining town. His father goes to work every morning to dig for coal in the dark, unseen world beneath the sea. This daily ritual creates an undercurrent of quiet anxiety for the boy, who longs for his father's safe return while going about his own day — visiting the swings, stopping by his grandfather’s grave, listening to the sounds of morning life.
The boy’s senses are on high alert:
"First I hear the seagulls… a dog barking, a car goes by on the shore road, someone slams a door and shouts good morning."
The story is rooted in the rhythms of both place and inheritance. It evokes a strong sense of tradition, with mining passed down from grandfather to father — and eventually, one senses, to the boy himself. Childhood unfolds in the shadow of this inevitable future, held gently but firmly by the sea.
Sydney Smith’s illustrations are expansive and detailed, rendered in tonal hues of sepia, grey, and green. Double-page spreads highlight the domestic details of the boy’s world: the cat watching from above, coats hanging in a row, the sea just outside the window. There is a lyrical interplay between light and dark, above and below, day and night — childhood and adulthood.
The text is simple and lyrical, with emotional resonance, and well suited to emerging readers.. This is a book that may lead to quiet conversations between parents and children about work, family, and what we inherit — willingly or otherwise.
📚 Highly recommended for :3-8
Walker Books. Paperback. 2017.
ISBN 9781406378863
Bird is Dead by Tiny Fisscher and Herma Starreveld
🐦 Bird is Dead by Tiny Fisscher and Herma Starreveld. Translated by Laura Watkinson
What happens when someone dies? Bird is Dead offers a refreshingly honest and gentle introduction to death for young children. While many picture books focus on the absence left behind — the empty chair, the sadness, the grief — this story dares to explore the process of dying, too.
With a stark, attention-grabbing title, the book tells the story of a group of birds reacting to the death of their friend. Despite the serious subject matter, the tone is quietly humorous and deeply human. Each bird expresses their feelings in different ways, mirroring the varied responses children might have when confronted with death. The text is simple, direct, and unafraid — moving readers through confusion, argument, understanding, and ritual, right down to the burial. The dead bird, we learn, had both friends and enemies — just like people do. This emotional honesty is one of the book’s greatest strengths.
The text gently invites conversation between child and adult, making space for difficult but necessary questions. What does it mean to be dead? Why do we grieve? How do we say goodbye?
Herma Starreveld’s illustrations elevate the narrative, using a muted background palette that allows the colourful, collage-style birds to stand out with warmth and individuality. Each bird is a visual character in its own right — whimsical, expressive, and exquisitely designed. You can see the artist’s therapeutic background at work here; the balance of emotion, humour, and visual richness invites both contemplation and connection.
Despite the sad theme, Bird is Dead is ultimately a beautiful, life-affirming book. The synergy between image, text, and emotional space renders it not only a useful resource, but a small work of art.
Greystones Kids, 2024. Hardback (eBook also).
ISBN: 9781778401176