The story of Wols and Weeps, two adopted owl chicks growing up in Mowat's family is delightful and hilarious. It's a slim book, with episodic chapters, ideal for bedtime reading. If this took place today, city planners, animal rights activists, and various other people would have been very upset, but viewed as a story of the past, the Mowatt's menagerie makes for very entertaining reading.
I'd give this to a reader looking for comic stories, and if it's a hit, I'd try them on other Mowatt stories, and maybe Gerald Durrell. ( )

I'll never forget reading this book to my two young girls in one sitting. North of Timmins in a small tent, sitting on our sleeping bags, for an entire afternoon of pouring rain: sometimes I had to raise my voice to be heard. It held everyone's interest right through and made it a day to cherish in memory - can there be higher praise? ( )

Lexile: 980
Reading Recovery: 30
DRA: 44
Fountas Pinnel Guided Reading: Y

A favourite I loved as a kid, and was delighted to rediscover as we read it aloud to our kids when they were 6, in Grade One. A delightful true story of a boy growing up in a Canadian prairie town about 50 years ago. Young Farley Mowat loves animals, and adopts two baby Great Horned Owls to keep as pets, along with a variety of gophers, snakes, and an eccentric dog. Mowat appreciates the character and preferences of each owl, and recounts their adventures with humour, but also with deep sympathy and love. (He is not so kind to some people and cats in the book.) The last chapter is bitter-sweet, when the family moves to Toronto and has to give the owls away to friends. The engaging illustrations by Robert Frankenburg make the stories come alive, and appeal to children and adults alike. This is a good read-aloud for young children, and a great chapter book for grades 2 to 4 to read alone. 107 pages, highly recommended. ( )

A rousingly funny story. But don't read the last chapter if you don't have to. ( )