Owls in the Family

This is simply a delightful story. I loved the adventures of Farley Mowat, his owls and the rest of his menagerie in Saskatoon. Farley was a budding naturalist even in his boyhood and his explorations involved sloughs, caves, bluffs, and all sorts of creatures (including human bullies). It was amazing how many "pets" his parents not only tolerated but invited into the family. Several incidents were so funny that I had to read them aloud to share the laughs; I especially loved the pranks and the huffy reactions of the dominant owl, Wol.

3.75 stars

Billy has a collection of animals as pets, including gophers, snakes, rats… He and a couple of friends decide they want an owl, so go looking to steal one from a nest, but instead find an injured baby owl and bring him home. They later come across a second injured one, and bring him home for company for Wol, the first owl. The two owls are very different in personality, but they both seem to not realize they are owls who can fly and do other things owls can do.

This was so short; I wish it had been longer. I felt terrible when I thought Billy was going to bring home an owl by stealing it out of a nest! There were plenty of humourous stories about Wol and Weeps. I am curious if Mowat actually had owls as pets.

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 show more 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. show less

The first thing that comes to mind when describing this children's book is "old fashioned" - not necessarily in a bad way. The main character's childhood roamings through the prairie of Saskatoon chasing birds, catching gophers, and stealing eggs from nests seems so implausible and environmentally unsound now. Having said that, the story is sweet and funny and engaging. I'll be encouraging my third grader to read this one!

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 really enjoyed this book and wish it had been longer. It was really funny, I loved reading about all the antics of the owls. It had a great wholesome feel to it and made me think of days when things were simpler. I found the ending a bit sad and wish we could have known what happened.
Overall a great book.

I first read this as a teen, it resonated with me as my friend Dennis and I had 'adopted' two owlets a few years previously. Like the two in the book wildly different personalities. No one gives a 12-year-old walking down the street with a Great Horned Owl on their shoulder a hard time! So much work to feed them, then teaching them to hunt before releasing them.