One Odd Old Owl By Paul Adshead Ages 4-16

In the forest of Nod, a snail is rudely awaken by an Odd Old Owl's snoring. She attempts to rally all the birds who come by her tree in increasingly large numbers to help her wake the owl so she can catch a few zees. They clitter-clatter, shout, shriek, screech, squawk, whirr, sing, quack, knock, hammer, chirp, chirrup and cheep... "But One Odd Old Owl continues to sleep." Finally comes a "Princely Peacock" whose "deafening fanfare" gets rid of that Odd Old Owl alright..."But before that poor snail can ooze, off to bed, fifty-five birds start snoring instead!"
Neat ending, right! Endings are always exciting beginnings in Child's Play: What can the snail do now? She decides to count the birds. But wait - some are hiding! Mr. Adshead is up to his old tricks. We'll have to help the snail find the birds hiding in the art work. What ~ more? She still can't sleep so she's amused herself by hiding the names of the 56 birds and her name too! If you find them all, you can use them to discover the snail's secret message. As if that's not enough, that "Insomniac Snail" has hidden four puzzling messages for even more searching fun. The snail gets her oozy snooze in the end but beware - you won't sleep for days playing her puzzling games.
Themes: Birds, caring for animals, word-play, letter recognition and writing, spelling, rhyming stories, deductive reasoning, counting, adding, drama and creative movement, Morse Code, humour, snoring.

Opportunities:

-Use as many of the special features of One Odd Old Owl as seem appropriate for the reader's age. Children under 3 will love the pictures, the musical quality of the text and the dramatic play. At four they will find the hidden birds and many of the hidden letters. At six, they will enjoy the idea of secret codes with a patient adult who can help them in their discoveries. At seven to nine, an interested adult should be available for questioning and at ten and over, it's a challenging and amusing solitary or social activity.
-The cumulative nature of the story (each new page of text repeats and adds to the previous text), the rhyme and rhythm, the predictable pattern, the high interest vocabulary and the rollicking good time to be had in the reading and in discovering all the hidden, 'treasures' combine to make One Odd Old Owl an unbeatable reading development tool. - Are there really 56 birds? Count' em. Or count only 10 toucans, 9 cockatoos, 8 parrots ... and add them up. You really should do it. You can never be sure with Paul Adshead!
-Be active, especially with eight year olds and under - Snore. Flap your wings every time new birds fly in and make each one's noise. Hammer with your beak. Let's see those knees knocking. Stick your arms out in front of your body and clitter-clatter them together like a giant toucan's beak. There now. Doesn't that feel better?

Key Learning Areas:
 
Literacy - Intermediate Reading
Literacy - Advanced Reading
Vocabulary Building
Observation & Visual Perception
Memory & Concentration

*Dimensions: 28 pages 289 x 289mm