Children’s Book Monday: Adopted by an Owl

Adopted by an Owl:
The True Story of Jackson the Owl

Written by: Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen
Illustrated by: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

The true story of Jackson the Owl became a favorite of our family from the library this past week.

The husband and wife team who authored and illustrated the story, lovingly tell about one of the many wild animals that the two of them have professionally rehabilitated over the past 20 years. The great horned owl in the story was one of their favorites and they share his true account in a wonderful narrative for young children.

Jackson came to the van Frankenhuyzen family after being rescued from a boy who took the owl from the wild as a baby to be a pet, later on deciding he no longer wanted it. Instead of the van Frankenhuyzens adopting Jackson however, it seemed more like Jackson adopted them. He lived with them on their Michigan farm as one of the family. The owl’s daily antics are realistically and beautifully protrayed by the illustrator who used the real Jackson as his model for his paintings. (You can view a few of the paintings from the book HERE.)

They all lived happily until one day an accident threatened their continued relationship. While Jackson was being treated in an owl care facility, he seemed to became more aware that he himself was an owl. If Jackson did recover, would things ever be the same again between all of them?

Our girls love to hear the ending of this story read again and again.

After you share this story with your children, be sure to read the back cover to learn more about the van Frankenhuyzens and their work. The two of them have collaborated on two other books that follow Adopted by an Owl, also about the animals that they have helped on their Hazel Ridge Farm. They are entitled Saving Samantha and Kelly of Hazel Ridge Farm.

Here are a few other follow-up activities that I found to compliment reading Adopted by an Owl:

Hazel Ridge website - Here you can read more about the author/illustrator team. You can view pictures of their “real” Hazel Ridge farm, including some of the animals living there.

Teacher’s Guide to the Hazel Ridge Farm Series - a 24-page printable teacher’s guide for elementary aged students that includes all sorts of activities relating to the three books in the series.

The Owl Pages – This website is recommended by Robbyn as a great resource for learning about owls. There you will find photographs of all of the different species of owls as well as information on their behavior, physical attributes and location.

Be sure to stop A Path Made Straight to read Elise’s review of one of our family’s favorite books during this week’s Children’s Book Monday.

Happy reading!