Owl in Love [Mass Market Paperback]

Patrice Kindl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

Owl Tycho, a shape-shifter who can turn into an owl at will, falls in love with her science teacher, Mr. Lindstrom, and while keeping vigil outside, encounters another possible owl/human in a starving, wild-eyed boy. Reprint. K. AB. SLJ. PW. C.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel about a shape-shifting teenager was praised in a starred review by PW as "tautly plotted and touching." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Owl, 14, is charmingly offbeat; she hangs out at night in a tree near the home of her one love--science teacher Mr. Lindstrom. What makes her nocturnal vigils relatively easy is that she's a ``wereowl'' whose nightly transformation ruffles her feathers no more than does her diet of rodents. Wereowls run in the family, so Owl is comfortable with her identity, though the efforts demanded by her one-sided love are wearing her a bit ragged. When she observes a boy lurking near Mr. Lindstrom's home, the stage is set for shedding the schoolgirl crush for a more transcendent romance. Owl's perspective is no birdbrained view; readers are soon solidly immersed in her wild, wise, and witty ways. Lofty phrasing, wry self-awareness, and passionate musings frame and fill a delightful first-person narration. Owl's quaint parents play several scenes for humor and have foibles enough to complete Owl's typical teenage alienation. The tidying up at the end is a little overneat and abbreviated; otherwise, an unusually strong and original first novel. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Puffin; 6th edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440832098
• ISBN-13: 978-0440832096
• ASIN: 014037129X
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,833,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrice Kindl's first novel, Owl in Love, was an ALA Notable Book for Children, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award Honor Book. She lives in Middleburgh, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Romance--From that Weird Kid in School, August 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Owl in Love (Mass Market Paperback)

You've seen them around. Those weird kids, as a lot of people would call them. The ones who don't act "normal", don't dress "normal", or is "just plain freaky" because they aren't something you are. My friend Bobby would call them freaks of nature, but let's not get into that.

Well, what if that weird kid was more than meets the eye? Sure, Owl, at 14, eats real (albeit dead) rats in her sandwiches, but who would have thought that she lived up to her namesake as a were-owl? And we thought her parents were just down-and-out hippies. Well, they are, sort of. Anyways, her eating rats in public don't go over too well with that elite popular crowd, but she doesn't care because she found her mate: her science teacher. Every night, she stalks-er, watches- her-harumph!-love from a tree. In her owl form, of course, or else she'd look like an idiot perched on that thingy. But all that changes when the new owl in town flies over the cuckoo's nest...

A really good story for the kid who always didn't feel "normal" or "didn't fit in". Try being the kid who REALLY didn't fit in or ISN'T normal.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Offbeat, delightful fantasy coming of age, January 27, 2003

By 

Gwen A Orel (Millburn, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Owl in Love (Mass Market Paperback)

Owl in Love takes some familiar YA stories and makes them completely new! Like the best in children's fantasy, the magical elements are treated matter-of-factly and mundanely-- making them stand out in even greater relief.

Owl is a wereowl-- girl by day, owl by night. She perches on a tree outside of her science teacher's house and pines for him. Her witch parents are worried, because Owl isn't doing enough hunting. (what a great detail-- her parents are like any concerned parents anywhere, except their lives don't really belong to 20th century America). Kids sometimes tease Owl because they rarely see her eat (she's been known to bring mouse sandwiches to school, though).

Owl finally does make a friend, and this both enriches and complicates her life. The book wraps itself up delightfully-- Owl gets over her crush in a satisfying and original way (hint: the science teacher has a tragic secret involving a child...) and Owl learns she can trust her friend with her secret.

The book's originality and magic had me laughing and marvelling, but the story of a misfit-- a girl with talents that both make her interesting and set her apart-- is one that lots of kids can relate to. Heck, lots of adults. This book is full of charm and insight and is a terrific read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original. Interesting. Insightful. What more could you want?, June 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Owl in Love (Mass Market Paperback)

Owl is different. Her name is strange, her facial shape is strange, her food is strange (i mean, it consists of mice and rodents!) She's just plain different. And as much as she tries to hide it, either by secretly squeezing mice into her sandwiches or by making no contact with regular human children, she knows she is a wereowl, not human. A shape shifter. Different. And what makes it all worse is that she's in love. That's the real way to complicate a young adolescent's life still more, and Owl for one takes hers very seriously. Her infatuated crush may seem a little stange to readers, but Owl is plainly smitten with her thirty-something-year-old science teacher, Mr. Linstrom. And to tie the plot through, Owl finds that there is a strange lunatic boy hanging around her darling Mr. Linstrom's house. And the plot thickens.

Overall, Owl's uncanny strangeness, cool descriptions, and overall imaginative plot, you'll find this book and interesting read, despite the fact that the book is cute, fun, and interesting, rather than interllectually stimulating.