One morning Little Owl wakes in his tree as normal, but something is different. The leaves are falling. Little Owl has lots of questions. He wakes his mummy up, and Mummy Owl answers his questions as best she can with tales and stories. She explains how leaves turn golden and fall every year. How tree roots dig deep into the earth. How once she was a little owl too, and she and her parents lived in the same tree.
A tender story that touches on seasonal change and the impermanence of life, and celebrates the bond between parents and guardians and their children.
Little Owl’s questions structure the text, and his joyous exclamations become a refrain. This is so evocative of conversation with a small child. One question answered leads to forty-five others. Mummy Owl’s gentle narrative replies remind us that, when the questions are tough, it is often possible to answer honestly without giving information that is too frightening. Mummy Owl doesn’t explain about death but her gentle tale about how stories of the tree’s past can be found within its rings builds foundations for the truth when Little Owl is ready (as far as anyone can be) to hear.
The illustrations are a celebration of life – from Little Owl’s wide eyes, excited by the wonders of the earth, to the womb-shaped hole that shelters them, the vivid golds of autumn and the peek at the tree’s roots, every picture reminds adults what Little Owl instinctively knows. Life is a privilege and a wonder.
Q&A with author Teresa Heapy
Q: Little Owl asks lots of questions. What does he especially want to understand?
A: Little Owl dearly loves the Tree, his home. He’s worried about it changing, in case it stops being there for him. So he’s worried about whether the falling leaves will make the tree cold, or whether it will get frozen in winter. Luckily, he has his mummy to answer all his questions – and a message from the Tree itself to reassure him.
Q: Mummy Owl has to answer some big questions about the nature of life. What should adults remember when children ask these questions?
A: When my children ask me big questions, I try hard to be as truthful as I can. I tell them what I feel about it, and that it’s OK to feel sad, or confused, or scared.
I wrote The Wonder Tree shortly after my dad had died. Looking at old, old trees made me realise that some things live much longer than we do. Planting flowers that my dad planted helped me to remember him. Nature carries on, no matter what happens in our own lives, and I wanted to write about the beauty and comfort we can get from that.
Q: Your descriptions of the tree and the night sky are beautiful (eg. silver-struck stars). What kind of research did you do before writing the book?
A: Thank you! I watched a wonderful BBC documentary about the life of an oak tree, which taught me many of the facts which appear in the story. And I looked closely at lots of wonderful trees. I gave a few of them a big hug. One in particular seemed to hug me back.
Q: Do you have any favourite fictional owls? Who are they?
A: I have a soft spot for Owl in Winnie the Pooh, who looks very Wise and Thoughtful. He can spell Tuesday (very useful) and his own name, WOL. I love the bravery Hedwig shows in Harry Potter. But my very favourite owls are Sarah, Percy and Bill in Owl Babies. My husband and I read Owl Babies over and over again to my children when they were little. They are now 12, 15 and 17 and the whole family can recite the book by heart.
Q: Did anything help you to pinpoint the book’s tone?
A: Although the book embraces facts, I wanted it to have a lyrical tone which expressed the beauty and resilience of the oak tree and its setting. I also wanted to have a conversation going through it. Initially, I thought this conversation might be between a parent and a child. I then decided it should be owls (having rejected caterpillars, foxes and rabbits), but it took me a while to find their voices. One day I was cycling over Magdalen Bridge in Oxford, when a phrase of Mummy Owl popped into my head. Once I’d got that, the story tumbled out!
- The Wonder Tree by Teresa Heapy and Izzy Burton is available now from Egmont UK LTD. RRP. £6.99 (Provided for review)
