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SUMMARY: In this third installment of our Bedtime Book Series, we are discussing two excellent, engaging, brain-building bedtime books in tandem: Arnold Lobel’s Owl At Home and Greg Pizzoli’s Good Night Owl because one has directly influenced the other. We talk about how Greg Pizzoli found inspiration in many of the amusing scenarios, cozy illustrations, and even some of the turns of phrase that are found in Arnold Lobel’s collection of stories about his Owl. Drawing attention to the connection between books is not only interesting and fun to do as a reader, but it’s also a good way to subtly introduce your child to the concept of intertextuality. Demonstrating how stories can relate to each other helps to hone your child’s comparison skills and can also help your child later on when she is asked in school to put a work of fiction in historical, social, or literary context. It’s key for her success as a reader if your child can start seeing the interconnectivity among books, stories, and characters and start discovering how literature works early on in her reading life.
Listen to the Podcast Episode:
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
*Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel
*Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli
Baloney and Friends by Greg Pizzoli
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Children’s Literature Grows Up: Harry Potter and the Children’s Literature Revolution by Christina Phillips-Mattson
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Number One Sam by Greg Pizzoli
Templeton Gets His Wish by Greg Pizzoli
Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Greg Pizzoli
Note: Books marked with * are the focus books of this episode.
Alfred Hitchcock Films Mentioned:
Podcast Transcript:
Hello Everybody! I hope you’re having a wonderful December! Today’s episode is another installment of the series that I’m doing on bedtime books. All of the books I’ve chosen are tried and true favorites in my family and, in addition to all of them being good for building your child’s brain, they will hopefully also help you to get your kids to actually go to sleep. In our previous Bedtime Book Episodes, we talked about Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon and M.H. Clark’s more recent book, You Belong Here. I’ll link them both in the shownotes or you can just go to Episode 15 or Episode 16 and you’ll find those transcripts. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about two books that my boys love at bedtime and they are … Owl At Home, by Arnold Lobel and Good Night Owl, by Greg Pizzoli.
So, first things first. The reason that I wanted to talk about these two excellent books in tandem today is because one has directly influenced the other. Greg Pizzoli has said in interviews that Owl at Home was and still is one of his favorite children’s books and that he’s been inspired by Arnold Lobel’s work. And if you’ve read Owl At Home and then read Good Night Owl, it’s very apparent that Greg Pizzoli found inspiration in many of the scenarios, illustrations, and even some of the turns of phrase that are found in Arnold Lobel’s collection of stories about his Owl. Specifically, Good Night Owl was inspired by the chapter entitled “Strange Bumps” and probably also to a little lesser extent by the chapter entitled “The Guest” in Lobel’s book. And, incidentally, one of Pizzoli’s most recent books, Baloney and Friends, which (and I love this idea) is a graphic novel for younger children, also has a section that’s inspired by the “Tear-water Tea” chapter of Owl at Home.
I wanted to draw attention to this connection between Pizzoli’s books and Lobel’s book because, not only is it just interesting and fun to notice the similarities and differences, but it’s also a good way to subtly introduce your child to the concept of intertextuality. For those of you who did not have to suffer through an English major, or worse, a Comparative Literature PhD, intertextuality is simply the relationship between different texts. It’s how one text’s meaning is shaped by another text. It’s also an important stage in understanding a piece of literature because oftentimes it is necessary to see how other works have influenced the author and how different texts are employed in the piece of literature to convey certain meanings. So, okay, the first example that comes to my mind is obviously, of course, a Harry Potter example. I can’t help it with the Harry Potter. I’m obsessed. Anyway, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the character of Xenophilius Lovegood is described, in appearance and mannerisms, in the same way that Geoffrey Chaucer describes the character of The Pardoner in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. It isn’t necessary to read The Canterbury Tales to understand what’s happening in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but if you have read the Canterbury Tales, you know that the Pardoner isn’t trustworthy and that while he tells his tale his intention is actually to hoodwink the other pilgrims. So, when you’re reading Deathly Hallows and Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrive at the Lovegood home and interact with Xenophilius, this knowledge of the Pardoner and his similarity to Xenophilius informs your reading of that episode. You might already be suspicious of Xenophilius or you might become suspicious earlier than Harry does, because you’re like, hmmmm…wearing an amulet of sorts, creator of false talismans, yellow hair, horsey face, telling basically the exact same story about 3 guys trying to cheat death? This weird dude sounds familiar. I don’t trust him. So, because of what you know of the Pardoner from Chaucer’s text, you are already on high alert when Harry, Ron, and Hermione walk into that bizarro chess piece of a house. Oh! And, also, a related instance of intertextuality: because of what you know about The Pardoner’s Tale—that it’s a story about trying to cheat death—you might also have suspicions about the ultimate meaning of The Tale of the Three Brothers. But, okay, we have to get back to Good Night Owl so that’s a story for another day… OR, (and this didn’t start out as a plug for my dissertation, but if you’re interested in this and want to learn more) you can read about it in my Harvard dissertation Children’s Literature Grows Up: Harry Potter and the Children’s Literature Revolutionwhich I will link in the shownotes. And if you do read it and want to further discuss intertextuality in Harry Potter, please dm me because I, like, live for that stuff.
Anyway, the point is, intertextuality gives the text multiple layers of meaning, and the interconnection between works of literature can reflect and influence an audience’s interpretation of the text. This is an important concept to grasp about how literature works, and it’s great if your child can start seeing the interconnectivity among books and stories and characters early on. This might seem like a lot for a toddler or preschooler and I’m not, you know, suggesting that you try to teach your child about intertextuality in any sort of formal way, but demonstrating how stories can relate to each other helps to hone your child’s comparison skills and can also help your child later on when she is asked in school to put a work of fiction in historical, social, or literary context. The concept of intertextuality and how it works will already be something familiar to her brain. So, to put theory into practice, if you decide to read both Lobel’s Owl At Home and Pizzoli’s Good Night Owl to your child, you can help her to notice the interconnectivity between these two books simply by asking her, for example, how the two owls are the same and how they are different. Or, if you read Lobel’s book first, when you’re then reading about Pizzoli’s owl, you can say something like, “Oh boy, Owl is getting really nervous. Do you think he’s going to calm down? You don’t? Why not?” and then you can say something like, “Remember how the other Owl got so upset that he broke his bed? Wasn’t that so hilarious? Do you think this Owl is going to break his bed? Let’s keep reading and see…” Or you can even just point out that there are also two bumps at the bottom of Pizzoli’s owl’s bed and that both owls are wearing nighttime clothes. It can be really simple, but it’s great to make your child aware early on that this is a thing that books and stories do.
Okay, let’s talk a little bit more in detail about Arnold Lobel’s Owl At Home and then we’ll talk about Greg Pizzoli’s Good Night Owl and you can see how the two compare. Owl At Home is an early reader book, so it’s perfect for children who have just learned the basics of reading and who are craving more interesting, more complex stories than just those of the “See Spot Run” variety. Owl At Home is comprised of five very short chapters, each chapter containing one isolated incident in Owl’s daily—or, rather, I guess because he’s nocturnal, nightly—life. And the reason I think this is such a perfect bedtime read is that, even though Owl is quite funny and each incident is amusing, all of the stories also have a very cozy and homely feel to them, and (we’ll talk a bit more about the illustrations as we discuss each chapter, but) their muted tones and soft lines also contribute to this very snug, warm, comfortable atmosphere.
So here’s what happens in each of the chapters in this book:
In the first chapter, entitled “The Guest,” Owl is sitting down in his armchair by the fire to a supper of hot pea soup and hot buttered toast when he hears a loud noise at his door. He opens the door, but no one is there, only the snow and the wind. He settles back down, only to hear the noise again. He determines that it must be the Winter, wanting to come in and warm itself a bit. So, Owl opens his door wide, Winter rushes in, and Owl’s house is immediately filled from top to bottom with whooshing wind and snow. Owl, declaring that Winter is being a very bad guest indeed, orders Winter to leave, and, after everything is thoroughly upended, Winter rushes back out, slamming the door. The chapter ends with Owl returning to his thawing bowl of pea soup as the snow melts by his re-lighted fire. It’s a really humorous little episode and I love the way Arnold Lobel manages to get across the feeling of a complete disruption of the calm, placid evening and then also just as skillfully returns us to a sense of peace and contentment as the story comes to a close.
The illustrations also perfectly support this movement from calm to chaos and back to calm again with beautiful, homey little scenes of Owl in his armchair bookending the chapter, but then so many funny little vignettes of a ruffled and disgruntled Owl being pushed by the wind and covered in snow in between. I particularly love the expressions on Owl’s face in the illustrations of him right as he opens the door and has his eyes squeezed shut against the blast of cold and then his furious, indignant expression in the illustration when Winter finally exits his home. They are so endearing and hilarious at the same time. And, again, the way that Lobel ends the chapter with Owl snuggled up under a blanket enjoying his soup and the warm fire really makes this such a nice story for bedtime.
In the second chapter, “Strange Bumps,” Owl is in bed, getting ready to go to sleep when he notices two strange bumps under his covers. The reader knows that these bumps are actually Owl’s feet, but Owl, of course, does not realize this fact and becomes increasingly agitated and fearful. He tries to sleep, but he can’t because he worries about what the bumps might be and do in the darkness; when he tries to move and the bumps, of course, move too, it further freaks him out; he takes off the covers, but then he’s cold so he puts them back on and the bumps are there again. Finally, completely terrified, he jumps up on his bed yelling, “Where are you? What are you?” and ends up breaking his bed with a crash. Owl finally decides that the only way to escape the bumps is to go to sleep downstairs in his armchair, which he does and the episode ends with a peaceful illustration of owl in his pajamas, fast asleep in his chair.
Again, the way Arnold Lobel draws Owl in his terrified state is just so, so funny. My kids and I always laugh at the illustrations in this chapter, especially when all you see of Owl in one image is just his wide, scared eyes peeking out over the edge of his blanket. And my boys also are fascinated by the one vignette where Owl is going downstairs holding a lighted candle, not only because they think it’s so interesting that that’s what he uses instead of a flashlight, but also because Lobel draws him looking nervously backward, up the stairs, but, because he’s an owl, his head is entirely swiveled around. This sparks a lot of conversation in my house about how owls are able to turn their heads around—something my preschooler thinks is incredibly cool. And, before we move on to the next chapter, I have to also mention that my favorite illustration of the entire book is in this chapter, and that is the one of Owl in his pajamas sitting in his armchair, fast asleep in the lamp and candlelight, with his bookshelf behind him. It’s such a beautiful, cozy image and I’m a huge sucker for an illustration with an anthropomorphic animal and books. It’s one of my favorite things and, again, it’s a lovely, comforting image for bedtime.
Okay. In the third chapter, “Tear-Water Tea,” Owl decides to brew himself a cup of tear-water tea, which means that he sits down and thinks of many sad things in order to make himself cry. He catches the tears in his kettle and then makes tea out of his tear water. When he fills the kettle, he says, “There, that does it!” and happily fills his cup. He remarks that, though a bit salty, tear-water tea is always very good.
My preschooler loves this chapter because the things that Owl laments are so random and insignificant in the grand scheme of things and therefore funny. Owl mentions things like pencils that are too short to use or mashed potatoes left on a plate because no one wanted to eat them, but also some things that do, indeed, sort of make you feel a little forlorn or a tiny bit sad when you think of them: like, for example, songs that cannot be sung because the words have been forgotten or books that can’t be read because some of the pages are torn out. My son James and I have a little game going because of this book where if we see something a little disappointing or unfortunate-looking, we add it to our list of things that would be good for tear-water tea, like a mitten without a match, or a crayon missing its wrapper, or a discarded cupcake with the top eaten off of it. Arnold Lobel really tapped into something here because for some reason, having a label for unfortunate random things like this, as “things that are good for tear-water tea” really brings us so much satisfaction. And, also, if something unfortunate occurs, like we lose a mitten, it weirdly helps to lessen our dismay even as we lament it.
And before we move on, incidentally, I just want to say that I like this chapter because I think it’s such a great thing to teach children that it’s okay to have a good cry, even if it’s not about anything in particular, but just because we feel blue or we feel overwhelmed or we need a release of emotion. Sometimes children, and adults, too, for that matter, just need to cry. And I love that, even though it’s meant to be funny, Owl models how therapeutic it can be to allow ourselves to feel sad and cry and to sit with those feelings. I mean, tear-water tea as a beverage seems especially appropriate for this year in particular.
Okay. Chapter Four is called “Upstairs and Downstairs” and in this little story, Owl decides that he must find a way to be both upstairs and downstairs in his house at the same time because, as it is, he is always missing one place or the other: when he is downstairs he wonders how his upstairs is doing and when he is upstairs he wonders how his downstairs is getting along. So, to solve this problem, Owl decides to run very, very fast so that he can try to be in both places at once. Of course, he succeeds only in making himself exhausted, and, giving up, he sits on the tenth step which is exactly in the middle.
I think this chapter is such a funny, endearing way to address something that I think a lot of children do, which is to try to see if they can beat the odds and do something that’s physically impossible, like catching their shadows or trying to make it into their beds before the lights go out after flicking the switch. The laws of physics aren’t always so clear to kids and I think this story does a great job of both gently making fun of that and also sympathizing with it. Arnold Lobel is so wonderful at this: at poking fun at the absurdities of childhood, but in a tender, kindhearted way so that the child never feels mocked, but rather deeply understood, so that she can also see the humor and laugh along at herself.
And I also think, again, Lobel taps into a feeling that is profoundly human and hard to describe: that little tug of always missing something or the other. As I’ve mentioned before on this podcast, I’m Greek-American and, although we predominantly live in the United States and a lot of our family is also here in the town where we live, we also have a home on a little island in Greece in the village where my grandmother (my yiayia) was born. Actually, our house is built on the very spot where she and her siblings were born. Growing up, my parents and my siblings and my Yiayia and her brother, my Nouno, would spend every summer there with our extended family and this has continued into my adulthood and now I take my children there, too. And it’s funny having a home with family that you love in two very different places because when you’re in one place, there is always a part of you that misses the other. My Yiayia and Nouno have both passed away now, but whenever I read this little chapter, I think of them and how they used to describe this feeling to us, of always having a little part of you that is thinking about and missing another place. Just a random little side-note, but I love how Arnold Lobel highlights something very true and unique to the human experience but he does it in such a lighthearted, relatable way that children can easily grasp.
Okay, in the final chapter, “Owl and the Moon,” Owl goes down to the seashore and watches the moon rise. He says to the moon, “If I am looking at you, moon, then you must be looking back at me. We must be very good friends.” Finally, it’s time for Owl to go home and he says goodbye to the moon, only to realize as he’s walking home that the moon seems to be following him. He protests and tells the moon that even though he appreciates the moon lighting his way home, it really must remain above the sea where it looked so beautiful and, besides, there isn’t enough room for the moon to fit in Owl’s house, and he doesn’t have anything to give it for supper. After a little while, the moon goes behind some clouds and Owl returns to his home, a little melancholy because, as he says, “It is always a little sad to say good-bye to a friend.” But then his room is filled with silver light as the moon comes out from behind the clouds. “Moon, you have followed me all the way home. What a good, round friend you are!” Owl says and he goes to bed happily, under the glow of the moon. The last illustration shows Owl fast asleep, his eyes closed with his little beak peeking out from under the covers, and the moon shining in the window, emitting a soft glow on Owl’s bed and face.
This is the warm, cozy ending to what was in general a snug, cozy book. Again, I love all of the gentle humor Lobel infuses in this chapter with Owl’s childlike personifications of the inanimate moon and his rationalization of how things like the moonlight work. In general, it really is such a fun collection of stories that you can read anytime with your child, but the way each chapter concludes with a moment of quiet tranquility really make Owl At Home the perfect read aloud for bedtime.
So that was Owl At Home, now let’s move on to talk about Good Night Owl, and as we go along, we can talk about the similarities that you and your children will notice between Lobel’s and Pizzoli’s books.
Now, you might remember Greg Pizzoli’s The Watermelon Seed from our very first episode, Episode 1: Best Board Books for Toddlers. We all absolutely adore The Watermelon Seed in my family; it has remained a favorite of my son James even though he’s now four years old. He loves to read it to Luke, who is 22 months old, and they both think it is so funny and they giggle away together. Anyway, this episode isn’t about The Watermelon Seed, BUT if your family likes that book, you will most likely also love Good Night Owl because it is written in the same vein. It has a similar sense of humor, with the owl engaging in the same kind of over-the-top dramatics and expressive facial expressions that make the crocodile in The Watermelon Seed so appealing and funny. It’s great and it also happens to be my son Luke’s absolute favorite book for going on about 10 months now. He’s been obsessed with it since around his first birthday and we’ve read it almost every day this year. We have both the hardcover version and also the board book version so that Luke can take it with him when we go on walks or in the car. But I just want to say, even though it’s excellent for toddlers, Good Night Owl isn’t limited to that audience. Preschoolers and Kindergarteners and early elementary schoolers will also really enjoy this book. I mean, I really enjoy it and I’m 36.
First of all, Greg Pizzoli’s main character, Owl, is very much like Lobel’s Owl in personality, demeanor, and even physicality: he has the same kind of loveable eccentricity, with his nonsensical and increasingly-drastic reactions, and even the fact that he is drawn anthropomorphically in his cozy bathrobe. And, as you read this book, you’ll notice that some of the illustrations are also almost identical, portraying the owls in the same position, with the same expression on their faces, but Pizzoli’s image is just a bit more modernized and minimalist. There are a few particular illustrations that stand out to me as being directly inspired by Owl At Home, the first of them being the one where Owl opens his door to see if there’s someone outside: in composition, it’s almost identical to Lobel’s illustration on the title page of the book that is reproduced as a smaller vignette in “The Guest.” But I love that Pizzoli took this illustration of Owl peeking out curiously from his snug little house and finding nothing but the wind and made it his own, with the book’s signature colors and clean lines. It still conveys the same meaning and feeling as Lobel’s illustration, but it adds a little more humor because you can also see the source of the noise, the mouse, peeking through the window. This kind of sets the tone for the rest of the book because where Lobel’s Owl At Home is definitely humorous, Good Night Owl has a little bit more of an edge to it because, while Owl gets increasingly exasperated, in a way, so does the child-reader and this actually adds to the fun of the book. Because the reader can see the mouse, the source of all the disruption, but Owl continues to be oblivious, it’s exasperating (but in a good way!) to watch him go nuts and tear everything apart until he figures out what it is. I also love the illustrations of Owl cowering in his bed, because even though this Owl’s fears are about a noise, Pizzoli still includes the two little bumps under the covers and I think that’s such a fun little detail that ties the two books together.
Okay, so, before we go any further, here is the story of Good Night Owl in a nutshell: A pale, cotton-candy blue owl in a pink robe—or dressing-gown depending on how many Jane Austen novels you’ve read or episodes of Downtown Abbey you’ve binged—is ready to settle in for the night, sitting in his bed with a cup of tea on his bedside table and a book open in his lap, when he hears a noise— a tiny “SQUEEK!” Unbeknownst to Owl, but seen by the reader, the noise is coming from a friendly albeit cheeky little mouse who is hiding in Owl’s bedroom. Thinking the noise is coming from outside, Owl goes to check, but nobody is there. He settles into bed again, says to himself, “Goodnight, Owl,” only to hear the noise again. This time he thinks it’s coming from the cupboard, but again, even though he empties every shelf of the cupboard, he can’t find the source of the noise. Now a little more perturbed, he goes back to bed, says “Goodnight Owl,” only to hear the noise again. This time he thinks it’s coming from the floorboards and he tears up the floor trying to find the source. Then the whole pattern repeats itself and Owl, who has become increasingly exasperated hunting for the source of the “squeek,” furiously takes down the roof of his house. He gets back into bed, his bedroom now exposed to the night sky, and he again bids himself goodnight but finds that now he’s too enraged and petrified to fall asleep, knowing that any second he’ll hear the noise again. After an agonizing wait, he does indeed hear the noise again, and basically freaks out yelling “It’s in the walls!” as he tears down the rest of his house. At this point, he crawls back into his bed, clutching his pillow, basically in full existential crisis-mode and he finally, finally sees the source of all his anxiety. The mouse squeaks, Owl smiles, and says “Good night, noise,” and the two creatures go to sleep under the stars.
So, as you can see, Pizzoli has taken elements from the “Strange Bumps” and “The Guest” chapters and has made them into a fresh new story and he also addresses some new concerns. For example, I really like the idea of a book that addresses the whole issue of hearing strange sounds at bedtime in a way that appeals to the child’s sense of humor and intelligence. I don’t know about your kids, but if the wind happens to be particularly strong or I drop a book on my way from my office to my bedroom, my 4-year-old immediately likes to inform me that he has heard something out of the ordinary, usually by yelling, “Mommy, I’m on the monitor! Did you hear that noise?” and then proceeding to go through all the iterations of “What was that noise? Are you going to check and make sure that noise is what you said it was? Would you just check to make sure that noise isn’t coming from, like, I don’t know, maybe that Room on the Broom dragon stuffed animal that I hide in the closet every night even though I know he’s not real just in case?” And then the inevitable, “Mommy, I’m on the monitor and, just a quick update, but now I don’t hear a noise and I just thought you should know.” It’s such a universal childhood concern (not to mention parenting rite-of-passage) and it’s great to have a humorous bedtime book that addresses it without being too heavy handed about it. So, here again, like he does in The Watermelon Seed, Pizzoli takes a common childhood worry and manages to make it ridiculous and over-the-top enough that it helps the child laugh at himself and his fears a little bit, which is a great coping mechanism to learn at a young age. Brilliant stuff. We have a little family joke now that whenever my sons hear something that worries them at night, I go “IT’S IN THE WALLS!!!” and I am guaranteed at least a chuckle, which usually breaks the tension and lessens the worry going forward and we all get back to sleep faster. Definitely a win.
What I also like about Good Night Owl is the way Pizzoli makes the reader complicit in the story’s comedy from the very beginning. As we all know, children love to be in on a joke, so, after they get over their initial indignation that Owl can’t see the mouse even though he’s right there in front of him, kids will be so tickled that they know what is making the “squeek!” sound while Owl is left in the dark. And, in addition, this makes the book more interactive because, first of all, you can ask your child to try to spot the mouse as you progress through the book, and/or you can help your child take a more active role when you’re reading aloud by asking her to make the “squeek!” sound whenever you come to it. It’s always great when your child takes ownership of a story in some way because it helps her to build a bond with a book and gain confidence that will bolster her self-assurance when it comes time for her to learn how to read.
And speaking of learning how to read, like Owl At Home, Good Night Owl is also a great book for early readers. I’m planning to do an episode on this in the future, but just a quick 1-minute guide for now: when you’re looking for good books for beginning readers, you want to find a book where the text has a lot of repetition in structure, the sentences are short, the words are easy to decode, and the illustrations provide supportive clues to the reader. Good Night Owl hits all of these marks and, best of all, it actually has an engaging story. In my opinion, most books that are classified as “good for beginning readers” are, quite frankly, boring as heck, so I’m always on the lookout for a book that is easy enough for my child to read to himself or with a little bit of help, but that will also hook him by appealing to his intelligence and sense of humor.
Now onto the illustrations, which are terrific not only for children, but they’re also really fun for adults. The illustrations are all done in the graphic, flat-color style with only a few colors and simple lines that has become Pizzoli’s silk-screen signature look. This gets into the illustration process a little bit but, even though he finishes the composition of his illustrations in Photoshop, Pizzoli hand-prints the pieces and uses individual spot colors generated by mixing inks which make the colors in his illustrations more unique and memorable. Again, this is a little technical, but the blue of the Owl, for example, isn’t a blue that you get by just using the four color CMYK standard process and layering them. It’s a unique blue that’s generated by mixing actual inks, so it’s not easily replicated. And it’s touches like these that make Pizzoli’s books really special.
Also because of the illustrations, this is a great book to read at bedtime if you have kids who are different ages. Babies and toddlers will be drawn to Pizzoli’s bold illustration style because of their attraction to bright colors and high contrast and they’ll love Owl’s large eyes and expressive face; while preschoolers will love the way Pizzoli is able to create both suspense and hilarity through his alternating depictions of Owl cowering in his bed and furiously tearing apart his house. Both age groups will also love spotting the mouse and, additionally, if your children have read other books by Greg Pizzoli, like The Watermelon Seed, Number One Sam, Templeton Gets His Wish, and Tricky Vic, they will also love spotting the little references to these stories that Pizzoli has hidden throughout the book. For example, one of the portraits on the wall is the crocodile in The Watermelon Seed, and the trophy from Number One Sam, the gemstone from Templeton Gets His Wish, and the Eiffel Tower from Tricky Vic are in the cupboard. And, in a little self-referential illustration, if you have the hardcover version of this book, you can also spot the Home Sweet Home cross-stitch that appears on the front and back covers of this book under the dust jacket on the wall of Owl’s House, not to mention the fact that his home is a life-sized (or Owl-sized) replica of it.
And what’s also unique and fun about Good Night Owl is that grownups can do their own version of seek-and-find alongside their kids. For example, when Owl tears apart his cupboard, the records on the floor are drawings of actual real-life album covers, like The Clash’s “Give ‘Em Enough Rope,” Nirvana’s “Bleach” album, “Rocket to Russia” by The Ramones, “Fun House” by The Stooges, among others. I think I’ve managed to identify all of them except the blue album with the hand holding what I think is a torch. And if you know what album this is, please dm me on Instagram @exquisitelyeverafter or let me know in the comments of the blog post because it is driving me crazy. I’m starting to think that it might actually be a fake album cover because Greg Pizzoli wants me to lose my mind searching for it which, of course, would be the ultimate life imitating art. I’m definitely starting to identify with this poor, anxiety-ridden Owl in more ways than one.
Anyway, despite the fact that every time I read this book to my kids that unknown blue album cover taunts me, which is basically every day because I read this book basically every day, I do love that in this book Pizzoli also does a few subtle things to amuse the adults that have to read the book aloud over and over and over again. Besides the album covers, I love the page spread of Owl waiting to hear the “squeek!” where each image zooms closer and closer in on Owl’s face until the last one is just Owl’s eyes. This is a trick right out of a Hitchcock movie or any other thriller and I love that Pizzoli taps into our collective cultural memory here. The scene I think of is from Vertigo where Jimmy Stewart’s character sits up in bed after a horrible nightmare and the camera zooms in on his wide, terrified blue eyes, but Hitchcock uses this eye motif in a lot of his movies, like Psycho and Spellbound, for example. And what’s so cool is that Pizzoli does the same thing as Hitchcock, using the eyes as a way into the psychological unrest that the character is feeling. And it’s amusing for us grownups to see and recognize this horror/thriller device in a children’s book, but it also introduces children to different visual effects that are commonly used in cinema and other media to convey an emotion or feeling through image.
Finally, the reason I think this book is excellent for bedtime is that, like Lobel’s Owl At Home, Good Night Owl gives your child a story that is fun, engaging, humorous, but also ends with a scene of cozy contentment. And, as I said, the illustrations are also full of interesting details to pore over so you and your child can read this book again and again without getting bored. It’s a satisfying read in every aspect, and the Owl character really becomes an endearing, familiar friend to your child that she can return to each night before bed.
So that’s it for Good Night Owl and Owl At Home AND this episode of the Exquisitely Ever After podcast! I hope that if you and your family haven’t read Owl At Home or Good Night Owl, that I’ve convinced you to add them both to your bedtime reading list. And if I have convinced you, let me know how it goes! Did you like reading these two books in tandem? And, if you are an Arnold Lobel fan, how do you feel about the way Pizzoli uses Owl At Home as inspiration? Let me know by dm-ing me on Instagram @exquisitelyeverafter or emailing me at christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com or you can leave me a comment on the blog post for this episode at exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode18. I really appreciate that you spent this time listening to me talk about children’s literature today. There are two more episodes to go of this second season of the podcast and I wanted to let you know that our final episode this year will be a special “Ask Me Anything” episode. So if you have any questions about reading children’s literature to your kids, or about books for specific stages, or your child’s particular needs, or just a general question about children’s books, or really anything else relating to reading and children, you can email me your question at christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com or dm me on Instagram @exquisitelyeverafter by December 17th and I’ll do my best to answer it in Episode 20. I’ve received a few questions so far and they are so great so I think it will be a really fun episode. Next week’s episode will be all about Christmas books which has also been really fun and festive for me and I can’t wait to share those books with you, too, so stay tuned for that one! Thanks so much again, everyone! Take care, keep safe, and of course, keep reading!
Hi guys! It’s Christina from the future and I just had to hop back on here and say that, in a wonderful instance of serendipity, on the very day that I was uploading this episode, Greg Pizzoli posted on his Instagram revealing the identities of all the album covers! Hooray! I no longer need to turn the internet upside down and inside out trying to find that mysterious blue album. Finally, peace. Haha, anyway, I just thought you’d like to know and also, if you don’t already follow Greg Pizzoli on Instagram, you absolutely should because he seems like just the nicest human and it’s so fun to get a sneak peek of all the projects he’s working on. Alright, that’s it! Take care everyone. Talk to you soon!
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