I Know How to Draw an Owl - by Hilary Horder Hippely (Hardcover)

About the Book

A homeless girl, who lives in a car with her mother, draws a lifelike portrait of an owl based on firsthand experience.

Book Synopsis

Belle draws the best owl in class, but she doesn't say why: she sees them in the park, where she and her mother sleep.

Charlotte Zolotow Award Winner!

Belle and her mother used to have a house, a table, and chairs, a home like any of Belle's classmates'. But things changed. Now, they curl up each night in a blanket nest in their old blue car, with their things packed in around them.

The first night was hard, but they've never been alone: their friend the owl has always been nearby, hooting in its tree, looking out for them. Belle longs to catch sight of it, and one night, she finally does. That's how she learned to draw an owl.

No one knows that story. But when a new boy comes to school, a boy whose car looks like Belle's, a boy who looks lost and scared, it's Belle's turn to watch over someone.

Hilary Horder Hippely's soulful text pairs with Matt James's atmospheric illustrations in a book all too relevant to the realities of many families. Neither flinching nor sensationalizing, I Know How to Draw an Owl is a deeply empathetic and age-appropriate portrayal of a family experiencing housing insecurity.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Nominated for the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award

Review Quotes

Hilary Horder Hippely champions courage and kindness while presenting a difficult and relevant topic--unhoused families--in I Know How to Draw an Owl. Award-winning illustrator Matt James elevates Hippely's heartfelt story with his richly layered, deeply saturated art.
--Shelf Awareness (starred review)

Acrylic paintings by James (Tadpoles) convey measured calm throughout this nuanced work whose energy radiates from a transformative encounter.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hippely's picture book examines the challenging reality of homelessness in an empathetic and accessible way through the eyes of an unhoused child.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

A beautiful, moving picture book.
--Booklist (starred review)

Hippely's lyrical, empathetic text complements James' mesmerizing, at times haunting acrylic illustrations. . . A visually compelling, compassionate look at an often-misunderstood situation.
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Hilary Horder Hippely grew up on an island in Washington State. She attended Cornell University, and has advanced degrees in English Literature from the University of Washington and an AA in Early Childhood Education. Her previous picture books include The Crimson Ribbon, A Song for Lena, Adventure on Klickitat Island, and Rain or Shine. She lives in Seattle with her husband, near their seven grown children and their families.

Matt James has won many prestigious awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the New Mexico Book Award and the Governor General's Award for Illustration. He illustrated When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge and The Stone Thrower by Jael Ealey Richardson. His author-illustrator debut, The Funeral, was named a New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book. As a child, Matt liked to trace comics and pretend that tennis racquets were guitars. Now he lives in Toronto and behaves more like a grown up.