One of the best baby books

‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell would have to be one of my favourite baby books. I bought our first copy for Tom when he was only four months old, and this board book has been replaced only once, despite being chewed by all three of our babies.

‘Owl Babies’ tells the story of three baby owls who wake up one night to an absent mother. I love the repetitive discussion between the three owl siblings, as they try to reassure each other. The repetitive dialogue makes it perfect for toddlers.

“She’ll be back,” said Sarah.
“Back soon!” said Percy.
“I want my mummy!” said Bill.

I looked after my one year-old niece once when she was a little concerned about the absence of her Mum. Whenever she asked, “Mummy?” I found myself saying, “She’ll be back!” “Back soon!” Annalise would say to her younger cousin. “Just like Owl Babies,” Tom added.

This snippet of dialogue has become firmly entrenched in our family conversations, and I think it could be used to comfort a little one. Because, of course, their Owl Mother does come back!

As this book has been loved so well, I decided to use Kristen Doran’s gorgeous owl panel to make up our own owl babies. It was fairly simple to cut around the owls, cut out the backing material, sew them together, turn them inside out, and help the kids to stuff them. The owls definitely needed a home, and there was definitely more gorgeous owl material left over, so I made a bag to keep them in. Annalise has loved acting out the Owl Babies story with our own owls, and it’s great for really little ones to have something to hold while reading the story.