Martine Murray (text) and Anna Read (illustrator), The owl who got left behind, Parachute Press, March 2022, 52 pp., RRP $29.95 (hbk), ISBN 978064503951
The owl and the pussycat went to sea, or so the story goes. This delightful and thought-provoking book starts from that point. What if the owl had a best friend – another owl – who was left behind and felt lonely and sad? Could there be a story there too? And yes, there is. The owl spends fruitless time beside the sea hoping his friend will return. Owls are supposed to be wise but this one isn’t. It’s a white rhinoceros who turns up one day and offers comfort and who has the most sense and insight. After having her kindness ignored (and even rebuffed) over some time, the rhino leaves. The owl misses her and finally realises he needs to value what he has rather than hankering after what has gone. His efforts to get the rhino back are, at first, in vain, but then she returns and a wonderful friendship is cemented. There are some really light-hearted moments too as when the rhino laments she can’t go to the swamp like most of the rhinos because she is ‘likely to get rashes’.
The layout of the book is varied, with the placement of the written text in different places on the page and with different-coloured page backgrounds. The animals display a variety of facial expressions and body language. In the first part of the story owl is rather hyperactive while the rhino observes from the side with a slightly gloomy expression on her face. This is often highlighted by having just her head showing on the left hand page.
At the very end of the book there is a stark reminder about the effects of human greed and degradation of the environment with a kind of afterword that reminds readers that there are only two Northern white rhinos alive in the world and they are both female, so the species is functionally extinct.
Parachute Press is a new, small publisher whose stated aim is to produce books that ‘inspire an imaginative and loving relationship to life, others and the natural world.’ The Owl who got left behind, has met that aim admirably. This is a story of friendship, love and being grateful for what is good in your life. It is not done in a didactic way, however. Young readers will enjoy the story and it can also be used to generate discussion in classrooms and family groups.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel