Little Owl's Orange Scarf

Originally from North Carolina, Tatyana Feeney studied illustration at the North East Wales College of Art and Design and now lives in Ireland. She is the author of Small Bunny’s Blue Blanket, Little Frog’s Tadpole Trouble, and Small Elephant’s Bathtime.
From the Hardcover edition.

There’s no accounting for taste. Little Owl’s mother has knitted him a long, warm, orange scarf. And he hates it. It’s not that Little Owl is negative—he loves adding numbers, eating ice cream, riding his scooter, and, usually, surprises—except this one. To Little Owl, the scarf is itchy, too long, and way too orange. He does everything he can to lose the scarf, but the wise mom owl always finds it. Until Little Owl’s class goes to the zoo, and he makes one giraffe very, very happy. Feeney’s line-and-wash illustrations ramp up the charm throughout, depicting our owls in spare blue with a dab of orange on their tiny beaks. The offending scarf, by contrast, is large and assertively orange. A satisfying lesson in listening and cooperation is given when the mother offers to knit another scarf but this time with Little Owl’s help, from visiting the yarn store onward. And guess what? It isn’t orange. Preschool-Grade 2. --Connie Fletcher