Owly & Wormy HC 1 Friends All Aflutter

Owly

by Andy Runton

(A) Andy Runton Owly and Wormy wants some butterflies. But when they come home from the nursery with a plant that will attract some fluttering friends, all that shows up are fat, green bug things. Bug

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Graphic Novels, Childrens, Animals, Comics, Fiction

Hardcover

First published March 8, 2011

About the author

Andy is the creator of the breakout all-ages series of graphic novels, Owly, featuring a kind-hearted little owl who's always searching for new friends and adventure. Relying on a mixture of symbols and expressions to tell his silent stories, Andy?s work showcases both his gift for characterization and his love of birds, animals, and the outdoors. His animated and heartwarming style has made him a favorite of both fans and critics alike.

The Owly series has earned him multiple awards in the comics and graphic novel community, including the Howard E. Day Memorial Prize, the Harvey Award, two Ignatz Awards, and the 2006 Eisner Award for "Best Publication for a Younger Audience". He lives in the greater Atlanta area, where he works full-time on Owly comics, books, and graphic novels.

Reviews

[Meg McGregor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was simply adorable!

It is such a sweet story; and my girls really enjoyed making up the story, as they took turns, reading the illustrations!

It is a wordless book. I have to admit, it was a little hard for me to follow!

The girls explained the parts I wasn't understanding!

The students have outperformed the teacher!

[Emilia P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Predictable, and predictably brought a tear to my eye.
Owly, you are the best dude in the game.

[Zaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being an owl automatically puts a target on Owly. He wants to help and is always seen as the enemy. That is until he saves wormy and returns him to his family.

[Jennifer Zaragoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very very cute book with adorable illustrations! It has minimal writing but a story is told through pictures which is super engaging and nice to have for a younger audience or for students that still don't understand a certain language. It is nice to have books like these in classroom in order for students that still don't feel comfortably reading books with lots of words can become comfortable "reading" a book. Overall, really liked it but also know that it might not be a lot of teachers first choice (that's why the 4/5).

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really more of a 3.5 than a 3. I still love Owly and Wormy and the story is good, but I wasn't a big fan of the switch from black and white graphic novel to color print picture book. I found it, personally, very overwhelming and had a harder time following the story. It could just be how my brain processes information, but I'm curious if others might have this issue? I'm just not sure that the format is the best for the story that's being told.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an adorably fun wordless picture book story to share with your kiddos. Owly and his wormy companion are hoping to attract fluttery friends to their neighborhood. Strangely, they are only able to interest caterpillars to their humble garden. Kids will love these beautifully illustrated and expressive characters and enjoy delivering the message the images perfectly convey.

[Mely · Rating 4 out of 5]

My toddler and I are really starting to appreciate the graphic novel style of picture books. It allows her to really submerged herself into the story and "read" it herself. I, myself, like to ad-lib the story when we read it together since there is no actual text. Looking forward to reading more from this series.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are very colorful, but at times hard to gauge. This is a wordless book and it was difficult to follow. Maybe I was just stymied by my adult imagination...maybe a child would do much better interpreting the story.

[Telthor]

I don't usually do picture books on here, but A: This was a recommendation from a good friend, and B: OHHH SO CUTE.

To tell a story like this without words, with so many gorgeous images, and to really bring out characters and emotions? Fantastic. A masterfully fun read.

[Michelle Farella · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!!! SO CUTE!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute.

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also super cute. This depicts the butterfly process well which I liked. Lovely colors too.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Meaghann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Owly and Wormy and this story is still very adorable, I just wish it went a little bit more in depth about the cycle for the worms to butterflies.

[Beth Kakuma-Depew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gifted this to my niece who was 3 during Christmas 2020. My brother said she like how there were no words. I'm not yet sure what this means, since we haven't hung out together due to Covid Times.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute! Also a good reminder that if you want to make friends with butterflies, you can do that, but you can also make friends with caterpillars.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the Owly books are so amazing. Even the picture ones that don't even have words.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read two books from this series, and while I do like them, I find them challenging to understand with the pictures in the speech bubbles. I like the illustrations, though.

[Bismillah Tookhy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was sad for mom and dad for wormy when he move to owly home . But owly and wormy have a good feeding the hamingbrid it was kind for the help .

[Mo · Rating 2 out of 5]

No text, not in comic book format, but a typical sweet Owly adventure in learning about butterflies.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, full-color picture book addition to the Owly series. Owly and Wormy befriend two caterpillars and spend a happy summer with them. But one morning their friends have disappeared! Where have they gone? Will they ever come back?

[Roxanne Watlington · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Graphic novel Owly & Wormy, Friends All Aflutter! written by Andy Runton is a book told through pictures and is about two friends who want to catch butterflies. They bought a plant that at first they thought would attract the butterflies but instead the plant caught bugs that ended up being caterpillars. They all ended up becoming friends but the two caterpillars had to leave which made them very upset. What Owly and Wormy didn’t know was that these caterpillars would come back to be butterflies which is exactly what they wanted in the first place! The cute story ended in a very happy situation.
Since the story didn’t have words I would highly recommend to young children who are starting to make friends but also older children who love pictures. I loved how cute and vibrant the pictures were in the book. Since there are no words the illustrations are very important to the story. I really liked how the images clearly illustrate all the emotions and faces of the characters and how they feel on that given page. This book is great for kids who have a big imagination and love meeting new people. I wasn’t sure If I would understand it but I certainly understood the whole book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations in this book. They were so lively and inviting and the expressions on all of the creatures faces were priceless. They really showed the emotions of the characters well. The story line was a tad bit confusing for me, mainly because there was so much going on throughout the pages and the thought bubbles made things a little easier to understand but it was still a great book. Owly and Wormy were two friends and at the beginning they saw butterflies and wanted to have them come to their forest. So they went and bought a plant that they thought would attract butterflies and put it in their forest. Then two little green bugs, also known as caterpillars, came along and Owly and Wormy were upset because they wanted butterflies and didn't think they were ever going to come. But then they got to know the caterpillars well and became friends and then the two caterpillars had to go away for a little bit and Owly and Wormy missed them a lot and then they came back as butterflies because they had to go through their life cycle of caterpillar to butterfly and it ended with them being happy and loving each other. The text to self connection I made was in my friend group in high school. At first, I didn't think I would ever want to be friends with some of the people because of the way they dressed or how they looked but once I got to know them, I realized they were really amazing people and we became the best of friends. Which is what Owly and Wormy experienced when they thought they wanted butterflies but ended up only getting caterpillars but befriended them anyways. The text to text connection I made was to an episode of Caillou I watched while babysitting one time. Caillou and his friends started talking with a new kid in the neighborhood and didn't think they would like him because he was new and not what they expected, but then Caillou started hanging out with him and realized that he really like this new kid and showed all his other friends how awesome he was too. So they all became friends even when they thought they wanted something different. The text to world connection I made was along the same lines. In life, you always expect or want something and you may not always get exactly what you planned but if you think about it and realize how blessed you are to get it, you start to accept it and end up loving the situation or people that you never thought you would. This is a great children's book because it makes them think that they need to open up their perspectives and let the unexpected take place because it really can be a beautiful thing!

[Jessica Vanhemel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover art is what drew me to this book in the first place, the illustration just really intrigued me and made me want to read the book. Since their are no words in the story, the illustrations are really important to the story. These particular illustrations are really good, they help tell the story. They clearly illustrate the emotions of the characters and how they feel in this story. I really did enjoy creating my own story to go along with the pictures so I know that children would also like this story.

This is the story of owly and her friend wormy and their adventure with butterflies. Owly decides to plant some flowers because she likes butterflies, she goes to the nursery to buy some flowers to attract the butterflies. They plant the flowers and wait for the butterflies, they put up signs to encourage the butterflies to come. Owly notices that the flower looks sick, their are pieces missing from the leaves, like something was eating the flower. She finds caterpillars eating her flower, she is not happy about this. She wants the caterpillars to leave but they let her know that the flower is their home, she decides that they are friends and that they can stay. They become really good friends, the caterpillars inform Owly that it is time for them to leave. All of them are sad, Owly wants to through a going away party but the caterpillars are already gone. She looks everywhere, but cannot find them. She notices that there are little brown bubbles on the leaves of her flower, soon they begin to shake and open and out comes the caterpillars are now butterflies. Owly realizes that caterpillars become butterflies and her friends are back. All are happy!

I would probably use this book in a kindergarten class or maybe early in a first grade classroom. You could do a lot of activities with it, creating your own story to go along with the pictures. This would also be a good introduction into the transformation of caterpillar into a butterfly. Overall I enjoyed this book and I think that younger children would enjoy it as well.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The popular Owly graphic novels make their picture book debut with this colorful new story. Owly and his best friend Wormy want to make friends with some butterflies. So they plant a milkweed plant, hoping to attract some. All they manage to attract are some bugs that are definitely not butterflies and that are munching on the milkweed leaves. Owly and Wormy make friends with the bugs instead until one day the bugs have to leave. Now Owly and Wormy are left alone. They wait and wait for their friends to return. When they eventually do come back though, Owly and Wormy don’t recognize them!

Runton’s friendly and funny Owly graphic novels are some of my go-to graphic novels for younger children. This new book makes the Owly stories available to even younger readers. With the wordless format, this is a book that will appeal to children just about to become readers themselves.

Add the bright colors to the illustrations and you have a very appealing book that is about friendship and metamorphosis. The cartoon-like illustrations filled with smiling faces large and small are very friendly themselves. The illustrations run from two-page spreads to smaller more graphic-novel-like images that read as panels.

This book takes graphic novels to the youngest readers and introduces them to a friend that they can share adventures with for years to come. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

[Sarah Huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this wordless picture book because the story was very obvious. The environment and facial expressions of the characters and pictures made it very easy to create a story that went along with the pictures. In this story Owly and his friend Wormy want to get butterflies around their house so they buy a plant but two caterpillars end up eating the plant and Owly gets upset and starts to worry about not having butterflies come to their house. Owly and Wormy become really good friends with the caterpillars but one day they leave and it is a sad farewell. After the caterpillars leave Owly and Wormy are so sad and still no butterflies come to their flowers. One day they see something shaking on their plant and out pops the two caterpillars except now they're butterflies! And the four of them spend the rest of their lives together. I enjoyed this story because it had a lesson to not give up. Owly didn't get butterflies for the longest time but he never gave up and eventually he got butterflies in his plant! It was a happy story and had a happy ending and I would read it in my classes and then have each child adopt a caterpillar and watch it turn into a butterfly.

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I was up for a book called Owly and Wormy, with cartoon-style illustrations, and my non-favorite: no text! But reluctantly (after reluctanctly checking it out with my four-year-old's other choices), I began to "read" it in a Russian accent. (This was in case I needed to say, in Despicable Me's (one of the many kids' movies I'm not entirely enthusiastic about) Gru's voice, "Thees ees garbage." However, we have had such fun with this book with all of my boys--ages 4-14, that I have to give it a good recommendation. Once you start improvising in your own Russian narration, you will find ample illustrated material, such as the ecologically curly idea light bulb, to fuel your own perpetually impressed commentary without being cynical. In short: Owly and Wormy plant a plant to encourage butterflies to come to their garden. CaterPElars (remember, Russian accent) come instead. But we are feeled with love FOR them!!! And then they go away?!?!?!?!?!?! Can such a story possibly end happily?!?!?!?

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

•Brief summary

This book is a graphic novel for kids. Owl and wormy want butterflies. They go to there friends store to buy plants that will attract butterflies. But instead of butterflies, strange little green bugs come to live in the plants. Owl, wormy and the bugs become good friends. One day the bugs go away. Owl is very sad. He waits a very long time for them to come back. At the end of April he notices to cacoons on the plant starting to hatch. The little bugs are now butterflies!

•Audience
pre-school and kindergarden

•Appeal
This book reads just like a comic book and the pictures look like cartoons. I think this would be very fun for kids.


•Implementation
I would use this book when learning about the life cycle of butterflies. This book could be use as an example of picture stories. The children could than draw there own story for the butterfly life cycle. They could also use this book for a writting activity and write there own words to the story.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the piles of wordless picture books I read a month ago, the story this one told stands out the most vividly to me. Runton is a practiced hand at communicating wordlessly. This story is about friendships blossoming, friends leaving and then returning vastly changed. Runton tells a great story with a lot of emotional changes, all shown through images instead of words. The only words in the story are in a "We'll miss you" banner, which isn't too terribly difficult for non-verbal/ESL readers to figure out, even if they aren't at the stage of sounding out the letters.

I love that there are speech bubbles and signs in this book that are filled entirely with easy to understand symbols. A lot of wordless picture books lose clarity or abandon character interaction entirely, but Runton tells a more complex story using these symbols.

Definitely recommended to anyone looking for wordless picture books. A great precursor to the comic books!

[Melissa Berke · Rating 3 out of 5]

How will this graphic novel enhance your collection (positives)? OR Describe cautions/concerns that you have with the book.

This would be a great book for developing readers. I like how the owl is continually questioning things and trying to figure things out, much like the the reader will need to figure out what is happening in the story. It is a great way for them to explore a graphic novel without "the clutter" of text. I think it is deceptively challenging. There is enough subtlety in the pictures, that children will need to
really examine the pictures to understand the plot. This could also be a concern.


Describe a possible application and audience for the book
This book would be an great way to introduce young children to the life cycle of the butterfly.

3.) An adapted book review citation:
(May 10, 2011) School Library Journal. http://blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkid...