Before we get into the review proper, I just want to acknowledge how weird it is that I didn’t read any books by authors named Jennifer for the first 5 months of the year, and then I read two in a row!
My quest to learn a little bit about just about everything in nature continues with What An Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman. This book covers a little bit of everything about owls: their biology and what makes them unique; their ecological niche; myths, legends, and public attitude about owls; current challenges to their survival, and conservation efforts trying to counteract that; and of course, the answer to the question, are owls really that wise?
My main takeaway from this book is that owls are pretty cool. I know, I know. It’s a huge surprise that I read a book about an animal and now I think that animal is cool. I like to keep it on-brand around here, and my brand is animal facts!
This is the book to read if you want to know how owls fly so silently (it has to do with the structure of their feathers), how they hear so well (their whole head is basically an ear), why their eyes are where they are (it’s the only place they’ll fit), and other very important owl facts. What do owls eat? Where do they nest? How do they choose their mates? You’ll learn it all.
I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author herself, and she has a delightful habit of recreating owl calls where they’re mentioned in the text. Her enthusiasm for these beautiful birds really comes through. In fact, I honestly can’t think of anything bad to say about this book. I mean yes, you’ll be wanting to learn even more about owls when you’re done, but Ackerman references several other authors’ work so you’ll know where to dive deeper into specific owls or more generalized bird biology. If you love animals like I do, do yourself a favor and read this, and especially give it a listen if you enjoy audiobooks!
CWs and TWs: Mild discussions of animal predation, death, injury, and of course the discussions of climate change and extinction risk that is part and parcel of any nature-related book, but over all this one is light on the gory bits of nature.
Source and Format: I read this as an audiobook from Sno-Isle Libraries.
Book Bingo Prompts
SAL/SPL Adult Summer Reading: Sky Creatures. Honestly I kind of wanted to read a book about dragons for this one, but What An Owl Knows was right there on my TBR, and then the online book club that I accidentally joined told me I was the next host (because they go alphabetically and my name starts with A…) and this was the book that got the most votes out of the three nature books I suggested! Might still read something about dragons later, but I’m not mad about this.
Book Bingo Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 16 out of 25 prompts complete. 2 bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 14 out of 25 prompts complete. 0 bingos.
SAL/SPL Adult Summer Reading: 9 out of 23 prompts, 0 bingos.