The Boy and the Barn Owl

Theo is a small, wiry boy with warm brown skin and a gap-toothed smile, and he loves wandering the fields near his home, especially after rain. One misty morning in his mustard yellow raincoat and green rubber boots, he notices something pale and silent gliding above the grass: a barn owl with a heart-shaped white face. From then on, Theo watches the bird closely, jotting notes and sketching its quiet flight, the fence posts it passes and the old oak tree.

With his mother's encouragement, Theo discovers that barn owls are shy and hunt at dusk over open fields of short grass, and that they need calm, dark, safe places to nest, like the wooden nest box near the barn. He also learns that disturbed owls may leave for good. Instead of getting too close, Theo shares what he has seen by building an educational display with his mother's help. Readers can follow his patient, curious approach in this tale by Çınar BİBER, available on Masalcı Baba.