Silent Swoop

“Readers, ages 3 – 8, will be fascinated by the sequence of events of the rescue…Based on true events, readers will discover interesting facts about the Great Horned Owl and Walter Crawford, the person who rescued Coal, Junior, and thousands of other birds.” - Oneota Reading Journal

Michelle Houts writes fiction and nonfiction for children from a restored one-room schoolhouse in rural Ohio. Her middle-grade novels have won the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award and Bank Street College Best Books designation. She also likes telling about real people and has written the biographies of an artist, a legendary woman who played baseball, and the first woman to solo hike the Appalachian Trail. A fan of our feathered friends, Michelle heard about Coal’s most unusual rescue and knew she had to tell his story, making this her first biography of an owl. Find Michelle at Deb Hoeffner describes her unique style of “soft realism” as a layering of thought, paint, and possibilities. She specializes in capturing the spirit behind the eyes of her subjects, both animals and humans. In Silent Swoop, her illustrations tell the story of the special bond between Coal and Walter. A true animal lover, Deb shares her studio in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her collie, Isabelle Patch, and the deer, fox, crows, hawks, and other birds and animals that inhabit her backyard. An award-winning artist and book illustrator, Deb features her work at

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