Owl Babies

Touchingly beautiful … Drawn with exquisite delicacy … The perfect picture book. * The Guardian *Stories about home-alone baby animals don’t come more appealing than this. * Daily Mail *A perfect bedtime story. * The Irish Times *Waddell’s stories treat the fears of the very small with wit and sensitivity … Benson’s pictures are outstanding. * The Independent on Sunday *Clever paper engineering. I love the way the baby owls’ eyes move and the impressive pop up owl and her three flapping youngsters. Celebrating 21 years of this well-loved tale, this is a charming book for the very young – Caroline Franklin * Newbury News Weekly *This beautiful board book edition is perfect for little hands. * Julia Eccleshare, LoveReading *“This sweet tale is great for introducing the concept of emotions and feelings.” * The Sun *The story has repetition and humour dotted throughout, great for early language development. The illustrations are beautiful and will capture young readers’ attention. * Books That Help *this gorgeous book may well be the catalyst for some conversations your family will remember always. * The i Paper, The best bedtime books of all time *

Born in Belfast, Martin Waddell is widely regarded as one of the greatest living children’s writers, and has over 220 published titles to his name. In 2024 he became the recipient of the An Post Irish Book Awards’ Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to children’s literature. He is perhaps best known for Owl Babies, illustrated by Patrick Benson and Farmer Duck, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; as well as the 1989 Kurt Maschler Award-winning The Park in the Dark and the Little Bear series, both illustrated by Barbara Firth. In 2004, Martin received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his lasting contribution to children’s literature, the highest career recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children’s books.

Illustrator Patrick Benson has won many awards for his work, including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal and the Kurt Maschler Award. His picture book Owl Babies is a modern classic and has sold over two million copies worldwide. His other work includes artwork for The MinPins by Roald Dahl, The Little Boat by Kathy Henderson, The Sea-Thing Child by Russell Hoban and Soon by Timothy Knapman. He lives in Scotland.