I am one animal lover who enjoys to read books about strong animal/human bonds, so naturally, I was really looking forward to: Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl.
This was the story of a young Lab Tech who, in 1985 took a four day old, injured barn owl "under her wings". The two developed a special bond which lasted some 19 years. Since the baby owl was unable to fly long distances, it would have been unlikely that the owl could have survived on his own in the wild.
The book was filled with interesting facts about owl behavior (some pretty strange as well). For example: Barn Owls mate for life, and often when the mate dies, the surviving owl often sinks into a deep depression, staring at the bark of the tree, until it eventually dies. Wesley feasted on some 28,000 mice over the course of his lifetime, and Stacey and Wesley even developed a form of communication over the years. Stacey was actually able to understand what his cries and screeching meant.
This book was fairly short, and it had several very cute pictures of Wesley, but honestly, I was a little disappointed in this book --- I found the writing lacking. I had very high expectations. Somehow, I thought that this book would be more like Alex and Me; Pepperberg which was the story of a Harvard Professor and her African Gray parrot. Alex stole my heart, Wesley did not, so in comparison, this book was inferior in my opinion.
RATING - 3.5/5 - COMPLETED - 2/18/09
WHERE FROM: Library
What a shame it did not live up to your expectations...it sounds like a great premise for a book.
ReplyDeleteI guess that is not enough for a great book though.
Sorry it was disappointing. I love the Irene Pepperberg book; I worked at MIT while she was doing some of her research and she was always the talk of the town.
ReplyDeleteBummer...I really hate when that happens.
ReplyDeleteI got this one for my mom awhile back and she enjoyed it. I haven't read it yet. I'll have to get Alex and Me for her too!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote this review: this is on my loooooong list for the Science Book challenge, but I think I'll go with the parrot one instead. :) But that cover is too cute for words!!
ReplyDeleteI am not much of a reader of animal/human stories, but one book that I selected for my library book club in the spring is The Art of Racing in the Rain - granted, it's fiction, but still. Have you read it?
ReplyDeleteI love animal stories, and I have both Wesley and the Alex book on my reading list!
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