Tanna’s Owl

Tanna’s Owl is about a girl who lives in the Arctic, and one day, when her dad comes back from hunting, he brings Tanna a baby owl. When she first sees the owl, she thinks why did her dad bring her back such an ugly thing. After she looks at it more, she thinks the baby owl is kind of cute and names it Ukpik. Since the owl has no mom, Tanna has to catch food for it to eat three times a day. At first, she catches lemmings to feed Ukpik, then she feeds her fish and caribou. Tanna takes good care of Ukpik, and she grows up until she is ready to fly away.

When I first saw Tanna’s Owl, I wanted to read it because we had a screech owl box in our backyard that had four babies. This book is based on the author Rachel Qitsualik-Tisley’s experience as a girl helping to raise an owl. I think it would take a lot of work for Tanna/Rachel to feed and take care of a baby owl. I’ve never seen a big snowy owl in real life; I think Tanna is very lucky to take care of a snowy owl. I really liked that the owl’s name, Ukpik, means “owl” in Inuktut. I really liked the illustrations and how the baby owl looked like a little ball of grey but grew into a beautiful snowy owl.