Apollo: The Powerful Owl product reviews

The cover of this paperback illustrated children's book immediately grabbed me so I was looking forward to seeing what the book would be like. Miss Three and I have read this every night for a week and it has captivated her so its safe to say that this has been a success in our house.

The book is a large size and has colourful and captivating illustrations of Apollo and his environment as we learn a bit about Apollo and "Powerful Owls" who are a threatened species in Australia. I thought that this book was written in a very skilful way, in that it describes Apollo's habitat and feeding in a way that is story like and captivating, but also helped Miss Three and I learn about Owls and why they need to eat meat. The last page is full of factual information about Powerful Owls and was really interesting and informative.

I had never even heard of Powerful Owls so not only has Miss Three learnt about a particular species of Owl but so have I. I enjoyed the way the book was written in a story like fashion but then contained the factual information so Miss Three could understand that some stories although illustrated are about real animals. I particularly liked the raised and glossy front and back covers. The feel of this book is a definite appealing feature.

This is a fantastic book and I can definitely recommend it. I will look out for others like this as this is a really good way for children to learn about endangered animals in a story like fashion.

This book has become a bit of a favourite at our house in the last few weeks. I find it getting requested by both children at the oddest times. My toddler asks for it when she is in the bath. My eldest wants me to read it while we are having dinner. I don't mind though - what;s that saying? Children become readers on the laps of their parents. And there is nothing more awesome than being a reader.

Apollo is a Powerful Owl, which until I read this book, I didn't realise was a type of owl. I thought he was just, you know, powerful. But he is an Australian type of Owl, which is pretty neat. Apollo feels bad about being a raptor and eating all his forest mates, so he tries to change his diet. Then he learns some pretty important lessons about why he is the way he is and why he shouldn't change.

This book was pitched right for any child who has questions about predator type animals. It was highly educational without being too technical. We learnt a lot about owls in general as well as the food sources for other Australian animals. There is also a one-pager about the owls and conservation efforts at the end of the book too.

The illustrations are not 100% realistic, but are a good representation of most of the animals. There is the odd bug throwing up it's fists at Apollo and a few sheepish looks here and there. We enjoyed the pictures a lot though, and I must admit the punchy bug got a lot of laughs. It's good to have a bit of humour even with a heavy, serious style book like this. My Eco-warrior 7 year old loved this book. Miss 2 thought Apollo was pretty neat too.