Review: Owly and Wormy: Friends All Aflutter!

Image Courtesy of Top Shelf Productions

Andy Runton (www.andyrunton.com) has done it again.  In his most recent Owly book, Owly and Wormy, Friends All Aflutter, we finally get to see Owly and Wormy in full-color in a beautiful stand-alone volume.  This is how Owly and Wormy are meant to be enjoyed!  The crisp, vibrant colors jump off the page and had myself and Henry captivated as soon as we opened it.  Since we got our copy, I don't think a day has passed in which this book wasn't read at least twice.  Even Henry's little sister who just turned one has been drawn in by Andy's drawings and the brilliant use of color that this volume affords.

Published by Simon and Schuster, under the license of Top Shelf Productions (www.topshelfcomix.com), Andy weaves a tale of Owly and Wormy and their quest to befriend some butterflies.  With the help of the always friendly Raccoon, Owly and Wormy get the plant that they feel will bring their butterfly friends to their garden.  When only caterpillars are attracted to the plant, Owly and Wormy make the most of it, after Wormy settles down a little, and become close friends with the caterpillars.  When the caterpillars disappear Owly and Wormy are feeling a little down, only to be surprised at the end when their friends emerge from cocoons on the plant and are now beautiful butterflies.

As with all Owly stories, one of my favorite parts is how Andy utilizing pictures in the speech bubbles to allow the reader to tell their own story.  Henry already has applied his own spin on the story and as a parent, nothing brings me more joy then seeing his imagination shine.  Andy's method of story telling and the great cast of characters he provides really brings children into the art of storytelling and allows them to be an integral part.  Moments after reading this book before bed, Henry was playing a game in which he was Wormy and I was Owly.  We needed to find some butterflies before bed and I am pleased to say that we did!

Andy's characters just have that innate ability to captivate the imagination of his readers both old and young and this book is no exception.  Owly and Wormy, Friends All Aflutter finally allows Andy's art to shine in this large format with rich, full colors.  Appropriate for any age group, if you haven't already delved into Andy's world, this is the volume to make that jump.  After reading this you will be hard pressed not to pick up Owly's other books to see what other adventures Owly has with Wormy.  If you are interested in any of Owly's other adventures click here to learn more.