As February wraps up, so does another wonderful I Love to Read Month. Throughout the month, we had the chance to read to Grade 2 classrooms across the Pembina Valley, reading Owl with students alongside our friends at Golden West. From enthusiastic owl calls echoing through classrooms to thoughtful questions and big smiles, it was a month of stories, laughter, fun, and connection.
And that feels especially fitting, because Owl is exactly the kind of story that stays with you long after the last page is turned.
Written by Kara Griffin and illustrated by K. (Kayla) Shawn Larson (and published by Acorn Press), Owl was the 2026 I Love to Read Month book. On the surface, it’s a gentle picture book about a young boy, his grandfather, and an owl that calls from the forest at night. But spend a little time with it and you realize it’s really about much bigger things.
“At the heart of it, I think it’s a story about love,” Kara says. “About knowing that love is always there, whether you see it or not.
A REAL FOREST, A REAL OWL
The roots of Owl stretch back to a nearly 100-acre woodlot in Prince Edward Island that has been in Kara’s family for decades. It’s a place that’s been carefully cared for over the years and treated like a true sanctuary for both people and wildlife.
One of the woodlot’s most talked-about residents was a barred owl. Kara never saw the owl herself, but she heard many stories about it…how her father would call out and the owl would call back, or how it would suddenly appear, watching silently from the trees. That sense of being watched over, even when you can’t see it, stayed with her.
Those stories eventually became the heart of Owl.
“It’s a fictional story,” Kara says, “but it comes from something very real…our love for the forest, for wildlife, and for that feeling of quiet magic you can get in a place like that.”
LETTING THE STORY TAKE ITS TIME
Kara started writing Owl several years ago. She returned to it again and again, letting the story find its own shape rather than pushing it into one.
“It definitely wasn’t forced,” she says. “It caught my imagination, and it evolved over time.
Her upbringing in rural PEI plays a big role here. Growing up surrounded by nature and animals left a lasting impression, and it’s something that continues to show up in her work. Owl joins a growing collection of stories that celebrate the natural world and the creatures that live in it…especially those with wings.
“The more I write creatively, the more I realize how much my upbringing has shaped me,” she explains. “I’m very drawn to writing stories about nature and creatures with wings.”
At the centre of the story is family. Kara wrote the grandfather with her own father in mind, and the boy was inspired by her nephews.
“Celebrating that relationship across generations was important to me,” she says. “That came together as the story evolved.”
WHEN THE PICTURES MAKE THE STORY DEEPER
The illustrations in Owl add another layer to the meaning. K. Shawn Larson worked from real reference photos of Kara’s family woodlot, along with actual photos of the owl that inspired the story.
Some details are especially personal. One illustration of the grandfather sitting on a log is based on an old photo of Kara’s father, sitting on a bench he built himself in the forest.
These are details that young readers might not consciously notice, but they add warmth and authenticity to every page. As Kara puts it, “it’s quite something to see this owl we’ve talked about for so many years become a book that children can hold.”
A BOOK THAT BECOMES YOURS
One of Kara’s favourite ideas about storytelling is that once a book is released into the world, it no longer belongs only to the author.
“Maybe a story is never really done,” she says. “Once you let it go, it becomes the reader’s story.”
That’s something we saw again and again during I Love to Read Month. Children connected instantly with the owl’s call, eagerly joining in during readings…and often continuing long after the story was over (our apologies to their teachers!).
For many readers, Owl also brings back memories they didn’t expect.
“You never really know how a story will land with someone,” Kara says. “To hear that it connects people back to their own childhood memories…that’s incredible.”
At its core, Owl is about noticing the quiet things: love you can’t see, animals you may never glimpse, and moments that stay with you without making a sound.
WHY OWL WAS A PERFECT FIT FOR I LOVE TO READ MONTH
As the 2026 I Love to Read Month book, Owl found a special place in classrooms throughout February. It’s a story that invites participation, curiosity, and imagination…exactly what reading month is all about.
Kara believes strongly in the power of children’s books, especially picture books.
“I secretly think children’s stories are for all ages,” she says. “They can capture the essence of life in such a simple, powerful way.”
Because picture books are often shared experiences, they reach more than just young readers. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers find meaning in the story too…sometimes in unexpected ways.
“There’s a real magic in that,” Kara says.
A STORY THAT TRAVELS
There’s something special about a story that begins in a small PEI forest and finds its way into classrooms far away. For Kara, knowing that Owl became part of I Love to Read Month felt almost unreal.
“You write a story at home, and you don’t know where it might end up,” she says. “To know it’s reaching children on the other side of the country…it’s incredibly heartwarming.”
And like the owl in the story itself, Owl quietly watches over its readers, leaving behind a sense of comfort, wonder, and connection.
Sometimes, the stories that stay with us the longest are the quiet ones.
