John Schoenherr’s Caldecott Acceptance speech can be found in the August 1988 issue of The Horn Book and on a Limited Edition tape made by Weston Woods/Scholastic. There is a video of OWL MOON from Weston Woods/Scholastic.

Editor Patti Gauch discusses a bit of the backstory in the making of OWL MOON at Patricia Lee Gauch’s website.See Uses of Jane Yolen Books for links to web sites describing how teachers have used Owl Moon in their lessons.1991 North Dakota Flickertail Award nominee.On the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List.1990 Florida State Reading Award nominee.One of Yankee Magazine’s 100 Classic New England Children’s Books.#16 on School Library Journal’s Top 100 Childrens Books List.It was also on the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List and a 1991 North Dakota Flickertail Award nominee. The book was one of Yankee Magazine’s 100 Classic New England Children’s Books. I wrote an article for the New Advocate magazine called “On Silent Wings” in the Fall 1989 edition that tells the complete story of the making of the book and what happened on the day the Caldecott was announced. There are over a dozen editions in foreign languages, including French, German, Chinese, and Korean. It will be some time by that measure before “Owl Moon” goes into paperback. Publishers like to keep books in hardcover as long as possible (read: as long as it’s selling well). The only paperback edition so far is the Scholastic Book Club edition, not sold in bookstores. Their grandfather–Pa–has already taken them out owling. Heidi is now an adult with her own daughters, Maddison Jane and Glendon Alexandria. I purposefully didn’t mention the child’s gender, though the flap copy gives the secret away. It’s not an exact story of David taking Heidi out owling, but an amalgam of many such trips he did with all of our children. The father is my husband David, the child our daughter Heidi.

Though I envisioned the book in the little woods near our house, Schoenherr used his own farm in New Jersey as the setting. The 1988 Caldecott Medal winner for John Schoenherr’s beautiful, frosty, tender, exacting pictures, the book has been translated into nine languages, been an ALA Notable Book, a Reading Rainbow book, a Junior Literary Guild selection, and on dozens of state award lists. This gentle tone poem about a father taking his daughter (yes–it’s a girl!) out owling one cold wintry night is arguably my best book.

Owl and moon story