Wow! Said the Owl - Story Snug

Wow! Said The Owl by Tim Hopgood

Wow! Said The Owl is a beautifully illustrated picture book which introduces young children to the colours that are around them in the natural world.

The Story: One morning little owl wakes up at dawn and is stunned by the pink sky. She stays awake as the yellow sun comes up and then the sky becomes blue. On each page she is introduced to a different colour and at the end of the day she sees her first rainbow. When it gets dark little owl tells us which are her favourite colours.

Little owl is the only character in the book and the story starts by explaining that owls stay awake during the night before it introduces little owl’s very ‘un-owl-like’ behaviour. Throughout the day little owl sees seven different colours, some in the sky, some in the trees and flowers but also when it gets dark.

Wow! Said The Owl is a simple, easy to read story with beautifully illustrated double spreads. Little owl’s reaction to all the beautiful colours she sees is simply ‘Wow!’ and children enjoy joining in with the repetition, this repetition also makes this a great book for beginner readers.

This is a fantastic story to use in the classroom and I have used it as part of a topic on colours to stimulate making class books with reception aged children. Each page had a different colour and the children drew pictures with their own ideas, for example a red fire engine, a yellow banana, a pink pig. You could also make a colourful wall display with the pictures. The story stimulated a fun nature walk where we looked for natural items that matched the colours in the book. Wow! Said The Owl can also be included in topics about daytime and nighttime, birds, nocturnal animals or weather.

A lovely bedtime story which also makes a great addition to a foundation / key stage one classroom library.

Age Range: 2 to 5

Author / Illustrator: Tim Hopgood


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18 responses to “Wow! Said The Owl by Tim Hopgood”


  1. Sian avatar

    We love this book! The illustrations are beautiful!


    1. Catherine avatar

      The illustrations complement the story perfectly 🙂


  2. Sarah Doyle - let them be small avatar

    This sounds right up my street – will be looking into this for my children
    #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      I hope you all enjoy reading it 🙂


  3. Iona@redpeffer avatar

    This is one of my favourite books too-my sister bought it for my son a couple of years ago because for a while he would say ‘wow!’ to everything, it was so sweet. It’s beautifully told and gorgeous illustrations too.


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s a keeper 🙂


  4. chantelle hazelden avatar

    How funny, I literally just bought this for my daughter to help with her colours 🙂 thanks for linking with #readwithme x


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s one of my favourite books for learning colours 🙂


  5. Jenny avatar

    This looks like a great book, my boys would love it! 🙂 x


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s a nice story for bedtime as well as to stimulate learning 🙂


  6. Lesley @ Australian Picture Books avatar

    Thanks Catherine, I can always rely on your reviews for my group of 2 year olds. This one looks perfect as does your suggestion of Egg by Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway. I am always looking for suggestions to hold the attention of the young ones in my playgroups. Of course I do often read Australian books whenever I can but there are so many wonderful books.


    1. Catherine avatar

      Thanks Lesley, for me the appeal of Wow! Said The Owl is the fact that it can be used with a fairly wide range of ages. Younger children enjoy the story and have colours introduced and / or enforced while older children can understand that Little Owl’s behaviour is unusual for a nocturnal animal. Egg is fun too, very bright and bold 🙂


  7. Coconutandbloom avatar

    Lovely blog hun x #weekendbloghop



  8. Renee @ Mummy Tries avatar

    Funnily enough I’ve just read this story to my three year old. Such a beautiful book # PoCoLo


    1. Catherine avatar

      It is beautiful (and we love owls in our house too!).


  9. ShireDad (Dan) avatar

    My two-year-old is a great fan of Wow said the owl and finds it a great way of practicing colours. It’s really interesting to hear how you apply it for primary aged children.


    1. Catherine avatar

      Some children do come into school not knowing all their colours and Wow! Said The Owl is a great book for subtly reinforcing them. The colour nature walk is a lovely activity for children of all ages.