An Owl Obsession

We spent a lovely morning in the park this morning in Carlton with Ned’s mate Oscar and his mummy. It was a little windy!

After our play and a lovely coffee from Tre Bicchieri, Ned and I went to visit my favorite shop Belki in Rathdowne Street. It’s a gorgeous gift shop that is just filled with the most beautiful collection of goodies; bags, jewelery, ceramics, baby things and more.

I couldn’t go past buying this little beauty for myself…

It’s a lined notebook made by Library+, designed and printed in Australia. They have created some gorgeous characters to decorate their stationary range that includes notepads, bookmarks and even library bags (I need one of those also). I fell in love with the jacket because of the parliament of owls on the jacket. I have always been fascinated by collective nouns and I quite love owls. Not sure why but I think they are pretty cute, maybe it’s because they are wise and bookish.

What I wasn’t aware of was that inside the cover of the book is a little library card in it’s own little pocket. Irresistible.

Then in their children’s section I found another gem. A picture book called Little Hoot about, yes, owls. I just had to buy it for Ned as an Easter present. The illustrations in this book are just divine, I’m just so glad I have discovered illustrator Jen Corace. It is published by Chronicle who design the most beautiful books perfectly.

The author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has created a story that is a twist on the usual getting children to bed routine. Little Hoot goes to school, plays with his friends and then wants to go to bed at a normal time like his non owl friends. However his mum and dad have different plans for him, of course he must stay up late and play like a good owl. Poor little Hoot is very grumpy indeed and counts down his play time until he can go to bed. It is such a fun take on reverse psychology I’m sure it is going to be read in our house many times.