Who Hooos? Hoot and Peep by Lita Judge

PEEP WAS FINALLY BIG ENOUGH TO JOIN HER BIG BROTHER, HOOT ON THE ROOFTOPS.

Hoot leads his little sister to a perch on a chimney top to show off his mastery of the owl's night song.

"IT GOES LIKE THIS!

H00000!"

PEEP THOUGHT IT WAS THE PERFECT NIGHT TO SING ABOUT THE MAGIC OF THE MOON.

"SCHWEEP!"

Nooooo! Hoot is horrified at his sister's improvisation. That is not how a proper owl hoots, he insists. Owls always say, HOOOO!! They only HOOOO! That's all they do! Hoot insists that he is the oldest and Peep must do a HOO as he does.

But Peep is having none of her big brother's orthodoxy. She flaps away to a perch on an appropriately grumpy gargoyle on the Gothic facade of a cathedral and begins her warmup up exercises.

"SCHWEEPTY PEEP!"

Hoot flies to the top of the belfry and HOOS even louder.

But Peep is determined to sing her own song.

"SCHWEEPITY PEEP000 DING DONG BONG!"

Hoot unhappily watches as his sister acquires an audience of listening church mice. If only she would listen to his owly wisdom. But Peep soars even farther away, leaving Hoot fretting on his fresco. But as he hears the distant sound of his sister's song, he realizes that it has a moonlit midnight magic of its own.

And after all, it's no fun hooting all alone.

IT WAS THE PERFECT NIGHT.

Lita Judge's just published Hoot and Peep (Dial Books, 2016) tells a sweet story of sibling rivalry resolved, but her exquisite illustrations of her funny, fussing owlets is set against a glorious night scene of slate roofs, chimney pots, and cathedral spires, done in misty muted blues, lit by moonlight that has an ancient magic of its own. Lita Judge is untouched in her comic drawings of birds (cf. her recent Good Morning to Me! reviewed here, and her humorous hooters are a comic counterpoint to her lyrically lovely midnight backdrop. This one is a satisfying read for bedtime or any time.