But also, they teach him as if you are teaching a young child. However, his friends teach him in ways you teach someone who has autism. Perhaps there is something else going on (maybe Owly represents a deaf character, or one where “English” (or the language of the people around Owly speak) is not the first language of Owly, so he mixes both together therefore “sounding” the way it does. This difference in language is obvious: Owly only speaks in images and the others speak in text with some speaking both text and images. I would not be surprised to learn that Owly was on the autism spectrum as Owly speaks differently from his friends, but they understand him. The first and obvious message of the story is be kind to others.

They become best friends and go on a couple of adventures. Owly wants to help, but his intentions are misunderstood, until he helps Wormy. It is not obnoxious characters doing obnoxious things. Even when bad things happen it is just because of a misunderstanding or something nobody could control. They are nice looking, they are nicely mannered, they have nice intentions. It is a basic story with simple text but both story and text are strong. This graphic novel is good for young readers. And had to read it, despite the tower of books taller than me I already have on the TBR list. Andy Runton must have a magic wand that enchanted the book as I was not in a cute, big-eyed-owl mood, but I had to have this book. I was putting away some of the reader copies recently and noticed, Owly: The Way Home.

Owly the way home