Cut to the shape of the bird, so the first thing a baby registers is the silhouette, and the second is those eyes. Inside, a little owlet takes you through a night in the forest: tufted ears listening, the trilling call, the family in the hollow, wide awake while everything else sleeps.

Jennifer L. Meyer's painting is genuinely lovely, all violet dusk and moonlight, and it carries real facts about owls alongside the story so this doubles as a first natural history book. Ten thick pages at six and a half by five inches, weighted for hands that are still learning that pages turn one at a time.

Graded by the publisher from birth. Written by Rosalee Wren. Pair it with A Little Fox and A Little Hedgehog for a nursery shelf that actually looks good.