Three owl babies wake in the dark and their mother is not there. Sarah reasons it out, Percy agrees with Sarah, and Bill, who is the smallest, says the only thing he has: I want my mommy. Martin Waddell wrote the whole book in words a two year old already owns, which is why it has stayed in print since 1992 and why it still works on the fourth reading of the night.

Patrick Benson draws the wood in dense cross hatched ink, so dark it reads as a real night, and the three owlets glow pale against it. On the spread inside this edition they are sitting apart on their own perches, a big branch for Sarah, a small branch for Percy and an old piece of ivy for Bill, waiting. Then their mother comes back, and the book ends in flapping and dancing and bouncing.

This is the padded edition: a soft cushioned cover over 24 thick board pages, at a lap sized 7.08 by 6.29 in. Age guidance: 0 to 3. Another Candlewick classic in the same durable board format is Guess How Much I Love You.

Martin Waddell wrote Farmer Duck as well, the one about a duck who does every job on the farm while the farmer stays in bed. It is here in the Candlewick paperback, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.