The Owl Who Came for Christmas is a children's picture book written by John Hay and illustrated by Garry Parsons. It was first published in 2019.

The book tells the story of a little owl named Rosie who is accidentally transported to a family's Christmas tree. The family is surprised to find Rosie, but they quickly come to love her. Rosie learns to love the family too, and she becomes a part of their Christmas tradition.

The book is a heartwarming story about the importance of family and friends. It is sure to bring a smile to the faces of children and adults alike.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

The Owl Who Came For Christmas us a beautiful heartwarming children's picture book about a little owl and their miraculous journey from forest to a family home one Christmas. This book is just the cutest and I fell in love with this little owl from the cover alone. After waking up to being wrapped up in a net one morning this little owl had an amazing journey and I loved that this was based on a real life story. How amazing this must have been to experience but how sad it is at the same time. This is a great book to spark a conversation with the child about conservation and doing our bit to protect the planet as well as about nature, wildlife and of course adorable little owls. A lovely, heartwarming book for Christmas!

Inspired by a true story, The Owl Who Came for Christmas, tells the story of a little owl who fell asleep in a forest and woke to find itself in someone's living room after the tree it had chosen to roost in was chosen by a family for their Christmas tree. With bright illustrations and simple language, this is a magical story perfect for young animal lovers. Even as an adult reader I was keen to learn what happened to the owl!

A lovely true story brought to life in this book about a family finding a surprise in their Christmas tree.
Who’s in for the biggest shock the sleepy owl or the family? A new festive favourite with bright and bold illustrations.

My family and I loved reading The Owl Who Came for Christmas together. I really liked that it wasn't your traditional Christmas storyline, it's something different. Rosie the owl makes her home in a pine tree, not realising that it's going to become a family's Christmas tree. The story is simple but beautifully written and illustrated, and it was a great conversation starter for the children. What was really exciting was finding out that it was based on a true story!

The Owl who Came for Christmas is a festive treat!

This magical novel is suitable for adults to read to young children who are not yet of school age, are in Nursery school or in Key Stage 1, previously known as Infant School. It is based on a true story of a little owl that was actually discovered in a Christmas tree chosen by a family. This inspired John Hay to write a story for the younger generation. It is fictionalised with other character and experiences but based upon a true event.
It tells the story of a screech owl named Rosie. Screech owls get their name from just one of their distinctive calls, a high-pitched and warbling wail or trill. They are rather small owls but when they are in a hole in a tree, they spread their wings in front of them and the result is that they are marvellously camouflaged.
It was nearly Christmas when Rosie had the surprise of her life. She had hunted successfully and felt tired. Little did she know that the tree she was resting in was going to be felled. Poor Rosie, still in the hole, was loaded onto a huge lorry full of trees and driven to a place she had never seen before and stranger than that, the Christmas tree was covered with mesh and put up with all the other meshed trees for sale.
A family of mother, father and two children came to buy their choice of Christmas tree and took it back to their home. The children were very excited as the box of decorations was given to them to choose where to hang each individual sparkly ornament onto the branches of the tree. Of course, Rosie was very curious. She had never seen anything like it in her life. How strange. The family was in for a big surprise and some decisions to be made.
I loved reading this charming, tender, riveting short story. It was beautifully written, and the characters were wonderful. This book was exquisitely illustrated by Garry Parsons, and I can see small children huddling close to look at the pictures in amazement. I believe this story would be an excellent gift for young boys and girls who love animals, birds and wild nature. Festive stories always go down well. Our son used to adore night-time storytelling by his dad and was a very young bookish lad. He would say ‘again, again’ until he knew the story by heart. I read such stories to my class at school, and it is a treasured memory for me to see their little faces light up with wonder, joy and excitement.
I received this book through my membership of NetGalley and from Macmillan Children's Books in return for an honest review. Thank you sincerely for my copy. These are my own thoughts and ideas. This novel hit my Highly Recommended criteria for all of the reasons I have given. It is a well-deserved 5* review from me.

A cute story based on true events when a little screech owl ended up transported from her home in the forest to the home of a family after roosting in a Christmas tree. With bright engaging pictures and accessible language this would be a great addition to any child's Christmas book collection.

Perfectly pleasantly, but not outstandingly, this dramatises the real world story of a tiny owl that ended up in someone's living room, when the Christmas tree it was roosting in got chopped down, bundled up and sold to them without anyone being any the wiser. Nicely done, but not on a level with the great Christmas stories.

This is a perfect read out loud either at home or school. I loved the combination of children's story and the real-life experience which inspired it. Gorgeous illustrations will ensure this is enjoyed by young and old alike. This is certainly one I'll be adding to our school Christmas book display.

This was a really lovely story which I can see many children loving - even nicer to find out at the end of the book that it is based on real events. I really did enjoy this one and can see many children searching their Christmas trees for owls this year!

An owl is unexpectedly trapped in a Christmas Tree and sold to a family. Once the tree has been taken home and decorated, a tiny owl pops his head out. The family try to give the owl space to fly away, but the happy owl doesn't go anywhere. Luckily, the owl is returned to the wild where it belongs, just in time for Christmas.

This is a charming tale based on a true story about a little owl that finds itself trapped in a Christmas tree and its eventual release. Lovely illustrations. I din’t feel there was a lot to engage a very young reader, but more interesting for a slightly older child to help explain the process of animal rescue.

A lovely little book, inspired by a true story. The illustrations are gorgeous too. A beautiful reminder to look out for our animal friends in the coldest time of the year.

Christmas trees are a mainstay of festive decorations, but that is not a comfort to Rosie, a little owl living in the forest. She is awoken one day to loud noises and finds her tree pulled through a netting machine with her trapped inside.

This is a sweet story of animal care and Christmas traditions, with undertones of heavier topics, like environmental concerns and animal welfare. The light tone used throughout makes this an ideal book for sharing with young readers in academic settings, such as formatting speech or short non-fiction texts. The information about the real Rosie and Eastern Screech Owls found at the end shows an example of this.

Throughout, are many full-colour illustrations with a bright palette that is captivating and engaging. There is an emphasis on showing the characters' faces which is ideal for aiding comprehension for early readers.

The topic and writing style make this ideal for reading to four to ten-year-olds. Based on the vocabulary used and how much of it is phonetically decodable, a child would be about six years old to read this independently or with minimal support.