Shakespeare meets Harry Potter. This was a slow start for me but finished strong. With a strong protagonist voice, references to Shakespeare, animagus, a crush, a love story, and a story of friendship, Kindl keeps her reader engaged. Due to some more mature content and references, best for 8th grade and up.

What an unexpected little gem!

Owl in love manages to be a fully fraught supernatural teenage romance without spilling over into maudlin self-importance. Just the right amount of humor -- Not parody. Though there is some similarity to Switchers, Kindl tells a delightful story and I would happily read more by her.

"Owls are not house-proud. The almost obsessive tidiness of this room made me uneasy. A few rotting branches or some old leaves would have made the place look a lot homier, in my opinion." (p.51)

"Damp weather means bad hunting for owls, and in a wet spring an owl can progress from stylishly slender to dead in a matter of days." (p.95)

P.S. Don'tcha think Owl is a kindred soul to Temperance Brennan?

Patrice Kindl is my new favorite writer. This was the oddest book I've read lately, which is saying something. A girl with witchy parents can change into an owl. Is head-over-heels in love with her science teacher (who shares the same last name as my cute college zoology professor, funnily enough). Struggles with trying to fit in with classmates when she can't even eat human food. And more . . .

Dark and funny. Strangely sensual.

Owl in Love has a few occult references that freak me out, but besides that it's a very well-written interesting novel. I never would have thought that a book that is primarily about a crush on a teacher would have been so good.

I read this book when I was 9 or something ridiculously young... I got it from the library and 17 years later I'm still thinking about it. I'm going to have to reread it and figure out why it stuck with me so much.

It's got some flaws, but the quirky main character won me over and carried the day.

Fourteen year old Owl is a human that shape-shifts into an owl. In human form, Owl even resembles her other half. While owls don't generally make strong attachments to other owls, they do remain loyal to the one owl they decide to spend the rest of their lives with. Owl has bonded with her 40 year old Biology teacher. She spends all night, as an owl, watching him from the tree outside his bedroom window instead of hunting. Because of her familiarity with Mr. Lindstrom's property, Owl's suspicions are aroused when a young man starts hanging around the house and a strange ghost of a woman shows up.

Some refreshing characteristics of classic YA novels: Kindl is able to convey deep emotional obsession without rambling and her characters are your typical adolescents, even with the taste of supernatural.

Ages 12-15.

Read this for my YA Lit class in grad school, and booktalked it for the class. Then it was the only one from the class that I booktalked for actual middle schoolers my first year as a real live youth services librarian. Slightly creepy, Really interesting voice - actually reminds me of True Grit in the formal voice aspect. Makes me think about gender issues and animal issues. Great book.