Library Owl

Title: 第一次調查貓頭鷹就上手

ISBN: 9789860295863

Author: 張東君、修鴻儒、林青峰

Photographer: 林青峰、修鴻儒、楊東峰、范兆雄、張東君

Illustrator: 黃麗珍

Publisher: 行政院農業委員會林務局

Dates of Publication: 2011-5

博客來連結: http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010531397

Special thanks to a friend at the cataloguing department, who informed me about this lovely book.

Pros

The book title and the design is very catching among boring government publications.

There are not many books similar to it.

The illustrations add some touch of humour to a "could-be" boring book.

The photos of owls in their living environments provide good resource to understand living owls.

The real stories in the last few pages are touching.

Do provide detailed information about the ecology of owls in Taiwan.

Cons

English title, Owl to Get Started the First Survey, is kind of off.

Some of the writings confuse me. Call me old-school, but I'm not sure whether the word "白搭" is normally used in writing materials, esp. when a book can be regarded as science-y, or its main purpose is for education. 

Besides, I'm not really sure why the authors tried to "emphasize" those big words or 成語 in Mandarin. The overall writing and illustration gave me a feeling of the book being rushly written and composed. 

The page design from page 28 to 35 is confusing. Maybe the intention is for readers to try to identify owls in their different habitats. Personally, I found it difficult to read and occassionally got lost while turning the pages, esp. with the exta extending of pages and foldings.

Overall

7.5 out of 10 for a government publication.

Personally if the book is intended as an information book for children, there are more to be discussed and considered. 

The inconsistency in writing is a major downfall