What readers think of Wesley the Owl, plus links to write your own review.

While reading her memoir about a barn owl, I felt every emotion. I felt her joy and pain and the true sense of closeness she developed with Wesley over the years. Stacy has this ability to write intelligently using facts without being dull. Most biologists write too scientifically void of personality,but she captures the reader's attention and holds it. I never imagined how interesting owls were until now. Nor did I know that a depressed owl can will himself to die. They are very sensitive, intelligent creatures. I highly recommend this book. I think those people who don't consider themselves sensitive will be shocked. You will laugh out loud, tear up sometimes, and beg for her to write another fantastic read! Also, how she can remember so much over a 19 year span is amazing to me. I hope she writes another winner soon!!

This remarkable look at a bond between a human and an owl is soul-stirring, sweet and funny. It's not meant to be a treatise on the ultimate facts on barn owl behavior, as the author understood that the bird imprinting on a human would modify its own interactions with humans and its behavior. It has some fascinating looks at the quirks of scientists, however, and its facts on owlish behaviors jibe with what was known at the time. It may not be scientific, but birds do have personalities and they do show embarrassment, as anyone who has interacted with animals enough knows. I did not find it mawkish or excessive, but rather, sweet, funny and, inevitably, sad as all partings are when a human outlives an animal that has been bonded to him or her. I recommend the book to any animal lover.

Wesley The Owl will appeal to any animal lover, and quite often for the wrong reasons; it drips with sentiment and emotion while distorting basic facts about barn owls. What worse, Ms. O'Brien presents herself as a biologist studying owl behavior and lends an air of credibility to her account that it would otherwise not have. If I am to believe the book, then the following are presented as facts:
- A barn owl, after a stressful experience, would shun its surroundings and will itself to die.
- A barn owl mates for life.
- Owls will have nothing to do with water.
- A barn owl reaches sexual maturity at 3.5 years of age.
- After a missed landing on a table, a barn owl would be 'embarrassed' because of being laughed at.

On and on and on...for supposedly being a scientist, Ms. O'Brien engages far too often in anthropomorphic projection into her 'observations' of Wesley. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice story, but anyone familiar with barn owl rehabilitation and training understands that while they bond, they don't mate for life; owls do bathe and play in water; owls do not mentally function high enough to be capable of embarrassment; they reach sexual maturity after a year (they have to - the average age of a barn owl in the wild is two years!)

Read the book for the story, then learn the facts about owls somewhere credible like www.eraptors.org

WESLEY THE OWL caught my eye, and after a quick skim I decided to read. Am very glad and think Stacey is an exceptional person with multiskills.She is an animal lovers animal lover. Anyone who enjoys their time and place with nature will reap benefit from Miss O'brien's story. I am a poet and writer of FAMILY POETRY under the penname POPPARUSS. Am now inspired to create a poem about the animals in my heart.

Stacey O'Brien shares her incredible story of raising an injured barn owl. We all come to love Wesley and the amazing character he becomes. By reading this book you also become well educated about barn owls and how they are on the endangered species list. O'Brien should be praised for her dedication to this amazing animal.

Well written, heart warming and entertaining. A must read. I enjoyed it as much as "The wild parrots of Telegraph Hill".