Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: Wesley the Owl

Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien 2008

This book’s subtitle, The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, says it all. This is a simply-written yet engaging account of the 19 years that Caltech biologist Stacey O’Brien spent as the sole care-giver to a barn owl she named Wesley. Given a unique opportunity and supported by her scientific background, the author learned much about ‘the way of the owl’, albeit in captivity, which she carefully documented to share with the zoology community and now with the general public. Some of the anecdotes are bizarre, but facts are frequently stranger than fiction; in this case, they attest to the deep bond and mutual respect that formed between Wesley and his girl.