Fly by night

"Once, at the edge of a wood, lived two owls, a mother owl and her young one, Blink.

Every day, all day long, they slept. Every night, all night long, the mother owl flew and Blink waited."This is the story of a momentous event in the life of a young owl - his first flight.

All day long he waits, with increasing impatience, as the sun rises then falls.

He watches other creatures - butterflies and beetles - bustling in the sunshine and keeps asking "Is it time yet?" Then, at last, the sun sets and the moon appears and Blink's mother tells him it is time.

Away he soars, high in the sky, over the wood, over the fields, over the railway and the sleeping city.

It's his first flight, a fly-by-night.June Crebbin is the author of a number of books for children, including "The Train Ride" (also illustrated by Stephen Lambert), "Danny's Duck" and two volumes of verse, "The Jungle Sale" and "The Dinosaur's Dinner".Stephen Lambert is the illustrator of "The Magpie and the Star", "What is the Sun?" and "The Train Ride".