Behind the Pages: Crafting the Wisdom of The Know It Owl and the Otter

Welcome to Terri’s Tales of Tails!

You are probably reading this if you have read my book, The Know It Owl and the Otter. Or perhaps you were just searching for information and came across these blogs for The Know It Owl Series. Did you know the book about Otter was the first manuscript I wrote for The Know It Owl Series?

Owl helps out a new featured animal in each book. I focus on non-domesticated animals and highlight what makes them special. Read on for some behind-the-scenes information and bonus materials.

Terri

“If children grow up not knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it, and if they don’t understand it, they won’t protect it, and if they don’t protect it, who will?”

— Sir David Attenborough, Conserving Wonder (2015)

Why Otters?

Otters are ridiculously cute. I can watch them play endlessly. I love how they constantly hug and lay their heads on each other. They are so sweet.

Why did you choose river otters for the series?

As stated in my Dear Reader letter in the back of this book, I was inspired to feature river otters because sea otters are usually the ones who get all of the love. Photos of sea otters holding hands while surrounding by kep are adorable. I just wanted to bring attention to a different species of otter.

What is Owl’s catchphrase?

With each featured animal, Owl uses a different catchphrase… a few words to basically express “what are you talking about??” but in a nicer way. Each catchphrase must meet one of three criteria.

1. Rhymes with the animal name (Don’t make me laugh, Giraffe. Get a clue, Kangaroo.)

2. Has alliteration with the featured animal name or some fun play on words (Otter Oughta Know)

3. Is a play on a physical characteristic or sound of the featured animal (That’s a hoot, Owl.)

I have several more animals I really want to write about, but I haven’t quite come up with Owl’s catchphrase… yet.

The Know It Owl and the Otter was the first manuscript I wrote for this series (on May 31, 2020). I first thought of the catchphrase, Otter Oughta Know. I love alliteration and the way it rolls off the tongue. Then, the story blossomed from there.

How did The Know It Owl Series come about?

After writing the Otter manuscript in 2020, I wrote 5 more manuscripts for this series with different featured animals in 2021. Then they sat in a computer file, collecting dust for a couple of years while I was finishing up my Oscar and Emmy Series. It was September of 2023 when Duncan, a member of my author team (I have a support system in place to assist me in a variety of roles) asked what I would work on next after Oscar and Emmy. I showed him multiple manuscripts of a variety of topics. We decided to dust off The Know It Owl Series.

I spent about a month researching possible illustrators (ones I’ve had worked with, ones who had experiences drawing owls or other animals, ones whose style resonated with me, ones who came highly recommended, etc). After emailing back and forth with my short list, I commissioned two to create how they viewed Owl after submitting them several pages of a manuscript to show his personality. I then asked my team for feedback, and overwhelmingly, the choice was Paula’s owl. Paula Piechna was able to capture the personality and wit of Owl that we were looking for. Paula would begin illustrations in the spring, giving me a few months to select which manuscripts to revise and edit.

With Oscar and Emmy, I released one book at a time, but sometimes that meant 12 to 18 months lapsed between releases. I didn’t want my readers to outgrow the series before it even began, so I decided to release 4 at once. That way if a reader really loved a book, they didn’t have to wait a year or longer for the next book. It was suggested I needed an origin story for Owl… what made him decide to help educate and fact check animals from all over the world? Then, I wrote about the fledgling owl and chose 3 other animals to feature.

The decision to work on 4 books at the same time ended up being the best for the series. It was a collaborative effort between myself, my team, my editor, and my illustrator. Deciding the purpose of the series and making sure each manuscript followed that, fine tuning elements in one book and making sure the others included those, polishing Owl’s catchphrase in each book, working out how many ‘snarky’ speech bubbles Owl would have per book so he didn’t come off mean, agreeing how many times Owl exposes his softer side to each featured animal, balancing the types of featured animals with their location and personalities… all of these elements and more were able to best be adapted by working on several books at once. The illustrator also did the thumbnails for each books before starting colored illustrations to make sure every part of each book was cohesive and supportive of the series and its mission.

19 months after the decision was made to make this series, I released the first 4 books together on June 3, 2025. The best part is, books 5 and 6 are already being illustrated and will be released soon after. There are many more ideas in the pipeline, if people enjoy reading about The Know It Owl as much as I enjoy writing them.

How do you craft so much wisdom into 32 pages?

Each book contains 12 spreads of facts, including if they’d make a great pet. Some spreads contain multiple facts surrounding that topic. Paula also adds factual details into some drawings (like skeletal or magnifying details). So much research is done before writing each book, and there were always more facts than could fit into 12 spreads. I decided to add a Fast Facts page, adding 5 bonus facts.

Paula incorporated some popular interactive features like Spot the Hidden Animals, Maze, and Measuring. If you need the answer key to spot the hidden animals, let me know.

After the Dear Reader letter, I also include an infographic to show where the featured animal is on the endangered list, a world map showing its location, a photograph that I’ve taken of the featured animal (if possible), and the primary sources I used for research. I take many, many photos of all these animals since I try to go to as many different zoos, aquariums, and conservations places as I can with my travels. I’ll include extra photos and videos in my blogs. I select just one for each book to also highlight the different zoos and aquariums I do visit.

Whenever possible, I will always try to seek out animals in their natural environment. I also understand the importance of supporting reputable zoos and aquariums who are involved with:

research (internally and collaboratively with organizations)
captive breeding programs (to help preserve endangered species and maintain genetic diversity)
habitat restoration (projects to improve the natural environments for animals)
educational programs (to spread awareness about the importance of conservation)
These zoos and aquariums are paramount, all while giving the public a chance to view and appreciate these beautiful animals up close who may never have the means to see most of the animals in nature.

Did you catch this in The Know It Owl and the Otter?

If you read both The Know It Owl and The Know It Owl and the Otter, you might have caught something that didn’t make ‘scents’. In the Owl book, it states that owls don’t have a sense of smell and that’s why they don’t mind catching skunks. Then, in the Otter book, Owl makes a big deal about how stinky Otter’s spraints are. That was a little bit of artistic license to offer a good fact and still make it funny to read about. There’s even a little nod to The Know It Owl spread where the skunk breaks through the 4th wall by having Owl try to escape the smell here.

Bonus photos of North American River Otters

The otter photos below are all taken by me, Terri Sabol.

The first 5 photos are at Amazona Zoo, England.
The remaining photos are at Houston Zoo (Texas), United States.

Otter Amazona Zoo 20241223_122954(0).jpg

Otter Houston Zoo 20241215_122027(0).jpg

Draw an otter with me

The last page of the ebook is a bonus page of how to draw the featured animal. It will also be included in future print versions of the book (hardcovers or box sets). When the paperback is printed by Amazon, that page is replaced with Amazon’s barcode of where it was printed. I don’t want you to miss out if that is the version you have, so here is that page. If you do draw the featured animal and post it on Instagram, please tag me @terrisabol and the illustrator @piechna_illustrations so we can see your works of art.

Are you available for school author visits?

Yes, I am! As a former teacher, I love to visit schools and talk about my books. I’m very excited to see this series in schools. I am very prepared for school visits with professionally made lesson plans for each book. I also have a large moveable Great Horned Owl puppet. In school visits, I will play the part of Owl and have a volunteer (a librarian, teacher, or students) play the part of the featured animal while holding a smaller stuffed animal.

Please visit https://app.bookanauthor.com/shop/listing/terrisabolvisit

If you are a teacher (home or school) and are interested in the lesson plans, you can buy them here.

Lesson Plans