Little Hoot was a happy little owl. He liked going to school. He liked playing hide-n-seek with his forest friends. He even liked it fine when Mama Owl said it was practice time. “Time to practice pondering, Sweetie.” “OK, now practice your staring.” “Staring right, staring left, staring right.” But there was one thing Little Hoot did not like: Bedtime. Because when you’re an owl, you have to stay up late, late, late. That’s just the way it is. “All my other friends get to go to bed so much earlier than me! Why do I always have to stay up and play? It’s not fair!” “If you want to grow up to be a wise owl, you must stay up late,”said Papa Owl. “And besides, I don’t give a hoot what time your friends go to bed. In this family, we go to bed late. Rules of the roost.” “Stay up and play for one more hour and then you can go to sleep,” Mama Owl compromised. “One whole hour?” he boo–whoo’d. “One whole hour,” she cooed. So off he went. “When I grow up, I’m going to let my kids go to bed as early as they want.”
