Owl in Love
#7203.71 adjusted 3.81 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1993 Reading commitment Low Patrice Kindl Last reviewed 2026-10-26
Overview
Patrice Kindl's first novel, Owl in Love (Houghton Mifflin, 1993), is a droll young adult fantasy narrated by a fourteen-year-old shape-shifter who is an owl by night and a high-school girl by day, and who has fallen in love with her science teacher. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, praising it as tautly plotted and touching, and it won the 1995 Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature.
Urban fantasy, Comic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Owl in Love Patrice Kindl
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Owl in Love | 1993 | 1 | core | 3.71 (1,428 ratings) |
Patrice Kindl's standalone first novel.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Owl in Love? Owl in Love's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Owl in Love finished? Complete (1993).
- How much reading does Owl in Love take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is Owl in Love ranked? #720 in this site's official ranking, based on 1,428 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #720?
Ranked #720 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.71 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (1,428 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.09 behind #719, The Dragon King Trilogy.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 1k ratings · Ranks #720 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Mythopoeic Award (Children's Literature), 1995: won: Owl in Love
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Suggestions computed from what Owl in Love and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Mither Mages Urban fantasy / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.75
- The Enchanted Forest Chronicles Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.17
- The Derkholm Series Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.11
- Elatsoe Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.98
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.71 across 1,428 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: Owl in Love (Patrice Kindl), The Ropemaker (Peter Dickinson, 2 books) accepted 2026-10-26
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-10-26
Rule: Core Canon = Owl in Love (1993), a standalone novel.