Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky.
Title: Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture
Author: Kathryn Lasky.
Genre: Fiction, children's lit, fantasy, adventure.
Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Publication Date: June 1st, 2003.
Summary: When Soren, a barn owl, is captured and taken to St. Aggie's, a mysterious school for orphaned owls, he suspects that there is more to the school than meets the eye. With his new friend, a clever female elf owl named Gylfie, they embark on a perilous journey to save all owls from the danger that lurks at St. Aggie's.
My rating: 9/10
♥ Gylfie and Soren both blinked at Grimble and together said, "If you don't believe, then you'll never fly."
"Yes, yes. I see you understand. And, of course, that is why none of the owlets in the glaucidium will ever fly. It is not only that the vampire bats quiet their stirrings and cause their feathers to turn brittle, but if an owl is moon blinked it, of course, has no notion of what it means to believe."
♥ He was going to miss these two. He might miss their questions most of all. It felt so luxurious to be able to ask and answer questions. He had once thought the sweetest taste in the world was that of a freshly killed vole, but now he knew differently. The sweetest thing was a question on the tongue. A word beginning with that wonderful rush of air that w's made.
♥ They did not look back. They did not see the torn owl on the library floor. They did not hear Grimble, as he lay dying, chant in the true voice of the Boreal Owl, in tones like chimes in the night, an ancient owl prayer: "I have redeemed myself by giving belief to the wings of the young. Blessed are those who believe, for indeed they shall fly."
♥ "A band of owls, very strong, very brave." Twilight seemed to swell up even bigger before their very eyes as he spoke.
"And," Soren continued, "do these owls rise each night into the blackness and perform noble deeds?" The words of his father flowed through him. "And speak no words but true ones, and their purpose is to right all wrongs, to make strong the weak, mend the broken, vanquish the proud, and make powerless those who abuse the frail? And with hearts sublime, they do take flight..."
♥ This, Soren realized in the deepest part of his gizzard, was why they had to go to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. For when the world one knew began to crumble away bit by bit, when not only your memories but the memories that others might have of you grew dim with time and distance, when, indeed, you began to fade into a nothingness in the minds of the owls that you loved best, well, perhaps that was when legends could become real.
But at the heart of this nightmare was another deeper truth. Soren had become something else. He turned slowly to look at the three other owls in the cool moonlight. Their eyes burned with a new intelligence, a new understanding. Yes, thought Soren, and so had Gylfie and Twilight and Digger become something else. No words were spoken. No words were needed. But a silent oath was sworn in that desert river of moonlight and the four owls all nodded. In that instant they knew that they were a band forevermore, bound by a loyalty stronger than blood. It was as a band they must go to Hoolemere and find its great tree that loomed now as the heart of wisdom and nobility in a world that was become insane and ignoble. They must warn of the evil that threatened. They must become part of this ancient kingdom of knights on silent wings who rose in the blackness to perform deeds of greatness.
And, indeed, Soren knew still another truth: Legends were not only for the desperate. Legends were for the brave.