The Owl and the Tuba
James H. Lehman, Christopher Raschka
Hardcover
(Brotherstone, Dec. 1, 1991)
Fred is a little boy who tried to learn to play the tuba, but only made bad noises. Homer was an owl who couldn't hoot - nothing came out. Homer came down and became friends with Fred, and actually began to play the tuba, himself, even though Fred still couldn't. But then Fred wandered through the woods, and found that he could hoot like the owls, who came down from the trees to be with him, and then learned to speak their language. Fred and Homer were friends for many years, with Homer the Owl becoming a great music teacher, and Fred becoming a great ornithologist. Lovely book on learning to do what you can do best, and not worrying about the rest.