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The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 782 ratings · 176 reviews

An amazing secret has tumbled off a freight train into Carter, Georgia, and Owen Jester is the only person who knows about it. If he can simply manage to evade his grandfather’s snappish housekeeper, organize his two best friends, and keep his nosy neighbor, Viola, at bay, he just might be in for the summer of a lifetime. With her trademark wit and easy charm, Barbara O’Co...more

176 pages

Published August 31st 2010 by Frances Foster Books

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Feb 21, 2011 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction, youth, realistic-fiction, adventure

Just as she did in the Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis, O’Connor has set her story in the summertime in the south, where the days are long and the possibility for adventure just around the bend. (There's not even a hint of a video game or TV in this book.) Owen has already caught himself “the biggest, greenest, slimiest, most beautiful bullfrog ever to be seen in Carter, Georgia”, but he soon finds it’s not so easy to keep a captive bullfrog happy. Something else keeps tugging at Owen’s con...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

O’Connor, Barbara. The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester.
Owen doesn’t like living with his ill grandfather, his pushy housekeeper, and his out-of-work father in rural Georgia, but there are some advantages. There’s lots to do outside, and he has finally captured an enormous frog, whom he has named Tooley. He and his friend Travis, along with bossy neighbor Viola, build a large cage for Tooley, but the frog still does not look happy. Another summer project is locating a box that fell off a train, w...more

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Jan 10, 2012 M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good book for a thoughtful boy (or girl). Owen isn't happy when his family has to move in with his bedridden grandfather after his dad loses his job at the hardware store. Earlene, his grandfather's housekeeper, is always on Owen's back, Owen's friends from his old house aren't immediately to hand any more, and then there's Viola, the pest from next door who thinks Owen's pet bullfrog Tooley Graham (the slimiest, greenest, biggest bullfrog ever) isn't happy. Summer vacation gets more complicat...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Josiah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Barbara O'Connor had been writing books for some time before The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester was published in 2010, and her stories had received favorable reviews and even some conversation regarding possible contention for Newbery honors. I decided to finally make my own acquaintance with her writing by way of this book, and I'm glad that I have done so.

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester is a simple book, without major surprises or unexpected characters. It's just a nice story for younger...more Barbara O'Connor had been writing books for some time before The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester was published in 2010, and her stories had received favorable reviews and even some conversation regarding possible contention for Newbery honors. I decided to finally make my own acquaintance with her writing by way of this book, and I'm glad that I have done so.

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester is a simple book, without major surprises or unexpected characters. It's just a nice story for younger readers about a boy from Carter, Georgia who happens upon a secret that will make him the envy of any kid who ever wanted to do some underwater exploring. The characters have a generally authentic feel about them, and the story is realistic as well, but somehow the overall effect comes just short of science fiction.

Owen and his friends, Stumpy (I'm guessing that's not the name he was born with!) and Travis, work hard to build a special cage for the exotic-looking frog that Owen managed to catch one day at Graham Pond. A neighbor girl, Viola, tells Own and his friends that the frog doesn't look very happy, though, and as much as Owen resents Viola for her know-it-all tendencies, he silently agrees that the frog really doesn't look content to be kept in even the special cage that Owen and his friends had custom built as its home.

Soon, however, a bigger event comes upon Owen than his debates over whether or not to keep the frog. A mysterious something falls off the train way behind his house one night, making a racket when it hits the ground that is audible as far away as Owen's bedroom, and Owen is curious as to just what could have made such a sound. He enlists the aid of Stumpy and Travis to hunt down the object, all the while trying to evade Viola so as to keep her from tagging along. When Owen eventually finds what it was that fell off of the train, it's a bigger surprise than he ever expected, and could offer him a unique perspective on Graham Pond like he will probably never have again.

There's not a whole lot for me to say about this book; it's unspectacular, but that's by design. It's a pleasant story of friendship and family that should be a great fit for young readers just moving on to longer chapter books, and the writing is nicely descriptive and frames the action and characters quite well. All in all, I would say that The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester is a good, comfortable story. (less)

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Feb 19, 2011 Charlyn Trussell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, friendship, strong-female-character, adventure

One of my favorite wordless books is Mayer's A boy, a dog, and a frog , a story of a small boy's adventures trying to catch a huge frog and his subsequent adventures with the frog before it returns to the pond. Owen Jester reminds me of that boy, finally succeeding in capturing the biggest frog in the pond and happily bringing him home. Owen, however, has a snarky neighbor, Viola, who reminds him frequently how unhappy the frog is in captivity. Owen, his two dogs and his two friends have other...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: cha-cha-potential

This has one of the best first lines ever: "Owen Jester tiptoed across the gleaming linoleum floor and slipped the frog into the soup." ("It's not hot", he reassured him.) And it just gets better from there.

Owen and his two buddies-in-trouble, Travis and Stumpy, are used to roaming freely in the woods and by the railroad tracks behind their houses, but when Owen's family moves in with his grandpa across town, he is now under the suspicious eye of the housekeeper, Earlene . To make matters worse,...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Karissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program. It looked like a fun little read. It ended up being okay but was a bit simpler and less wondrous than I was hoping for.

Owen Jester lives in a house with his parents, grandfather, and housekeeper. No one does much with him and he is left mainly to his own devices; he has two friends he hangs out with and there is a girl who bothers them from time to time. Most of the book is spent dealing with Owen's struggles about whether or not he shou...more

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Oct 26, 2010 The Rusty Key rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen

Recommended for: Boys and Girls, ages 7 to 10. The story features a male protagonist and the sort of rambunctious summer fun that will likely be particularly relatable for boys, but a strong female character and a lack of gross-out jokes will keep girls from being alienated…unless, you know, they like that kind of thing.

One Word Summary: Buoyant

In this day and age of niche driven story telling and books ready made for filmic adaptation and merchand...more Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen

Recommended for: Boys and Girls, ages 7 to 10. The story features a male protagonist and the sort of rambunctious summer fun that will likely be particularly relatable for boys, but a strong female character and a lack of gross-out jokes will keep girls from being alienated…unless, you know, they like that kind of thing.

One Word Summary: Buoyant

In this day and age of niche driven story telling and books ready made for filmic adaptation and merchandizing, there’s something rather bold about being simple.
A small story, the kind that harkens back to the likes of Charlotte’s Web, a time when all kids had to worry about was not tracking mud on the newly cleaned floors, ‘The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester’ neatly makes up for its lack of flash with an abundance of authenticity.

Set in Georgia, in that hazy book-time of not quite now, but not that long ago, “Owen Jester’s” eponymous main character is living with his parents in his ailing grandfather’s house. There are plenty of things that aren’t so great about this arrangement, like the housekeeper Earlene who’s always on Owen’s case, or the busy-body next door neighbor Viola, or the fact that he’s living in a house where there’s a man gradually dying in one of the upstairs bedrooms. But the house also has a pretty great upside as well; A big pond in the woods out back, full of frogs. Owen spent weeks stalking the most perfect frog of them all and finally got his hands on him, naming him Tooley Graham and keeping him in a bucket in his closet. But that’s not all Owen finds in the woods. After hearing a thunderous crash from his bedroom window one night as the train rattled by, Owen seeks out the source of the commotion and finds a two-seater, ambient pressure submarine, fallen from one of the freight cars.

With his friends Travis and Stumpy (a fantastically unexplained nickname…yes he has all his appendages.) Owen sets out to create the greatest cage ever for Tooley on the bank of the pond, and to get the submarine down to the water and take the thing for a spin. Supposedly the pond is rather deep. But obstacles abound in both of these missions, and nosy Viola just makes everything worse with her threats to tattle, insistence on being involved, and tendency to oh-so-annoyingly know everything. Top among Viola’s complaints that irk the daylights out of Owen: that Tooley looks sad in his bucket, that frogs aren’t meant to have names, or live in cages. Frogs must be free. The thought of Tooley’s unhappiness at his own hands nags at Owen as he fashions the perfect frogy home, leading to the inevitable question: Would Tooley be better off if Owen just let him go?

Perfectly capturing that delicate moment teetering between the imaginative, unbound fog of childhood and the clear-seeing, if more stark world of adulthood, ‘Owen Jester’ taps into that classic saying ‘If you love something, set it free’ without beating you over the head with it. Most of us can remember that time when it got a little harder to play make-believe, when splashing in the mud started to seem a little unpleasant, when the magic of the world started to grow a little bit dim. This book is as much an ode to those last fleeting moments as it is an exploration of the secret lives of children. But to weigh the book down with analysis would be to take away the thing that makes it so lovely: its easy, free-spirited, sense of good old-fashioned fun, the kind of adventure that can be found in your own backyard. A particularly great read-aloud book for parents and kids to enjoy together.

For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com
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Sep 28, 2010 Cathe Olson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a sweet story about a young boy, Owen Jester, trying to deal with the move to his grandfather's house. Two big things happen to him in this story: 1) he catches the world's most beautiful bullfrog and 2) he discovers the mysterious and wonderful thing that fell off the train that runs behind his grandfather's house. How he deals with these two events, make up the course of the book.

Let me start by saying that I love Barbara O'Connor's writing. How to Steal a Dog is a book I love and reco...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Aubrey Clark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure

I read The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester! Don't let the title of the book fool you because this is a really good book even though the title is kind of cheesy! I would let to state the major and minor characters in this book, the objects and living things they have, and the setting in which this will take place!
The objects and living things:
Tooley Graham- a frog with a heart shaped red-spot in between its eyes; it is greenest and yellowest and bestest frog in the whole pond!
Water Wonder 4000- I...more I read The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester! Don't let the title of the book fool you because this is a really good book even though the title is kind of cheesy! I would let to state the major and minor characters in this book, the objects and living things they have, and the setting in which this will take place!
The objects and living things:
Tooley Graham- a frog with a heart shaped red-spot in between its eyes; it is greenest and yellowest and bestest frog in the whole pond!
Water Wonder 4000- Is a submarine that is red and they are trying to get it into Graham Pond!
Now the Settings:
Owen's room- A normal room not much different then a normal one except he has a little indoor homeade cage for Tooley.
Graham Pond- A pond in his grandpa's backyard;where he found Tooley.
Barn- A barn with a hay loft where they hid away from Viola.
Radom backyards like Stumpy's,Travis's,and Owen's old one-Normal backyards with a neighbor that lives in Owen's old house that spy's on them and hates them;Grown women not a kid.
Next is the major characters:
Owen Jester- A fun kid with a good spirit and loves to play with his friends in the mud.
Stumpy-Owen's friend, does everything with Owen, and he doesn't have any good ideas.
Travis-Owen's friend, does everything with Owen, and helps come up with the good ideas.
Viola-A little girl who has a lot of alergies and who is a know-it-all,which is why they hate her.
The minor characters are:
Erelene-Owen's sister that hates, hates, and hates everything he does and will ever do.
In the following I shall give the summary of this story,but I will not be using as much detail as they use in the story so read the book if you want to get all of the information.
In the begining it starts out with Owen checking on Tooley in his cage before going to bed. Then the next morning when he is going outside to play with his buddys,Travis and Stumpy, he took Tooley to his outdoor cage. When they came back V-i-o-l-a was there telling Owen and his friends that their frog is sick. He new she was right but didn't say anything for fear that his friends whould tease and make fun of him. So Owen just said your mom is calling! Your mom is calling! Your mom is calling! She never does but it gets rid of her so he does it any way. Then one night Owen heard the train going by his grandpa's fields. It was going Clack! Clack! Clack! Thunk! Crack! Something had fallen off the train! What was it? Was it something big or something small? Owen didn't know so him said to himself that in the morning he would tell Travis and Stumpy about this! The next morning he forgot, but sooner or later he finally did remember. He told them and so they look until about noon and Travis and Stumpy said they were going to quit. Then as they were leaving Owen though that if the train was going down hill the object must have fallen down hill not where they were looking! So then they started looking, but again a little while after that Travis and Stumpy gave up! Then Owen looked down and found some wood he had found the thing! He ran up the hill just in time to find Travis and Stumpy walkingvhome! He told them the good news and they all ran down to see it! Just them they heard something so they came out of the bushes just in time to see... V-i-o-l-a. She came and said,"Owen that frog of yours is sick." Again he knew she was right, but didn't say anything. Then luckily they heard the clop,clop of Viola shoes on the train tracks going away, which made them very happy! In the next few days they had started cutting down trees and then one day Viola had told them about how she knew about the submarine or the Water Wonder 4000. Owen said if she kept it a secret she could help cut down trees. Then Owen decided to let Tooley go one morning because he felt like Tooley wasn't happy when he is not free, and when he told his friends they were furious at him! They stopped helping him every morning, afternoon, and evening. So he and Viola made a different plan, but Travis and Stumpy had to help. Owen didn't want to, but he asked them and they forgave him. So they went on with their plan! They had done it! They had gotten The Water Wonder 4000 into Graham Pond! So the next day they decided that Owen was going to drive it while Viola was going to help him learn how to drive it. They had a fun time down it the water, but sadly when they rose up there were people from the railroad company standing waiting for them. Then they took the sub away and each and everyone of them was grounded for a week. So they could not do anything, but sit in their rooms and look out the window. One day Owen got a call from the person who had built the submarine and he asked them how they were able to drive in Graham Pond. So blah... bblah... bblah..yahoo!! They got into the newspaper and the book pretty much ends there.
Trust me if you read the book you will understand this a lot better because I didn't use a horrificly big amount of detail at all. So READ the BOOK!!!! (less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: vrc-2012-13, children-s-literature, contemporary-fiction, fiction

Grades 3-6
Owen Jester, newly moved in with his grandfather after his father lost his job, has just caught the biggest, greenest, slimiest bullfrog in all of Carter, Georgia. He has all sorts of big plans for Tooley Graham. But Tooley's not cooperating. Instead of enjoying the indoor and outdoor frog houses that Owen has designed especially for him, Tooley just sits there. Owen hates to admit it, but his annoying, know-it-all neighbor Viola may be onto something when she says that Tooley just wa...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Phoebe rated it 2 of 5 stars

The cover of this book is truly fantastic, but the story didn't really match up. Books that are trying too hard to be Newbery worthy are always easy to spot and this is one. Owen's life has changed for the worse, in his opinion, since his family has moved in with his grandfather. The only good thing so far is the capture of the world's best frog, whom Owen names Tooley Graham. Know-it-all Olivia from next door insists Tooley looks sad, and that he should be set free back in his pond, but Owen re...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Kristina Lareau rated it 1 of 5 stars

Uh, what?

I found this book incredibly problematic. The two main plots--the frog and the submarine seemed disjointed. The end of the book left me asking "what was the point of this novel?" And not in the thoughtful way where there is a richness to explore but in a "I would like the past hour of my life back, please" way.

Ok, that sounds really harsh. The main character gains his morality from his obnoxious neighbor, who he befriends in the end because she is such a "know it all"--to the extent tha...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Simona rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester is a really wonderful book that Barbara O'Connor created!

The action take place in summer and centers around a boy name Owen who caught the biggest bullfrog in the pond! But that is just the beginning of this summer adventure! The train which passes near the house of Owen seems to drop something by mistake, something that the boy must discover more about! What could that be?

Surrounded by his friends and also Viola, the annoying neighbour and know-it-all, Owen's...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Childrens Librarian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: j-fic

This is like "The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis" in that the actual happenings are linear and on the surface the story is reasonably simple, but there is a lot going on beneath that surface. The hook for kids who like adventure is "imaginge that you hear something fall off a train in the middle of the night. When you and your friends search for it, you discover taht it is a submersible! Four kids (one is a girl who the boys reluctantly allow to join because she actually has all the best id...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Todd rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 17, 2010 Loree Burns rated it 5 of 5 stars

I fell for this cover the moment I saw it. It helped that the name Barbara O'Connor was printed on it, but truly, it was so many other things, too: the colors, that frog, those children, and, goodness, what is that mysterious, secretive, red, round ... thing?

I couldn't resist.

And then I stumbled into a chunk of free reading time this week. Alone and uninterrupted, I read THE FANTASTIC SECRET OF OWEN JESTER in a single sitting, and fell in love a second time. There were boys, and a know-it-all gi...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Thomas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: vonderfecht-digital-bookshelf

Connor, Barbara. The fantastic secret of Owen Jester. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.

After Owen Jester’s father is laid off from his job at the hardware store, his family moves in with his grandfather in Carter, Georgia. There were three good things about living with his grandfather: (1) there was lots of land and a big pond where he could catch bullfrogs, (2) there was an old barn filled with all kinds of junk, and (3) there were train tracks that ran near the woods. But there were als...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: level-elementary

6/26/12 ** On the Young Hoosier Nominee list for 2012-13. ** The two main characters are absolutely authentic. I could connect with both of them and thought that it would be really interesting to talk with children about what they thought of the quirks that so annoyed Owen and Viola about each other. The plot itself seemed somewhat fantastical, perhaps with elements of magical realism (ala' HOLES).

I can definitely see my students connecting with the story and the characters. Oh, so many good pos...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Tami rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile-mystery-adventure, read-aloud-recommendation

Easy read. Owen finds a submarine; The story has adventure & friendship issues. Its biggest drawback is that it virtually ignores Owen’s living situation which is set up as difficult, to say the least. Had I not read the blurb on the jacket that told me his father had lost his job, forcing them to move in w/his grandfather and that ‘Earlene’ was his grandfather’s caretaker I would never have known from the actual content of the book. The characters of Earlene & grandfather are vague &...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: friendship, realistic-fiction

I am a big fan of Barbara O'Connor's books. I enjoy her writing style and character development. In this short, readable book the plot simply revolves around how 4 rural kids spend their summer break - it involves a large bullfrog, a pond, a know-it-all girl who annoys the 3 boys, and an exciting discovery near the train tracks. Like summer, the pace of the book is rather slow and it will probably not appeal to kids looking for a fast-paced action/adventure story. However, for 5th graders lookin...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Theo kids rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a great story for do-it-yourself boys and their deep dislike of all things feminine. I liked the determination of the boys and their innate curiosity. I also liked the moral message presented by the capture of a wild bullfrog - (no matter how nice the cage, it is still a cage).

But, I did not like some of the rude language. We listed to this book on CD, and had I been reading it to the kids, I could have easily skipped the "Shut-up" and "stupid" comments, but the audio version complicat...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Frances rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, children-s

This book feels timeless, but in part that's due to a lack of detail. The characters aren't very well developed, especially Owen's friends Travis and Stumpy, who are all but interchangeable. There are no clues as to the time period other than the fact of a fairly modern-sounding submarine, but the large amounts of unsupervised time and the small town lifestyle are more reminiscent of the 1950s. Still, the story is both sweet and adventurous, and it's a great length for a read-aloud. O'Connor sti...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book for boys or girls. I would most often recommend this to grades 3 and 4 though it would still be perfectly appropriate for second and fifth grades. Owen Jester lives with his parents, his ill grandfather and pesky housekeeper. Owen's days are filled with typical okay with his friends, Travis and Stumpy. Everthing changes one night. He listens to a passing train on the night when he suddenly hears a loud crash, and then tumble, tumble, tumble...What fell off if the train that will lead...more

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Jul 15, 2010 Sara added it

Another classic, kid-centered, and beautifully written adventure from Barbara O'Connor. Might be my favorite of hers yet. I loved how she built the novel around key sounds---of the passing train, the "fantastic secret's" bumpy arrival, the captured frog's throaty calls, the irritated housekeeper's carping (reminiscent of the faceless adults in Charlie Brown), the one-way conversations with the ill grandfather, the recurring verbal battles between the boys and the lone girl---and many more subtle...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Deborah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic, juvenile-fiction

Owen moved across town to live with his ailing grandfather. Owen is a typical boy, enjoying the outdoors, the pond behind the house, and playing by the forbidden train tracks. His goal is to catch the big bullfrog in the pond, but slowly it becomes lethargic. Owen's annoying neighbor, Viola, who thinks she knows everything, tells him the frog is sad. But Owen doesn't want to admit to this. More excitement for the summer comes from the mysterious object that rolls off the midnight train.

Not very...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Jocelin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lailah-s-books

3.5 stars.

My niece Lailah, had to read this book for a reading bowl competition and I decided I was going to read along with her. I liked this story of a young boy finding an object so unimageable that it had to be a secret. The elements of this book made me think of my childhoold and just the wonderment of being young and wanting to explore. This is what is missing in today's society. Kids can't go outside and explore and marvel at nature. This world has become too dangerous and active discover...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kidlit

Parts of this are really fun and the writing is wonderful, but not too much happens. We're playing with Owen's frog, "the most beautiful in Georgia," for fifty pages until finally his big secret is revealed...an item that he heard fall off a train one night. The remaining 100+ pages deal with friendship squabbles (his girl neighbor is an annoying know-it-all) and logistics about how to this fascinating object to use.

Put this in the hands of those who enjoy fun characters and simple pleasures (ca...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Virginia Brace rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: junior-fiction

This was a endearingly simple story of a boy in Carter, Georgia who discovers something that has fallen from a train near his house. He shares the marvelous secret with his buddies who all hope to keep it from the bossy and 'way too smart girl who lives next door. But eventually he realizes they need her to help them recover and enjoy that marvelous secret. The triumph of Owen and his friends in the end is very heartwarming. A great book to read as a family or to discuss in a 3rd-4th grade book...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Ramarie rated it 4 of 5 stars

A great little chapter book with a tight plot! The hook in this one is the unexpected find that Owen Jester discovers after hearing the unmistakable "thud" of something falling off a passing train near his home.
He's all boy--free for the summer, exploring woods, the pond, the train tracks, and capturing the best bullfrog in Georgia. Supporting characters (including the very unnwelcome female peer, Viola) are right-on, and the adult characters, those consistent foils to Owen's plans, lend a real...more

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About Barbara O'Connor

I'm a children's book author. My books include The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis Greetings from Nowhere, and How to Steal a Dog, Moonpie and Ivy, and Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia. In addition to being a five-time winner of the Parents Choice Award, my awards include the Massachusetts Book Award, School Library Journal Best Books, Bank Street College...more

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