From the Bookshelf of University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, Primary PGCE 2019-20 …

[close] ‘Owen and the Onion’ follows the story of a young boy called Owen who grows onions with his father. One day Owen’s fathers is called away leaving Owen to look after the onions but things start to go wrong when Owen notices a special onion growing much bigger, stronger and sweeter than all the other onions. The story teaches children the importance of sharing as we see what happens to Owen and the village when he refuses to share his onion. Owen learns this lesson himself and changes, demonstrating the positive effects of sharing, as children can see how sad the village is before Owen learns to share compared to how happy they are after.
This book provides a good stepping stone between picture books and more advanced reading books and would be suitable for year two readers. ‘Owen and the Onion’ is a longer book with chapters and while it still includes beautiful illustrations there is a greater focus on the story than there would be in simpler books. The story includes both simple and more complex words as well as more complex sentence structures and this variety makes it a good read that challenges children without them becoming discouraged.