Hattie Peck by Emma Levey

"Hattie Peck had only ever laid one egg, and it had never hatched. Poor Hattie, she simply loved eggs. They were all she thought about, and all she dreamed about. Eggs, eggs, eggs."

So off she went around the world collecting eggs - hundreds of eggs.

Little Hattie Peck loved eggs! Big ones, small ones, speckled ones. All she wanted was an egg of her own. One day, Hattie left her cosy coop on an adventure to find all the abandoned eggs of the world. And find them she did! But what will happen when they hatch?

Next term some classes at the school where I volunteer each week will explore the topic of eggs! This simple looking picture book would make a terrific starting point after you and your class perhaps brainstorm all the animals that lay eggs.

List of some animals that lay eggs: ants, bedbugs, bees, butterflies, birds, chickens, cockroaches, chameleon lizards, crocodiles, ducks, mosquitoes, emu, ostrich, owl, peacock, penguin, platypus, shark, seahorses, snails, snakes, echidna, and turtle. 

You will find lots of these on the final spread of Hattie Peck. 

Hattie Peck contains delicious words: plucked; embark; venture; battled; vast; deepest depths; clambered; trekked; precious; soared; hauled; trudged; blustery; and colossal. 

I can see this book being used for Reader's Theatre. Emma Levey has some colouring pages on her website. You will need to look in a library to find the books about Hattie because they were published in 2016 and so sadly are no longer in print. 

You can see more books by Emma Levey here. She lives in Wales. I also found a second book about Hattie:

Here are some other books that explore eggs (there are lots more - just ask your Teacher-Librarian):

The Great Shark egg case Hunt

Meet Sylvia Long

This is not an egg

First the egg

Hatch

The Emperor's Egg

Sydney and Taylor by Jacqueline Davies

"Sydney and Taylor live in a burrow under Miss Nancy's potting shed."

Bookseller blurb: Sydney is a skunk and Taylor is a hedgehog, but no matter how odd the pairing may seem, their friendship comes naturally. They live happily in their cozy burrow . . . until the day Taylor gets his Big Idea to go see the Whole Wide World. From mountains taller than a hundred hedgehogs, valleys wider than a thousand skunks, to the dangers that lie in the human world, Sydney and Taylor wanted to see it all. With a map and a dream, they bravely set off, soon discovering that the world is much bigger than they realized.

There are eleven chapters in this 79-page book which is published in a sightly larger format than the usual sized paperback. The first book (above) was published in 2021 but I think these books are still available. 

Blurb for Book 2 Take a Flying Leap: When Taylor decides he wants to be the World’s First Flying Hedgehog, there is little Sydney can do to stop him. Will Taylor realize his dream? Will he forgive Sydney for not believing in him? And can Sydney keep his spiny friend in one piece? This hilarious story, illustrated with expressive full-color art, highlights the importance of friendship and the need to reach for the sky.

Blurb for Book 3 ... and the Great Friend Expedition: Sydney and Taylor have been best friends since before they can remember. But how does one make new friends? Taylor wants to try, so Sydney does what any best friend would do: accompany him on his biggest adventure yet! When sincere compliments and gifts of friendship don't lead anywhere, Sydney and Taylor may need to look where they least expect . . .

One of the MOST important sections of a school library (and a bookshop) is the space set aside for easy chapter books - those with very satisfying stories - not readers or formulaic series. And these books work best if they have colour illustrations and are from a series with a small number of titles. There are not so many good examples of this that have been published here in Australia in recent years and we rarely do colour illustrations but there are so many terrific junior series and easy chapter books that do come our way from the US and UK and luckily because we speak English our readers can access and enjoy them. There are three books in the Sydney and Taylor series. I am so happy I have discovered these - the stories in books one and three made me smile:

Read more about Jacqueline Davies here.

It is fun that many of books that fall into this category contain unlikely friends such as our skunk and hedgehog from the series I mentioned today. Other fantastic junior each chapter books I recommend:

Bear and Bird by Jarvis

Our Friend Hedgehog

Sadly these are way too expensive here in Australia

Mouse and Spoon

Look for other series by Cynthia Rylant such as Mr Putter and The Lighthouse Family

Orris and Timble

Cornbread and Poppy

Mouse and Mole

Houndsley and Catina

These are newer junior chapter and easy chapter book series from here in Australia that I also highly recommend:

Bitza

Bravepaw

Spud and Snowball -there will be more books coming in this series

Companion books to read after the first installment of Sydney and Taylor; Explore the whole wide world:

The trip to Panama

Pigsticks and Harold

Bear and Bird: The Secret and other stories by Jarvis

The List - Bear is upset that everyone else has a great nickname. In a moment of temper she writes a list of really awful names about her friend Bird. Rabbit arrives and offers to do the shopping and somehow the two lists are mixed up. How lucky because Bird gets the shopping list and wait till you see what happened to the nasty list.

The Lasagna - it is okay to like different things. Bird likes tambourines, a film about worms on holiday and the sounds of eating banana. The friends can't seem to agree so they decide to write their own lists of things they don't like. The contents of their lists are hilarious - slug slime shampoo; the word serious; that book about an alligator with false teeth and the word armadillo. Can the friends resolve their differences?

Secrets - this one ends with a Birthday Party! I reminded me of Pat Hutchins The Surprise Party; Max Velthuis Frog and the Surprise Party and Got to get to Bears. Take a look at this post.

The tree - this is a story about how (not) to play Hide and Seek. (Click that label attached to this post to find lots more hide and seek stories).

Publisher blurb: Best friends Bear and Bird may not always understand each other, but they always want the other to be happy. So when Bird feels left out because Bear has given a cute nickname to everyone but her, she’s relieved when her hasty list of names for Bear doesn’t reach him (Stinky Sock Muffin, anyone?). And when the two of them learn they have zero dislikes in common—from lasagna to chess to the word armadillo—and wonder if they can still be friends, they soon realize there’s one important dislike they can both agree on. Whether the challenge is being hopeless at keeping a secret (Bear), or getting befuddled about the rules for hide-and-seek (Bear again), this ever-endearing pair continue to charm in a sixth set of gentle stories.

Take a look at my previous post about the author illustrator Jarvis.

The world needs more books like this! The Bear and Bird series are written for newly independent readers who need to read real books not 'readers'. They contain short chapters which are self-contained stories and even better they have glorious colour illustrations. If you work in a Primary School library, please please pop this book series onto your shopping list. They only cost around AUS$16 each so for less then $100 you will have six splendid books to share with your young readers. 

Here are the titles in order: 

• Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories
• Bear and Bird: The Stars and Other Stories
• Bear and Bird: The Adventure and Other Stories
• Bear and Bird: The Stick and Other Stories
• Bear and Bird: The Cave and Other Stories
• Bear and Bird: The Secret and Other Stories

Plus a picture book - The Cloud: A Bear and Bird

Blurb: When Bear arrives at the Woody Woods for the first time, he is looking for a friend. But it seems like all the friends are already taken. Then he meets Bird, who is looking for something, too—the Puffy Fluffy Octopus Cloud! Bear decides to help her look for it, and so begins an unexpected adventure . . . Will they ever find that octopus-shaped cloud? 

Perhaps they might find something even better!

Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham

"Today is Oscar's birthday. Well, not really his birthday - he is six months old. The truth is no one can wait for his whole birthday."

I have been reading and re-reading all of my Bob Graham books for a secret project. I have talked about or at least mentioned Oscar's Half Birthday here on this blog many times but I didn't have a post exclusively about this wonderful story. 

You might like to begin by stretching the cover out to see front and back. Oscar is sitting with his cake  and half a candle on the cover while his sister Millie heads over to him with her trademark dinosaur glove and fairy wings. By the way we later discover it is a chocolate cake - yum. 

The title page also stretches over two spreads and as it often the way with city scenes by Bob Graham there are so many tiny details to explore such as the lady sunbaking on her roof; the shops such as Guitar city which has a huge guitar on the roof, the donut on the donut shop and the burger on the top of Burgerland; you will also see several washing lines on the top of high city buildings and flocks of pigeons (Bob Graham puts pigeons in so many of his scenes).

Now zoom in on the same page and you will see a small hill with a park on the top - this is where we are heading for the birthday - up to Bellevue Hill - but first we need to meet the family so turn the page. Dad is wrapping the tuna sandwiches for their picnic and mum is sitting with Oscar and his big sister Millie on their comfy couch. 

The walk across the city involves crossing a pedestrian bridge. You can also see one of these in Queenie the Bantam and Spirit of Hope. They set out their picnic and everyone admires young Oscar and also Millie's fairy wings but even better when the family start to sing Happy Birthday everyone around the park joins in. 

After the singing we have a full page illustration of Oscar and these beautiful lines:

"Oscar sits titled at an angle, his fingers curled into Millie's tuna sandwich. HIs shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns."

Back at home the kids have a bath - notice the candles in the soap dish. Millie gifts her dinosaur glove briefly to Oscar and we learn that the next birthday will be Millie herself with four candles on her cake.

This is a book to own, cherish and read on the occasion of every birthday in your family while your kids are young. 

Graham magnificently captures the essence of a six-month-old: “Oscar frowns in the dim light—six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.” Millie is an adorable older sister, clearly infatuated with Oscar. Kirkus

Talking about another Bob Graham book (The Concrete Garden) Kirkus said his work is:

Deft, understated loveliness.

I am sure you are familiar with Bob Graham but if not here is a good summary of some of his titles from The School Library Journal. 

Moon Mouse by Corrinne Averiss illustrated by Lora Hill

Moon Mouse lives all alone on ... yes the moon! There is no one to 'squeak to' but he is used to the silence, and he keeps busy with his garden, cooking and viewing earth through his gold telescope.

He especially loves to look for birthday parties. 

"Lost in that joy - he forgets ... he's alone."

Moon Mouse has a plan. He is building a rocket. When it is finished he hopes to go to a real birthday party - one with a magic show. Through his telescope he sees a terrific birthday with cake and singing and friends but then oh no, the little boy lets go of his birthday balloon. 

Have you ever wondered where those lost balloons go? Perhaps they get as far as the moon. Yay - Moon Mouse now has is very own birthday balloon. But what about that little boy - his balloon is lost. It must be time to fire up his rocket. How will he find this boy? What will happen when he reaches the house? Is there a way to deliver the balloon so it does not float away? Moon Mouse is very shy - will he talk to the little boy? Is there way they can become friends? You will notice that on planet earth has to wear his space helmet but from the cover you can see this is a very special kind of helmet - could this help the boy and the mouse?

With themes of kindness, friendship and its joys, and bravery, this charmer of a rhyming story is written by Corrinne Averiss and illustrated with details aplenty by Lorna Hill. Young children will particularly love exploring the scenes showing Mouse’s lunar abode and that of the birthday boy’s bedroom. RedReadingHub

The illustrations add so much to the text, as we watch Moon Mouse, with a rattle, a rumble, a BOOM and a BLAST, setting off for planet earth. The illustrated contrast between Mouse’s moon home and the birthday boy’s is great, as his lost red balloon is returned. Moon Mouse’s heart is bursting with pleasure, mission complete, as he zooms off into the night. We understand that a friendship has been cemented. A book to be savoured over and over, to be enjoyed for its rich language as well as for the quality of the detailed pictures. Books for Keeps

This book is a paperback. Here in Australia it is not expensive. This is a book you should add to your preschool library shelves and also to the shelves in your Primary school library along with other books by Corrinne Averiss. 

My Pet Star

Joy

Take a look here to see more glorious art by Lorna Hill. 

Happy Birthday

Yes, it is my Birthday so let's celebrate with some Happy Birthday picture books!

Happy Birthday, Moon

Blue Kangaroo!

David McKee

Tacky the Penguin

Melrose and Croc: A hero's Birthday

Sometimes Cake

Where does Thursday go?

Billy's Bucket

Bread and Jam for Frances

There's a Hippopotamus on our roof eating cake

A library book for Bear

Carmela full of wishes

The Birthday Invitation