Armadillo and Hare by Jeremy Strong illustrated by Rebecca Bagley

Get ready, get set, this book is FUN FUN FUN!  Settle down and prepare to read. There are ten short chapters in this book. Each is a stand alone story with diverse characters such as Elephant, Wombat, Invisible Stick Insect, Lobster, Jaguar and of course our heroes Armadillo and Hare. You could read one chapter each night for ten nights! Or you could sit down now and read the whole book as I did. Before you do that, though, you need to make a cheese sandwich. The full instructions are in the back of the book but I am putting them here so you can be prepared.

Two Slices of Bread
NOTE 1: Must be the same size so the cheese doesn't fall out.

Cheese
NOTE 2: Obviously. Cheddar is non-stinky best, Stilton is stinky best. Camembert is sloppy and stinky best.

Method:
Place cheese between slices of bread.
NOTE 3: No butter required. Mustn't spoil the full flavour of the cheese.

Eat. Place in mouth between teeth. Grip tightly. Pull off large chunk. Chew.

Swallow
NOTE 4: Close eyes and emit sighs of intense pleasure
NOTE 5: Offer similar sandwich to Hare but not so big. He has small teeth.
NOTE 6: Chutney can be added but sparingly.

IMPORTANT: Obey the Golden Rule.
NOTE 7: The Golden Rule. Never leave the fridge without any cheese in it.

In the first story someone has broken The Golden Rule, all the cheese is gone and, as an added complication, the fridge light is not working. Armadillo is in despair. He is desperate to eat a cheese sandwich. He leaves the fridge door open:

"I thought some cheese might jump in. If I left it open. ... I didn't think it would. It was just a chance. A tiny, tiny possibility that some cheese might come wandering along and think: Oh, that looks like a nice fridge. It could sit inside and keep cool. This warm sun is making me melt. How kind of someone to leave the door open for me. I'll just hop inside."

Hare suggests instead of eating cheese sandwiches, Armadillo would be better off doing exercises and perhaps finding a hobby.  The exercises are a bit of a disaster but Armadillo finds the perfect hobby - painting cheese sandwiches.  Make sure you take a close look the the jacket fly leaf. Mona Lisa Cheese Sandwich.

One of the truly delightful story ideas in this book is the tuba played by Hare. Every time he plays things pop out. They do disappear quite quickly but some of them are so quirky and some are just for fun! Think about empty saucepans, toilet rolls and a lady's swimming costume. I also love Hare's ears which he straightens and twists.

Image source: https://bagleyart.com/portfolio/armadilloandhare/

The relationship between Hare and Armadillo is also delightful. During the big storm Armadillo knows Hare will be scared so he offers to make chamomile tea. They climb into bed together while Armadillo explains about lightning and thunder and of course eventually the storm moves away. At the Nobody's birthday party, Hare sits with Armadillo even though he would dearly love to dance. He is loyal to his friend. Perhaps Armadillo will never learn to dance but that doesn't matter at all. The end of this chapter will give you a huge smile.

This is my new favourite book for those children who are ready for chapter books and for those children who ready for fun!  Australian children will be pleased Jeremy Strong included a wombat in his cast of characters.  Here is an audio sample to give you the flavour of this story. Here is an interview with Jeremy Strong. Read this review for more story details.

This is the story of a wonderful friendship. It is a glorious book, highly recommended for readers of all ages.’Armadillo and Hare‘ is an ideal early chapter book for less experienced readers. It is bound to be laughed over, enjoyed, reread and cherished. Bookwagon

If you are reading this book with a class you could compare the chapter A Flood and a Cardigan with Frog is a Hero by Max Velthuijs.

This book continues the tradition of unlikely friendships - take a look at these:

When you read about Invisible Stick Insect in Armadillo and Hare you should also grab this unlikely friends book -  Pig and Small.

Explore a series with your youngest classes

We are moving to a new library management system fairly soon.  Our old system was first introduced to NSW schools in 1988 so you can imagine it is a little outdated.

As a part of the migration process I have been looking at our book series.

Here are some of my favourite series to read to our Kindergarten and Year One students:

There are more than ten titles in this series and every book is a winner.  Frog discovers his identity, he finds strength from true friendships and Frog demonstrates his compassion for others. There are twelve books in this series.

I like to read this series to our Year One classes.  Frog is a Hero is my favourite.

Winnie is a wonderful character who we also enjoy meeting with our Year One classes.  The illustrations by Korky Paul are perfect. There are more than fifteen books in this series plus some chapter books and a joke book.

My favourite from this series is Winnie Flies again.

Late in the year we often explore the theme of dogs with our Kindergarten classes.  The Kipper books are always part of this unit. There are more than seven books in this series along with some tiny books called Little Kippers.

My favourite from this series is The Blue Balloon which is the book where we first meet Kipper.

We always start our year with this book.  It is a familiar text.  It allows the children to participate in the story telling because there is a repeated refrain.  I love using different voices and I keep a little hippo in my library bag.

There are five books in this series and my favourite is the first book There's a hippopotamus on our roof eating cake.

We read these books to our Kindergarten classes and we talk about circle stories.  I have a CD of these books and so the children enjoy dancing (If you give a pig a pancake), and filling in the blank words (If you give a mouse a cookie).  One book from this series is perfect for Christmas (If you take a mouse to the movies).

There are eight books in this series and also some small chapter books.  I have made a pinterest collection to support the topic of lighthouses.  We are lucky to have a wonderful lighthouse near our school.  This series is perfect for Year One and Year Two.

It is so interesting when we read this series aloud to see the children recognize their own reactions and behaviours reflected in the way Lily treats her precious kangaroo toy.  I like to read this series to Year One. There are ten books in this series.

My favourite from this series is It was you Blue Kangaroo.

This term we are reading the Tacky series with our Year One classes.  These books are always winners.  Tacky is such a special character and in spite of his odd behavior he always saves the day.  There are more than eight books in the series.

My favourite from this series is Three Cheers for Tacky.

Elmer is a little like Frog from the book Frog is Frog.  He is wise and kind to his friends.  We love to read the Elmer books with our Kindergarten classes.  There are twenty-seven books in the series and we own nearly all of them.

My favourite from this series is Elmer on Stilts.

This post about series came about because I was browsing the holdings of some other libraries in my area and one author I searched for in each school database was Frank Asch.  He is one of my most favourite writers.  Oddly nearly every school had no books from the Moonbear series.  There are twelve books in this series and we always start with Happy Birthday Moon.  There is a terrific little Weston Woods film that you can watch with the children this after reading this book.

My favourite from the series is Mooncake.