ONLY $9.90 DELIVERY INFO
Born in Belfast, Martin Waddell was an aspiring football player for many years, before turning his hand to writing. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest living children’s writers, and has over 220 published titles to his name. He is perhaps best known for Owl Babies, illustrated by Patrick Benson and Farmer Duck, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; as well as the 1989 Kurt Maschler Award-winning The Park in the Dark and the Little Bear series, both illustrated by Barbara Firth. In 2004, Martin received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his lasting contribution to children’s literature, the highest career recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children’s books. He lives in Newcastle, County Durham. Helen Oxenbury is among the most popular and critically acclaimed illustrators of her time. Her numerous books for children include Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, as well as her classic board books for babies. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Her most recent picture books include the critically acclaimed There's Going to Be a Baby, the first book-publishing collaboration between her and her husband John Burningham, and Charley's First Night and When Charley Met Granpa by Amy Hest. Helen lives in London.
A faithful duck labors while the indolent farmer lazes in bed, eating candy and occasionally inquiring, How goes the work? - to which the duck replies, Quack! When the duck grows sleepy and weepy and tired, the other animals hatch a plan, succinctly expressed: Moo! Baa! Cluck! They enter the house, climb the stairs, tip the sleeping farmer out of his bed and chase him away forever. Come morning, the duck arrives to slave alone as usual but finds the other animals eager to pitch in. The sanctimonious moral of The Little Red Hen gets a salutary restructuring here, with the focus on the duck's uncomplaining toil and the other animals' generosity. Waddell's narration is a marvel of simplicity and compact grace; Oxenbury's soft pencil and watercolor illustrations have the comic impact of masterly cartoons, while her sweeping color and light are gloriously evocative of the English farm scene. Like Waddell's Can't You Sleep Little Bear? (p. 58): a book with all the marks of a nursery classic. (Kirkus Reviews)
