In a nutshell: warm-hearted animal story with realistic farm setting | Jasmine finds a clutch of duck eggs by the river, but their mother has been killed by a dog so she decides to take them home and hatch them herself. It’s a difficult process but Jasmine lives on a farm, her mother is a vet and help is to hand; sure enough five weeks later a duckling hatches. Button is a cheeky little thing though, and the adventures are only just beginning. This is the perfect book for any child who loves animals. Life in the farmhouse is beautifully described and there’s lots of detail about hatching duck eggs that will fascinate readers. Jasmine’s arguments with horrible class-mate Bella Bradley are great fun too. This is a series to recommend to fans of Dick King-Smith and Michael Morpurgo. ~Andrea Reece
The Editor at Nosy Crow says “This series is going to be a classic. It’s beautifully written with clever plotting and proper animal adventure. Life as a farm vet’s daughter shows Jasmine that nature is not always kind and life-and-death situations are never far away. But what cute animals! And what great stories!”
The second title in a fantastic series of animal stories for younger readers by Waterstones Children's Book Prize-shortlisted author Helen Peters, with beautiful black-and-white illustrations by Ellie Snowdon. When a nesting duck is killed in a terrible accident, Jasmine and her best friend Tom rescue the eggs and try to hatch them in an incubator. It's a risky business but soon Button is running around, getting into scrapes. Until the day he gets into a scrape with no escape...Brilliant storytelling that will make you laugh and cry, this is Dick King-Smith for a new generation.
Helen Peters grew up on an old-fashioned farm in Sussex, surrounded by family, animals and mud. She spent most of her childhood reading stories and putting on plays in a tumbledown shed that she and her friends turned into a theatre. After university, she became an English and Drama teacher. Helen lives with her husband and children in London, and she can hardly believe that she now gets to call herself a writer.
Read more about Helen Peters on writing Anna at Warhere.
