It was sunny day in spring, and the river sparkled as it danced past the farmyard. A little boy saw a solitary egg lying in the rushes.
It was summer in the country. All the hay had been stacked, and the fields of wheat were yellow. Tall dock leaves grew on the banks of the canals. Among the dock leaves, on her nest, sat a duck waiting for her eggs to hatch. She had been waiting for a long time.
Here is a duck. She has lots of eggs in her nest. One by one, the little eggs crack. Out come some little ducklings.
One beautiful summer day Mrs. Duck was proudly watching her children as they played about among the leaves and grass under an old tree.
Once upon a time a mother duck sat hatching her eggs but was very bored as no one came to see her. But one day the eggs began to crack and tall the little ducklings peeped out. "Cheep,cheep," they said, "What a big world!" "Quack, quack," said the mother duck, happily.
The Nursery Collection brings together the world's best-loved traditional stories and nursery rhymes. Retold with very young children in mind, the stories are excellent for reading aloud while the rhymes retain all their fun and jollity. Hilda Offen's richly colourful illustrations breathe life and mischief into all the wonderful characters to be found in this collection.
Today's youngsters will be equally moved by the hapless ugly duckling, who, ridiculed and rejected by all, suffers terrible hardships. And they will celebrate along with him when he finally emerges triumphant as the most beautiful swan of all! Bernadette Watts's detailed illustrations chronicle the bittersweet story with charm and poignancy.
For two hundred years, Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling has been a childhood favorite all over the world. Now Robert Ingpen brings his spectacular adaptation to new generations of readers. Born bigger and different than the other hatchlings, the ugly duckling is ridiculed by his brothers and sisters, rejected by the other ducks, and eventually shunned by his own mother. The little b…
Winnie the Pooh wants to go fishing, but never has any luck. But when Piglet decides to go swimming instead, Pooh's luck changes when he reels in Piglet together with a fish.
Owl invites Pooh and Piglet to discover a surprise of blackberries by his treehouse which later prompts them to make blackberry pie and invite all their friends for a treat.