How to Make a Heron Happy

How can we tell when someone else is happy? Well, we look at his or her face and body language for clues, of course - so clearly, the heron who lives near young Hamish’s house is very miserable indeed, with its hunched up shoulders and long, frowning eyebrows. Determined to cheer up the grumpy waterfowl, Hamish begins to work on its environment…and as he does so, a drab, neglected, inner-city park is gradually restored into a welcoming, clean, green space for play and relaxation. By the end of the story, the heron still looks sulky (apparently, it’s just tricky to smile with a hard beak), but the pond where it lives is surrounded by laughing families and the whole community has learned something precious about what a difference it can make when we take care of our surroundings.

Other books you may be interested in...

Pig 4: The Big, Fat, Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig

Pig's back in this incredible fourth diary told in an original, hilarious and unforgettable voice and packed with Pig's own drawings. This is fresh and silly laugh-out-loud humour…

Read Book Review

Gravenhunger

Author: Harriet Goodwin

Phoenix has no desire to spend his summer at a stange house, with a cousin he barely knows. But when he finds a secret letter written by his mother, Elvira, shortly before she…

Read Book Review

Secret History – the Iraq War

Author: Simon Mason

It’s never too early for pupils to start understanding the inherent difficulties in the study of history – the importance of knowing whence one’s information is coming, and…

Read Book Review

Ushig

Author: Annemarie Allan

Kelpies, selkies and trows – oh, my! Scottish folklore (and specifically, Robert Kirk’s The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies) is the basis of the latest novel by…

Read Book Review

Moon Pie

Author: Simon Mason

Tales of dysfunctional family units are hardly a rarity amongst books aimed at the 9+ age group – however, Simon Mason’s wonderful lightness of touch makes this novel…

Read Book Review

View All Book Reviews