Hare by Zoe Greaves and Leslie Sadleir

Hare by Zoe Greaves and Leslie Sadleir
Buy Hare by Zoe Greaves and Leslie Sadleir at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: Gorgeous pictures, magical words and gently educational about hares. Highly recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 24	Date: August 2015
Publisher: Old Barn Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1910646038
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Some animals feature large in mythology and the hare is one of these. The hare we're going to meet is O'Hare - well, we hope we're going to meet him: hares are well known for being elusive and this one is no exception! We'll be following him through the churchyard on a moonlit night - see him leaping in front of the moon - and through a summer meadow, where we only catch sight of his hind legs and his ears. Look on the riverbank - is that him in the water? Then he's in amongst the cabbages - the farmer is not going to be pleased about that. Is he in the foxglove patch? We can see the fox, but it looks as though O'Hare has gone. The best sighting we have of him is on the corn field, where he's leaping through the stubble.

The pictures are amazing. There's something new to find each time you read: the fox's brush, the badger and the owl in the churchyard - and is that a bat we can see? Look very carefully in the wildflower meadow and you'll see mole emerging from the ground. There's a frog on the riverbank and some beautiful water iris in flower. Mouse is climbing up to get at an ear of corn and the birds are attempting to get their share too. The pictures are not just charming - they're of a standard which you would be proud to hang on your wall.

If the pictures are amazing then the words are magical. They're sensuous and evocative: The swift-as-wind, The frisky one. Hare-kin. They're playful too: Look now. Look carefully. Look more harefully. That's going to get a giggle when you say it with your knowing face. Hare was born with his clothes on, eyes wide and ready to go. That sums him up perfectly. Nobody knows where he goes! Hare today, gone tomorrow! It's all just delicious.

At the back of the book there are some hare-y (sorry, I just couldn't resist) facts - ten facts about hares and a short piece about the difference between rabbits and hares. I'll confess that a lot of it was new to me.

Hare is a debut book from a mother and daughter team. Zoe Greaves is a bookseller who loves language and trained as an actor - both of which are shown to good effect in this story which demands to be read aloud, preferably to a group of children. Just watch their faces! Zoe's mother, Leslie Sadleir is a qualified graphic designer who has worked in publishing and came back to illustration when she began to collaborate with her daughter. It's difficult to think of a better team to produce such a gorgeous book and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

The paperback version of the book (available in March 2017) includes an activity section for children at the back. I had some fun with it too!

For another gorgeous book from the same stable, so to speak, have a look at Dog on a Train: The Special Delivery by Kate Prendergast.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Hare by Zoe Greaves and Leslie Sadleir at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Hare by Zoe Greaves and Leslie Sadleir at Amazon.com.

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