The Rabbit and the Robin

Spring has arrived in the meadow, and Ruby the rabbit sets out happily among the new buds and singing birds. Near a tall oak tree she hears a worried chirp and finds a small robin whose nest has fallen to the ground. The branch it came from is far too high for Ruby to reach, so instead of solving the problem by force she offers something simpler and braver: she stays beside the nest and guards it, shooing away a beetle and thumping her strong back leg at a curious cat until it runs off.

When the robin returns with soft grass, the two work side by side to make the nest warm and snug again. To thank Ruby, the robin leads her through a gap in a hedge into a wide field of daffodils, crocuses and bluebells, a place it has kept secret since the previous spring. The two spend the morning playing hide-and-seek among the flowers, making a daisy chain and sharing stories, and the robin tells Ruby that she is a true friend. This gentle picture-book story by Jane MEADOW, told in simple and rhythmic language, is suited to young children being read to at bedtime and to early readers taking on a short chapter on their own. It can be read on Kids Tale Book.