The story in three lines. Tí's walk home crosses a little pond. A pad thrown far into the middle floats alone and joins nothing. Reedy shows the way round a fallen reed, Ferra lays pads that each touch the last, Lily spots the gap that is left, and Tí lays the last pad himself so both banks are joined.

The five nights. Read it once and let your child listen. On the second night, pause before the last word of each refrain line. On the third, tap the table on each "touch". On the fourth, stop before each new friend and ask "who's next?" On the fifth, let them read it to a toy.

One thing to do at the table. Lay two tea towels on the floor as banks. Give your child a pile of paper plates or cushions as pads. Put a shoe in the middle as the reed. Can they make a path from one bank to the other, every pad touching the last, going round the shoe? Then let a toy hop across.

The grown-up layer. "Every piece touches the one before it, and the chain reaches from one side to the other" is the idea of connection: the same one behind the board game Hex, and behind how engineers think about a road or a circuit. Going round the reed adds a little planning. Most children start by placing pieces where they want to end up, which is exactly what Tí does with his floating pad.