← The Green

The Hollow · ages 3-5

The Bramble Leaf

The idea: some things only one friend can do; a bramble needs the badger.

Burdock the badger digs the bramble out of the way while Tí watches and Flitter floats above.

Read it

The five-night book 239 words

Five nights, one book

Little children love the same story again. Read this one five nights running, with a different job each night.

  1. listen.
  2. say the last words.
  3. join in the refrains.
  4. stop and ask what comes next.
  5. tell it to a toy.

Who is in this book

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

  • In some hidden-piece board games, one piece stays put all game and blocks the way, and only one special piece can clear it. In Stratego, bombs never move and only a miner can defuse them. Source
  • Badgers are strong diggers: they dig long tunnels and burrows called setts. Source

Stretched

  • Burdock digs the bramble out of the way. What we simplified: In the game the bramble piece is simply taken off the board; real badgers dig earth, not bushes.

Made up

  • The Hollow, its leaves and the Moonstone are made up. Flitter comes from HollowTots; Briar and Burdock from HollowPals.

Tell it back

Tell the story to a toy, or to a grown-up. When you have, the grown-up taps the button, and a paper leaf with a tiny bramble drawn on it goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.