In "The Lumberjack's Beard" by Duncan Beedie, we meet a jolly happy fellow who loves his life in the forest. He's big, he's burly, and he's extremely beardy!
Jim Hickory follows more or less the same routine every day but when there's a sharp "Peck Peck Peck" at the door one morning, Jim realises that his work in the forest has more of an impact on his fellow creatures than he might have realised.
Feeling a little guilty, Jim finds that he has to give up his peaceful home life and empty beard to a variety of creatures who have been displaced by his chopping and sawing in the woods.
It's not an easy life living with a beard but it's even harder when you've got a couple of noisy fidgety animals and a pesky pecky bird living in there too!
We talked about this fabulous book on our podcast (on the blog a couple of days ago just in case you missed it!), loving the humour and the fabulous artwork. Duncan Beedie's books (including recent smasher "The Bear who Stared" often have a moral message to deliver, but they do so in such a fun and inventive way that they don't sound at all preachy. There's a rather neat little eco message tucked into the pages of this that makes it worth a read alone, and particularly great if classroom activities for early years are built around it (Books like this are absolutely fantastic for branching out into brilliant classroom stuff).
Charlotte's best bit: What happens when Big Jim Hickory decides to make a new home for his animal buddies (listen out on the podcast, she almost gives the game away, AIIEEE!)
Daddy's favourite bit: A brilliant eco message, a fantastic story, and a hugely jolly and engaging character at its core, this is utterly fantastic!
"The Lumberjack's Beard" by Duncan Beedie is released on 12th January 2017, published by Templar Publishing (kindly sent for review).