Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins

One of the ever-popular books in our house is the classic board book 'Rosie's Walk' - first printed in 1971. With a minimum of words and a maximum of detail in the beautiful pictures, Pat Hutchins describes how Rosie the hen goes for a stroll around the farmyard.

Rosie is so relaxed and unaware of the world around her... That she doesn't notice that a fox is trying to catch her! But every time the fox is ready to pounce upon her, he gets caught into come sort of trap that Rosie unintentionally led him into!

The text is extremely simple and minimal. There are just 32 words, only describing Rosie's walk, but never mentioning the nasty fox. The illustrations (in typical cool '70s colours yellow, orange and green) are thus truly essential to the book. In fact, this book is also extremely suitable for non-English speakers, as the pictures mostly tell the story.

I love 'reading' this book with my children, as there is so much to it. I try to make it really captivating, playing with the fact that Rosie is unaware of the fox. We try to warn her - Oh No!! Watch out, Rosie! - and we love pointing out all the details - the birds, the apples in the tree, the spider...

I've also used it to practice prepositions (across, around, over, past, through) and to discuss the different objects on a farmyard (haycock, trees, windmill, beehives, a rake, a pond, a hen-house, a fence, a farmhouse etc.).

For older children, this book is a great tool to practice early map skills... Draw the map of Rosie's walk and try to put in the different objects and obstacles.

Rosie's Walk definitely deserves to become a classic in the non-english speaking part of the world as much as it already is in the English speaking part!

xxx Esther