Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest

Painterly texture expressively applied ensures that every spread in this engaging picture book is full of movement and life and every slight curve of a beak or inclination of a neck convey the emotions of Father and Mother Duck as they worry about Ruby, the last hatched and smallest of their brood.  While her siblings, Rufus, Rory, Rosie and Rebecca, forge independently ahead, Ruby lags behind… Will she ever do it? ‘In her own time,’ Mother Duck reiterates patiently. But when Ruby eventually spreads her wings and flies off into a glorious sunset it is Father Duck who reassures Mother Duck that she will come back ‘in her own time’. Harry’s debut picture book artwork is an assured and confident interpretation of Emmett’s warmly sensitive text.