Daisy and Bear and the very ordinary day by Haylee Hackenberg and Bianca Pozzi.

Imagine two small children living in a small home with mum and dad, and no television or mobile devices. What on Earth would two children even do?

Anything but Ordinary

Enter Daisy and Bear. The two children wake one morning, one seemingly ordinary morning, sit down to breakfast and plan the most amazing day.

Your day is never ordinary when you have imagination. You can have breakfast in Paris, fly to Africa for safari, put on a concert for thousands of fans, protect a castle from wild beasts, and rocket to the stars and swing from the moon. You can bake the world’s greatest cake, deep sea dive with swirling turtles and then cuddle up with mum and dad for a goodnight story.

A very loving home

A big thing I took out of this book, or the thing that really got me, was that it might have been an ordinary little house on an ordinary day, but it was a home filled with love and warmth. There is a wonderful scene late in the book, with the mum and dad, that capture the spirit of the story so beautifully.

A Book to Savour

Two children see the beauty and creativity of nature all around them. It took me back to my own childhood memories of make-believe and creating games and fun from everyday things.

It’s a real Red Paper Kite picture book. By that I mean it has, pardon my French, “je ne sais quoi”. It’s hard to define, other than to say it’s beautiful. It appears to be a real team effort of author, illustrator and designer.

This is not to be read in a few minutes, but a book to savour a page at a time. I highly recommend this as a book all picture book lovers should have on their shelves, to take out on a rainy day and soak it up.

Details:

Author: Haylee Hackenberg

Illustrator: Bianca Pozzi

Publisher: Red Paper Kite, Australia, 2021