Maisie is a young mountain hare doing her best to survive in the Highland hills. Confident that her grey-brown fur will provide camouflage, she and her brother venture out exploring – and meet Thomas the ptarmigan, another moorland creature who loves to play hide and seek.
With winter on the way, the animals’ coats turn white – but snow is later arriving this year and their bright bodies expose them to new dangers that it will take wit and speed to survive.
This story is the latest in a series of rhyming picture books about iconic Scottish animals, which just keeps getting better. There is adventure and friendship, interwoven with learning about habitat and climate change and delivered through gentle rhyme that make the story a delight to read out loud.
Abigail Hookham’s beautiful illustrations perfectly capture the flora and fauna of the Highlands – we especially loved the page where snow starts to fall (a special mention for the gorgeous endpapers!)
We enjoyed the factual final page as well – a chance to revisit the climate change message and the new language (such as leveret and form) that the story had introduced.
Maisie the Mountain Hare, by Lynne Rickards and Abigail Hookham (Kelpies)
Roaring Reads 