A Hundred and One Daffodils
This Bloomsbury Young Reader from Malachy Doyle and Denise Hughes will keep new readers turning the pages and wanting to read. Dusty is a young fox who is woken by her father and encouraged out of their den to see if they can spot Dusty’s first ever daffodil. Lots of questions follow as she wonders, for example, what a daffodil is and what springtime is. I like this very much as it is empowering for young readers who in most cases will be able to answer these questions themselves.
Denise Hughes’ illustrations are charming, simple and clear, perfect for this story and its intended readers. After seeing the first daffodil Dusty’s father tells her that there are more to come and that when Dusty and her friends have seen a hundred and one, they will have a party. Thus, the concept of number, and indeed fun with numbers, is introduced seamlessly into the story. This is deceptively simple writing and is of the quality that we have come to expect from Malachy Doyle. I have mentioned Dusty’s friends, and this too is a good feature as this age group are very focussed on friends and friendship. All sorts of young animals join Dusty in the search for daffodils as they come out in the forest over the next few days.
Divided into six short chapters, the narrative takes the reader through fallings-out among the friends and a storm when Dusty fears spring will never come. But it all ends well with the promised party when spring and all the daffodils do finally arrive. Highly recommended.
