Heckedy Peg

Book Description

This book has been a favorite of mine since childhood. A poor mother lives with her seven children named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Because they have been good, she decides to get each of them one thing they’d like from the market. They tell her what they’d like, and off she goes with a warning never to touch fire and not to let a stranger in. The children don’t listen to that very well…and quickly learn their lesson!

I love this book for the beautiful illustrations, the lesson that parents’ directions and orders are there for good reason, and the incredibly strong and wise mother in the story. (Spoiler alert: she rescues her kids.) You and your kids will be cheering this mother on as she faces the wicked Heckedy Peg. While the witch does threaten to eat the children, I have found that children as young as three don’t find this book too scary because the mother wins and all is right with the world at the end.

Because this book includes a witch, lots of food, and a good lesson, I think it’s the perfect choice to read as we transition from October to November. That being said, my girls love to read it all year long.

You can grab your copy here.

Field Trip Connection

We decided to hit up the Old Town Farmer’s Market for this book’s field trip. We used a scavenger hunt to check off the types of food we could find from the book. The girls had so much fun searching for the foods, and it led to great discussions about where our food comes from.

Because the mother in the story travels deep into the woods to find her children, this would also be a great book for a hiking field trip. One of our favorite local spots to walk in the woods is Huntley Meadows Park. It is most well-known for the boardwalk, where we regularly observe frogs, turtles, herons, beavers, and snakes. The path past the boardwalk continues through the woods. It is a great hike/walk for little ones and is stroller friendly. It can get very buggy in the summer in those woods, but in the Fall you don’t have to worry about that.

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