Book Review
by Kathy Porter
This beautiful illustrated book by Don and Audrey Wood is called Heckedy Peg. Even though it isn’t a Halloween story, the witch-like character of Heckedy Peg makes it fit for the upcoming holiday.
A mother has seven children named after the days of the week. She told them she was going to the market and asked them what they wanted. Each child named one thing. For instance, the youngest child, Sunday, wanted egg pudding. Before leaving, the mother warns them not to talk to anyone or touch the fire. Heckedy Peg comes to their house and turns each child into food and loads them into her cart. I like the ghostly picture of the children as they descend into certain food. Heckedy Peg takes them to her spooky cave and sets them on her table.
Meanwhile the mother returns and a little bird tells her where to find Heckedy Peg’s cave. Heckedy tells her that she can have her children back if she can identify which food is each child. The mother immediately knows because of the things she brought from the market. When she names the days of the week and lays each item by the food, a child magically appears in its place. I love the fierce expression on the mother’s face as she protects her family. Finally, they chase Heckedy Peg to a bridge where she jumps into a river and disappears forever.
To buy this book on Amazon, click here.
Cut and Match Activity
Objective: I can match things that go together and name the days of the week.
Supplies:
Activity Sheet, Scissors, Crayons or markers
Directions:
- Review the part of the story where the mother lays the items next to the food: Bread wants butter, that’s Monday; Pie wants knife, that’s Tuesday; Milk wants pitcher, that’s Wednesday; Porridge (oatmeal), wants honey, that’s Thursday; Fish wants salt, that’s Friday; Cheese wants crackers, that’s Saturday; Roast Ribs wants egg pudding, that’s Sunday.
- Color and cut apart each food or item and mix them up into a pile.
- Take the top two items and lay them on the table. Do they go together? If they’re not a match, take another picture from the pile to see if it goes with either picture. Continue until you find a match. Example: Bread and butter pictures are a match.
- Stack the matching pictures together. Keep drawing from the pile until all the matching pictures are stacked.
Different Variations:
- ● As the child matches a set they can tell the name of the week. Then they arrange the sets in the same order as the days of the week and name each day in a row.
- ● Mix up all the items and lay them in rows, face down. Play a memory game by turning a picture over to see if it matches the previous picture until all are matched.