Stop the Ball!

About this book

Duck is playing football in the park until the ball is kicked over the goal and straight towards a tree! Duck chases after it but it bounces off the tree and disturbs a startled owl. Owl joins Duck in the chase, and together they follow the runaway ball through bushes, between lampposts, over mud, and under a bench, each time picking up a new animal friend to help them. Finally, the motley crew chase the ball into a pond where they are surprised by rather scary animal, or so they think…

This simple story is perfect for young children to enjoy and join in with. It has a similar building structure to classics like The Gingerbread Man as the animals chase the runaway ball and readers will enjoy making predictions about which animal is coming next based on clues in the illustrations. The text features great onomatopoeic words in bold for children to join in with as the ball splats and boings around the park. 

A great strength of this book is that the park setting and the common animals are likely to be well-known to children so they will be able to relate the story to their own experiences. It is a larger board book format with sturdy pages so would make a great choice to bring outside for shared reading opportunities and some active fun!