Description

When Zoe the Rottweiler arrives at Merevale Creek Farm, the gate groans louder than it has in years. The animals stop, stare, and form their conclusions before she has taken a single step.

Set across twelve chapters, Zoe and the Great Summer Jubilee follows Zoe as she finds her place among a cast of opinionated, loveable farm animals: Mayo the horse with his very neat mane and very strong opinions, Margot the hen and her ever-present clipboard, Oscar the bull who approaches every problem like a calculation to be solved and is quietly, reluctantly impressed when someone solves it faster, plus a growing ensemble who each come to see that first impressions are rarely the whole story.

Woven through the narrative are twelve Aesop’s fables; one per chapter, each quietly mirroring the events of that chapter. Three recurring mysteries run from the first page to the last: a blue butterfly that appears in every chapter but is never explained, a creaking gate whose voice changes with the mood of the story, and a count of hidden ladybirds that grows chapter by chapter to 78.

Ideal for reading aloud with KS1 children and independent reading for Lower KS2 (Years 2-3). The companion Field Notes Teachers Guide supports curriculum use across English, PSHE, and character education.