Marjorie Newman's Mole and the Baby Bird is the touching story of a little mole that discovers a baby bird that has fallen out of its nest. He takes it home and it soon recovers after some loving attention.

Inevitably, Nature is stronger than Mole's well-meaning care, and once the bird regains its strength, it attempts to fly for the first time. Mole is alarmed by this and builds a cage to contain the bird, despite his parents' warnings that it's not meant to be kept as a pet. It takes a visit from Mole's grandad for him to realise that sometimes the kindest thing you can do for something you love is to let it be free.

Patrick Benson's delicate watercolour illustrations are perfect for this gentle story, capturing the emotions of the characters and beautiful countryside scenery. Suitable for ages 4-6 years.--Alison Drury

When Mole finds an abandoned baby bird he takes it home to look after it himself. His parents try to tell him that a wild bird shouldn?t be kept inside, but he wants to keep it as a pet.

Mole?s wise old grandfather comes to stay and helps Mole think. Mole loves the little bird, but faces a terrible dilemma ? should he keep it in a cage, or set it free?

When Mole finds the baby bird injured and alone he takes it home to look after it very carefully. But soon Mole has the greatest dilemma of all - is the baby bird going to be a pet or is it going to be free. Mole is guided by two wonderful, carefully observed parents and a kind and thoughtful grandfather into making his final and touching decision. This tender and most gentle of picture books explores important and big themes in the most understated and subtle way. Like all Patrick Benson picture books this has the feeling of a children's classic in the making.

Marjorie Newman has written several books for children but this is her first book for Bloomsbury.

Patrick Benson won the Mother Goose Award for his first book, "The Hob Stories", written by William Mayne and published by Walker Books. Since then he has illustrated many books including "Owl Babies" (written by Martin Waddell) which has sold almost 2,000,000 copies worldwide.

2006-10-09 Beautiful book

Both my children love this book, the pictures and the story. It was the first book where the story really made them think about feelings and the consequences one person's doings can have on another person's feelings, and how you can have mixed feelings about a situation. It is one of our favourite children's books.