Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood, 1987

She's Heckedy Peg. She's lost her leg. And she took the children, all 7 of them,  back to her house to eat for dinner!

One of my all time favorite picture books by the great author/illustrator dynamic duo Audrey and Don Wood (also known for the Napping House, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, the more recent Alphabet Adventure series, and many more), Heckedy Peg is a definite must-have for a home library. For now, my copy is from le biblioteque. But one day, when I have my LLBean Rug, I'll also have my own copy of Heckedy Peg.

There are some classic folktale elements and lessons learned in Heckedy Peg. The poor mother takes care of her seven children, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...you get the idea. She scrimps and saves to buy them all a treat at the market, but before she goes, Mother Dear tells her seven cherubs to not let any strangers in and to not touch the fire. Well, wouldn't you know that they let in a terrifying old lady dressed all in black and light her pipe?! The mother comes back to an empty house. What will she do?

Look at this warm picture:

And this one too:

The illustrations are all done in these rich tones and really convey the mood well. Also, each page has all 7 children on it somewhere so it can be fun for readers to find every kid.

And a little side note, while tooling around the internet reading about this book, I stumbled on a Booklist review saying Heckedy Peg is based on a 16th century English game. Who knew? Sounds a little scary.

I will have seven children and name them for the days of the week.