It’s very refreshing and enlightening to be able to see through a window onto your creative process.

Our youngest liked to point out how the endpapers feature birds at the beginning and squirrels at the end. For my other two books, i am always asked if i used paper cut, as they look quite like it, but in fact I did not use paper cut at all when creating the artwork and it was all pencil and digital. The humor comes from the futility of the group's plan and the silly results combined with the juxtaposition of the youngest's successful methods. That the youngest is not in on the plan is very obvious throughout the book, as he does not have a catching net like the other three. After one reading, my toddler had the rhythm of this down, and now when I read it to him, he supplies the "shh!I was surprisingly pleased to see that it employed one of my favorite forms of comedy--physical; it definitely coaxed forth a few chuckles. But, at the turn of the page, we find a ridiculous bunch of very tangled characters and a blissfully oblivious bird, flying away. It's a little young for Squirt, to be honest, but he likes it anyway, and can recite each page - as can I.

One of the main patterns that guide us through the story is the bird that constantly flies to the next page, guiding us and the characters through the journey. It’s impeccably designed – from Haughton’s stylised paper cut characters and distinctive blocky font, to the illustrated endpapers and careful composition of each scene – and a terrific sense of theatre and anticipation is created through clever pacing. And thus we end back where we started, with the stalkers unwilling to accept the truth and Little One shrugging at the reader.I enjoyed the repetition of those cautionary "Shh"s and the moody digital illustrations that make readers feel as though they are moving through the night stealthily. This is interesting as it could symbolise the human nature of greed and wanting more, not seeing what destruction they are causing through their actions. The story is essentially a sequence of failed bird captures by four people tracking a bird through the woods - it's simple, but quite funny. In fact, I had been dozing off the food and activities of our Thanksgiving day, when the girls woke me with numerous whispers of "Shh! which I am not sure is a word but I counted it anyway, I even counted the five words of the title which is a trick i picked up at school.

Four friends- three big and one little, tip-toe very slowly with nets poised to catch a beautiful bird perched in a tree. Award -winning author-illustrator Chris Haughton is back with another simple, satisfying story whose visual humor plays out in boldly graphic, vibrantly color ful illustrations. We Have a Plan, our hugely successful adaptation of Chris Haughton’s much-loved modern classic, is available to watch for free on YouTube! We Have a Plan True, there is a minimalist text of just over 100 words, but it is in the dynamism of the magnificent artwork that Haughton’s creativity is most clearly visible.Talking about the book makes space for children to ask questions, share their thoughts and deepens their understanding. The attempts of the three fellows at the front to capture the radiantly coloured bird are consistently foiled.