Hilda and the Runaway Baby

In her truly authentic and original voice, Daisy Hirst introduces two endearing, unforgettable new characters — and a friendship like no other.

Hilda the pig lives in a small tin house at the foot of a hill. Life is peaceful, if a bit uneventful, and she is always exactly where she expects herself to be. At the top of the hill lives a curious baby who is never where people expect him to be, which is why he is known as the Runaway Baby. When a chance escape in his stroller brings the Runaway Baby zooming full-speed toward Hilda, their worlds collide, and the beginnings of an unlikely friendship promise to make Hilda’s life a little less quiet and a lot more interesting. Kid-friendly and full of undeniable charm, Daisy Hirst’s tale of two slightly solitary souls who make a surprisingly perfect pair has the look and feel of an instant, timeless classic.Hirst does a wonderful job with setting in this cheerful tale’s screenprinted illustrations, from the flat ochre plain where Hilda lives to the crowded village of red tile roofs, blue shutters, dancing laundry lines, sun, garbage cans, yellow rose bushes, and people of all ages and ethnicities that is the baby’s playground. The message is sweet: it takes a village to raise a child, and if that village also contains a helpful pig, so much the better.
—Horn Book

A surprisingly funny and sweet story of friendship...A raucous ride. Consider for larger picture book and storytime collections that appreciate nonsensical humor and lots of action.
—School Library JournalDaisy Hirst is the author-illustrator of The Girl with the Parrot on Her Head and Alphonse, That Is Not OK to Do! and has an MA in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art. She lives in London.