A Squash and a Squeeze

What’s it about?

The story.

A little old lady thinks her house is far too small, so she asks a wise old man for help. His solution is not to build an extension, but to bring in a hen, a goat, a pig and a cow until the house becomes a ridiculous squash and squeeze. When the animals are sent back outside, the same little house suddenly feels wonderfully spacious. As the first picture-book collaboration between Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, it has all the ingredients that later became their signature: strong rhyme, repetition, comic escalation and instantly readable illustrations. The story works especially well for very young children because the structure is clear, the animal noises are inviting, and the final lesson is simple but satisfying. It is about perspective, gratitude and the comic usefulness of making things temporarily much worse.