Author(s): Jennifer Beck

Picture books - NZ

It is wartime in Europe. A young soldier from 'a country on the other side of the world' rescues and brings back to health a little bantam, and in the midst of the fighting and devastation an unusual friendship is formed. Every morning the bantam lays an egg for the soldier and his friends and becomes the center of their affection and hopes for the end of the war. 'Above all, Bertha gave the soldiers courage and hope. "If a bantam can live through this, and lay eggs as well," they told one another, "then perhaps we can survive this terrible war."