Every journey starts with a nose full of curiosity.
Merry is a little piglet who lives in Merrimeadow, a sunny meadow where the grass is soft, the pond is warm, and every morning smells like clover. Merry loves the meadow. But Merry loves questions even more.
One bright morning, Merry found a trail of footprints in the dew - footprints that were not piglet-shaped at all.
"Who made these?" wondered Merry. "And where do they go?"
Merry asked Willa the cow. Willa swished her tail. "Those," she said, "lead to the Big Farm on the other side of the hill. All the animals in the valley live there. I hear they throw a party every single morning."
A party every morning! Merry packed a tiny backpack - one clover snack, one map (drawn by Merry, mostly accurate), and one brave little heart - and set off over the hill.
The trail led past the duck pond, where Puddles the duckling offered a ride on a lily pad and a quack of encouragement. It led through the corn rows, where a crow named Cornelius gave directions that were mostly wrong but very confident. And just over the top of the hill, Merry heard it:
"Moo! Baa! Cluck! Oink?"
The Big Farm. A hundred new friends Merry had not met yet.
Merry took a deep breath, wiped the mud off one hoof (only one - the others were too far gone), and trotted down into the loudest, happiest morning of a little piglet's life.
And there, at the bottom of the hill, Merry saw them - the footprints! Not one trail, but many: big round hoofprints and little split hoofprints and tiny scratchy claw prints, all dancing together down the very same path.
"Whose tracks were they?" Merry gasped.
"Ours!" mooed Willa the cow, swishing her tail. "We left a trail for you to follow - all the way to the party at the Big Farm!"
"We wanted you to find us," neighed the horse, warm in the morning sun.
"Every single one of us walked the path on purpose," baaed the sheep.
"We are going to the party too," clucked the hen - and from behind her wing, the littlest chick cheeped, "We were hoping you would come!"
Merry's heart went as warm as the sun rising over the big red barn. She had followed the tracks to solve a mystery. And the mystery was friends.
Now they were all together at the party - and her next adventure was already waiting. Where will Merry go next? Pack a clover snack and come along.
This chapter is where it all begins. The adventure continues in the coloring book Merry Meadow Vol. 1: The Big Farm - which opens with a read-aloud version of Merry's story: short segments in big print, each ending with a friend for your little one to find.