The cover of Hardy Truehopper and the Round, Round Egg. A little rabbit in a red and yellow striped scarf holds a small white egg by a sunny river.

Book 2

Hardy Truehopper and the Round, Round Egg

A story about hindsight and the courage to say “I did not know.”

When everyone is sure they knew, will your child dare to say “I did not know”?

Hardy Truehopper finds a mysterious egg. Each animal scratches a guess on a stone and drops it in the Hollow Stump, where nothing can change. When the egg hatches, Squirrel cries, “I knew it all along!” Even Hardy is sure he knew. Only Hedgehog says “I did not know,” and the meadow laughs. What will the stones say?

A warm, playful story about honesty and the quiet tricks of memory. Inspired by Baruch Fischhoff’s 1970s research on hindsight, it lets your child draw a guess before the egg hatches and check it after.

For ages 5 and up. Plus a note for grown-ups inside.

The trap
Feeling sure we knew it all along
The habit
Mark your guess before. Look after.
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A few pages from the meadow

  • Squirrel holds the egg by the Hollow Stump while Duck, Hedgehog, Mouse and Hardy look on, with blank stones on the ground.
  • Hedgehog curls up asleep beside the egg on the warm sand, with Mouse and Hardy close by and Squirrel on a branch.

Real science inside

The experiment behind the story

Book 2, The Round, Round Egg

1970s, Baruch Fischhoff and Ruth Beyth

In the 1970s the psychologists Baruch Fischhoff and Ruth Beyth asked people to predict events before they happened, then later to recall their own predictions. Once they knew the ending, people remembered having been surer than they really were.

They were not lying. Their memories had quietly leaned toward the ending. Today we call it hindsight bias, the feeling that we knew it all along.

The habit to take away Mark your guess before. Look after.

Free for grown-ups

The discussion guide

Free, for grown-ups

The Round, Round Egg discussion guide

The free companion to the book, for parents, teachers, and school counselors. Print it, keep it with the book, and use it in five minute pieces. No lecture required.

Read it up to “After you read” before you start the story, because the pauses happen while you read. Save the rest for afterwards, because it gives away the ending.

Download the guide PDF, 3.7 MB

Coloring pages from the Round, Round Egg

Tap a page to save it, then print it on A4 or letter paper.

The series

More from the meadow

Book 1

Hardy Truehopper and the Long, Long Carrot

A story about peer pressure and the courage to trust your own eyes.

The trap
Going along with the crowd
The habit
Stop, take a deep breath, and look again with your own two eyes.
Paperback on Amazon Kindle on Amazon
Buying outside the United States?

Look inside the book